Community comes together to celebrate Mgr John’s 50 years

A SPECIAL Mass and party were held on the evening of 27 June to celebrate Monsignor John McEvoy’s 50th anniversary of being ordained a priest.

“It was a great evening – everyone really enjoyed it. It was really well attended,” said local resident Eithne Molloy, who was a part of the jubilee committee that organised the celebrations.

Monsignor John is the parish priest for the Rathvilly and Kiltegan parish and the Mass was held in St Patrick’s Church in Rathvilly and the party afterwards was in St Tegan’s Hall in Kiltegan.

“St Tegan’s Hall was full and it was standing room only at one point, and there was a good crowd at the church,” Eithne said.

At St Patrick’s, Eithne welcomed people to the service and Bishop Denis Nulty gave the homily, speaking about Mgr John’s long career in the priesthood. Parish secretary Trish Leonard presented Mgr John with an apostolic blessing from the Vatican in recognition of his service. At the reception after the Mass, there was plenty of food and drink including cake, sandwiches and baked goods. A variety of local groups from various backgrounds presented Mgr John with gifts and cards. The different groups were introduced by Sophie Kelly and Trish Leonard.

Bishop Denis also made a speech at the party about Mgr John’s life.

“He is involved with every organisation in some way and it took quite some time presenting all the gifts to him,” Eithne said. “He’s really well liked.”

Attendees were entertained with musical performances by Don Manley, Fergus Kenny, Kenny Dunne and Timmy Phelan. And to top it off, Mgr John also sang a few songs for the assembled crowd.