Father Jeremiah Murphy, MSC passed away on August 3, 2010
CORK, Ireland - The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are saddened to report the death of another of our brother priests. Fr Jeremiah (Jerry) Murphy MSC died at Haven Bay Nursing Home, Kinsale Co. Cork on Tuesday 3rd August 2010. He was 90 years of age.

His funeral mass took place at Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork on Thursday 5th August. Following the mass Fr Jerry was laid to rest in Kilnamartyra Cemetary.

Fr. Jeremiah Murphy was born on 19th February 1920 in Kilnamartyra, Co. Cork, son of Jeremiah and Hannah Murphy. He had three brothers, Michael, Fr. Bertie, MSC and Br. Pat, OMI, and two sisters, Eilis and Anne, all of whom predeceased him.

Fr. Jerry received his primary education at Kilnamartyra National School and his secondary education at Sacred Heart College, Western Road, Cork.

He entered the novitiate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on 13th August 1940 in Crosshaven, Co. Cork and made his first profession on 13th September 1941. He studied Philosophy and Theology at Moyne Park Galway from 1941 to 1946 and was ordained Deacon there on 23rd June 1946. He was ordained to the Priesthood on 21st September 1946 at Moyne Park, Co. Galway. After ordination Fr. Jerry taught Physics and Chemistry at Myross Wood, West Cork and while residing there he also applied his practical skills as Community Bursar and Farm Manager.

When a Novitiate was established at Vunapope near Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, Fr. Jerry generously volunteered his services and was eagerly accepted. After four fruitful years, during which he taught religion to the novices and found time to minister to nearby villages, he returned to Ireland. His planned return to Vunapope never materialized. We remember particularly today fellow MSCs Fr. Allen Browne and Fr. Edmund McSweeney both of whom died recently and who in 1946 shared the joy of ordination with Fr. Jerry Murphy. These three great men, together, served the Lord in the Mission Fields of Papua New Guinea.

In January 1969 Fr. Jerry went to San Antonio, Texas where he was appointed Pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish. During the next thirty years, fulfilling his numerous stewardships of different parishes and pastoral areas, Fr. Jerry gained the title of the ‘most travelled and experienced MSC in the southern States of America’. He had huge experience and knowledge of the different dioceses in Texas and Arkansas where he was highly respected and is still fondly remembered by both clergy and laity.

Fr. Jerry retired to the Community at Carraig na bhFear in 2002 where he enjoyed ministering to local Nursing Homes and helping with other MSC ministries, not to mention visiting relations and attending West Cork Funerals!

Recently he has been tenderly cared for by the staff of the Haven Care Centre, Kinsale where he died peacefully on Tuesday 3rd August 2010.

He is survived by nieces and a nephew as family members.

DEATH OF FR JEREMIAH MURPHY MSC: www.mscireland.com/news-mainmenu-99/249-death-of-fr-jeremiah-murphy-msc

Father Allen Browne, MSC passed away on July 10, 2010
CORK, Ireland - It is with deep sadness that we report the death of Fr Allen Browne MSC, a member of the community at the Western Road, Cork. He had spent most of his life as a missionary in Papua New Guinea.

Fr Allen died peacefully in his sleep in Cork University Hospital on the morning of Saturday 10th July 2010. He was 91 years of age.

His Requiem Mass took place in the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork on Monday 12th July after which Fr Allen was buried at St Oliver's cemetary.

Born in the parish of Kilnamatyra, Co Cork, on February 19th 1919, Fr Allen was the third child born to his parents Allen and Ellen Brown in a family of three boys and eight girls. He was baptized in the local church and attended the national school there until 1931 when his family moved to Rylane, Aghabullogue. In 1935 he began his secondary education at Sacred Heart College, Cork. He matriculated in 1940 and all eight members of his class entered the MSC wartime novitiate in Crosshaven, Co Cork. Allen was the oldest of his class and can be regarded as the first Irish MSC to complete all his preparation for priesthood in Ireland. He was ordained priest in Moyne Park, Galway on September 21st 1946, where he remained to complete his theological studies. Together with his classmates he went on extended vacation due to wartime restrictions on travel to mission lands. Early in 1948 Allen, together with three others, set out for Papua New Guinea. He first worked in the parish of Lemakot, New Ireland, where he served for ten years until his first well-deserved holiday in Ireland. On his return he was assigned to the parish of Rabaul where he served until his appointment as Novice Master for the newly emerging MSC Province of Papua New Guinea, a position he held for seven years. Being asked to take on this responsibility was undoubtedly a statement of recognition of the high esteem in which he was held as a spiritual guide and mentor. This confidence was well founded as some of his novices later became leaders in the church as Provincial Superiors, Novice Masters and bishops. Allen was very proud of this to his dying day. In 1972 Allen returned to parish work in Takabur, Rabaul where he travelled far and wide visiting the various mission outstations.

In 1990 Allen returned to Ireland due to ill health and bade farewell to the country and people he had deeply loved and served for over forty years. He retired to the Sacred Heart Community House, Western Road and was appointed chaplain to St Joseph’s Retirement Convent of the Congregation of the Infant Jesus Sisters where he is fondly remembered. As Allen’s health deteriorated his life circle was completed when he returned to his family connections in Cramers Court Care Home, Belgooly near Kinsale. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are deeply grateful for the love and care that Fr Allen experienced there.

On the occasion of his golden jubilee of priesthood Allen was described as a “truly dedicated and faithful servant, whose life and ministry as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart was a wonderful example and inspiration to all who knew him”. No doubt when we reflect on this very brief account of his life we must agree wholeheartedly.

He is survived by his three sisters and many nieces and nephews. May his kind soul rest in the peace of the Lord whom he served so well.

DEATH OF FR ALLEN BROWNE MSC: http://www.mscireland.com/news-mainmenu-99/248-death-of-fr-allen-browne-msc

Father Edmond McSweeney, MSC passed away on June 10, 2010
SKIBBEREEN, Ireland - Father McSweeney was born on December 8, 1920 in Kilcummin IE (Kerry). He made his first profession on September 21, 1940 and his final profession on September 21, 1943. He was ordained priest on June 9, 1946.

Father McSweeney died on Thursday June 10, 2010 in the Skibbereen Residential Care Centre. His funeral mass was on Saturdy June 12 and he was buried afterwards in St. Oliver’s Cemetery, Cork. May his soul and the souls of all faithful departed rest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

Father John Shanahan, MSC, passed away on February 6, 2010
CORK, Ireland – The death has taken place of Fr. Jack Shanahan who was the oldest member of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Ireland. Fr. Jack was born in 1911 in Castletownbere, Co. Cork, the eldest of two boys and three girls.

He received his primary education at Castletownbere National School and then travelled to Sacred Heart College, Western Road, Cork for his post primary education. His home town is almost one hundred miles from Cork city. As a young student at Sacred Heart College, Fr. Jack began his studies after a two-part journey from Castletownbere to Bantry by boat, and then by train to Cork city. Mid-term breaks were not a feature of the educational system at that time.

Fr. Jack entered the Novitiate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1932 at Bree in Belgium, where he made his first profession in 1933 and his Perpetual Profession in 1936.

That year the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart acquired Moyne Park in Co. Galway and established there the first Irish permanent House of Formation. Eight scholastics were recalled from Louvain and Bree to be the pioneers in that house, and Fr. Jack was one of them. Two years later he was ordained priest in Tuam.

During an active life, Fr. Jack taught in the Scholasticate at Moyne Park and in the secondary school at Western Road, Cork. While teaching at Western Road he was also editor of the MSC Annals – a religious magazine.

Parish Missions and Retreats to religious formed a major ministry for him and in the course of this work he visited all parts of Ireland and Britain. After decades of service he retired to the MSC Community at Western Road, but remained very active in keeping abreast of developments in religious life and spirituality.

Selective in choosing reading material he was a source of great knowledge and information on good books and periodicals. His willingness to share his wisdom was much appreciated. He was also a fluent speaker of French and Irish.

Father John Shanahan MSC, passed away on February 6, 2010, at the Bon Secours Home in Mount Desert, and after Mass in Sacred Heart Church he was buried in St. Oliver’s Cemetary, Cork. We pray for him and commend him to the Lord. May he rest with the Sacred Heart. We remember also in our prayers his sisters Maeve and Clare at this time as they mourn his death.

Funeral Arrangements:
On Sunday 7th February, Rosary at 5.00pm in the Sacred Heart Centre, Western Road, Cork. On Monday 8th February, Lying in repose at the Sacred Heart Centre from 5.00pm till 7.30 pm. Removal to Sacred Heart Church at 7.30pm. On Tuesday 9th February, Funeral Mass will be held at 12.00 noon followed by burial at St. Oliver’s cemetery.

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