Renata Steffens
Twin golfer priests celebrated their 95th birthday on Saturday, March 21 and will also celebrate 70 years of priesthood side by side this year. Both priests worked until over 90 years of age. Fr Joe Kelly had been working in Bayside Parish until last year, and his brother Fr Matt Kelly, retired three years ago. The twin priests currently reside in the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sacred Heart Residence in Sybil Hill, Raheny.
Both priests were members of the Royal Dublin Golf Club, and until last year, played a weekly game of golf with a group of priest friends. Growing up, the priests played football, and said that being active and sporty people played a great role in their longevity. “I like playing football, and when you’re not able to play football, you play golf,” Fr Joe joked during a press conference, before their birthday.
They were born on March 31, 1931 in Coolcarrigan, Co. Kildare, and attended primary school in Timahoe where their mother was a teacher. Their father had a grocery shop in the area and the boys along with their two brothers and two sisters, would have spent time there growing up. For secondary school, they both attended St Mary’s, Knockbeg College in Co. Carlow.
Fr Joe was the first one to be called to the priesthood, but later Fr Matt also discovered a vocation. When it was time to enter the seminary, the bishop at the time, Bishop Thomas Keogh, decided to separate the twins and sent Fr Joe to Dublin, to Clonliffe College and Fr Matt to Maynooth College.
Three years later, Fr Joe joined his brother in Maynooth, where they stayed until their ordination. Bishop Keogh “didn’t want” the brothers to be ordained together, Fr Matt said. “The people there in Maynooth wanted us to get ordained together, it seemed like a good idea”, he added. But the bishop had already made up his mind. They were then ordained three weeks apart in 1956. Fr Joe was ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin in May, and Fr Matt for the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin in June.
To honour their 70 years of service, a Mass will be concelebrated on Sunday, May 17, at the Church of the Resurrection in Bayside, Dublin. The liturgy will be led by Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell, and Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin Denis Nulty.