Monsignor Paddy Finn, Parish Priest
of St. Mary’s, Haddington Road, Dublin and a native son of Athy, died on the 22nd
day of May 2013. Following a requiem
mass in his Parish Church his remains were brought back to his home town for burial
alongside his parents Mick and Doretta Finn.
The Finn family lived in Woodstock
Street where Mick Finn had a garage in what is now Pearsons. The family home was in the adjoining house in
what was then known as Barrack Lane.
Paddy Finn attended the local Christian Brothers school and was in the
Leaving Certificate class of 1955. He
was ordained to the priesthood in May 1962, just three months after his father
had sadly died. Fr. Paddy retained a
great interest in his home town and greatly valued friendships which he
retained over the years with his classmates.
One of those classmates, now living
in England for many decades, sent me an email following Monsignor Paddy’s
funeral. Michael Behan, formerly of St.
Joseph’s Terrace, recalled young days spent in Athy when the future Monsignor ‘travelled the town with a satchel on his
back filled with potential comic swaps which came to him courtesy of relations
in America.’
Fr. Paddy, as he then was, first
contacted me about 18 years ago when he was Parish Priest of Dunlavin, Co.
Wicklow. He sent me on a copy of the
Dunlavin Parish magazine which had an article on Canon John Hyland, a former
Parish Priest of Dunlavin who left Athy in 1813 to enter the seminary in
Maynooth. I was subsequently able to write
an article on the two Athy men who although separated by 130 years were linked
by youthful years spent in Athy and appointments to the West Wicklow parish of
Dunlavin.
By a strange coincidence Monsignor
Paddy Finn was Parish Priest of St. Mary’s, Haddington Road when he died and
where one of his predecessors was Monsignor Michael Hickey of Kilberry,
Athy. Monsignor Hickey died unexpectedly
while Parish Priest of St. Mary’s in the early 1920s. About eight years ago I was privileged to
meet Paddy Finn here in Athy and to accompany him as he visited some old haunts
on the west side of the River Barrow. He
had previously reminded me several times of what he felt was my apparent
reluctance to cross the Crom a Boo bridge in search of people and events to include
in my weekly column. I finished the
article which I subsequently wrote on the Athy born cleric in Eye No. 612 by
noting that with his help the apparent neglect of the western bank of the River
Barrow had been corrected.
Another matter which I only now
became aware of through Michael Behan’s email was Monsignor Paddy’s criticism
of the local Heritage Centre for its lack of coverage of the contribution made
by locals in the War of Independence.
Paddy never voiced that criticism to me, but yes, it is a fair comment
about that part of our shared history which I have been trying for years to
highlight.
I last met Monsignor Paddy Finn
about four weeks before he was struck down by the illness which necessitated
his subsequent lengthy hospitalisation.
Both of us, avid book readers, met in Dawson Street, Dublin and
adjourned to a nearby cafe for talk, almost inevitably about Athy, its
chequered history and the characters and the nicknames of our own place. He recalled his classmates of the 1955
Leaving Certificate class, many of whom have since passed away. Michael Behan, Jim Blanchfield, Ger Noonan,
Sean Usher, Tony Taaffe, Aidan Brophy, Ray Webb, Frank McCarthy, Micheal
Dooley, John Lynch, Tom Fleming, Paddy Tierney and Brian Lawler.
To my regret I was unable to attend
Monsignor Paddy Finn’s funeral as I was chairing the annual general meeting of
the Federation of Local History Societies in Waterford that same day. Paddy Finn, who was a regular reader of this
column, will be sadly missed. He is now
back in his home town amongst the people he knew, sharing a grave with his
beloved mother and father in St. Michael’s cemetery.
Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a anam.
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