Fr Matt Kelly: 60 years a priest, 85 Kilcullen

Reaching 60 years of priesthood, and still being able to enjoy the occasion, is not given to many, writes Brian Byrne. But Fr Matt Kelly OP achieved just that recently in the company of his extended family.

There was a symmetry to the occasion, as the celebration was held in the dining room of Fallons of Kilcullen, which was once the tailor's shop operated by his father Jim and above which Fr Matt was born 85 years ago.

Those who celebrated with him included his sister Brigid, known to all as B, and his brother Pat, as well as many nieces and nephews and their children.

"It has been a wonderful day," Fr Matt said on the occasion, pictured above with his sister Brigid (better known just as 'B') and brother Pat. He lives in Kilkenny with his order these days, occasionally coming back to visit Newbridge College where he worked for many years. In fact, it was while a young boy being brought to visit his older brother Jim, a pupil in Newbridge College, which probably sparked his initial interest in the priesthood.

"Later I got a scholarship to the College myself, and was educated there until 1944. Afterwards I went to Oxford and studied my theology with the English Dominicans and was ordained there."

Following a period at UCC, where he studied for a BA, he came back to Newbridge College in 1955 and taught there for a decade, after which he went to Australia for a number of years. "I was stationed in Canberra, where I was chaplain in the National University. I enjoyed that time very much, it was exhilerating, meeting not just Australians, but people from Asia and elsewhere."

When he returned to Ireland he worked in Limerick before eventually moving to Kilkenny some years ago.

Both as a priest and a teacher through his working life, he says he was 'learning all the time'. "There's nobody will teach you better than young people you are working with. They are mirrors of the society in which we all live."

In addition to his teaching career, Fr Matt trained rugby teams, his other passion in life—he had himself played rugby for Leinster as a schoolboy. "I say that lightly," he smiles, "but I still have the same interest in the game." He was also very strongly involved in Newbridge College Past Pupils Union.

His memories of growing up in Kilcullen remain sharp, and he still 'thinks of and prays for' the 'wonderful' people of the village in which he was born—"Kilcullen has a marvellous character," he muses. With family still here, he retains a direct line of contact even if it isn't quite as easy for him to visit.

Fr Matt is the surviving member of four siblings in his father's first family, who included Jim, Jerry and Mary. Pat and Brigid came after his father remarried following the death of his first wife. Fr Matt particularly appreciates being able to be with the extended Kelly family.

"Sometimes I come on 'holiday' from Kilkenny to Newbridge College, and I can catch up with some of them then," he says with the quiet smile that has always been his trademark.

This article was first published in The Kildare Nationalist.