July 10

FR. PATRICK FAHEY was born in Foxford, County Mayo, Ireland on November 22, 1935 and died on July 10, 2011. Fr. Pat was educated at Foxford Convent School, Foxford NS and St Joseph’s College, Ballinasloe, all in Ireland. He entered Dalgan Park in 1954 and was ordained priest on December 21, 1960. Assigned to the Philippines in 1961, his first appointments were to Oroquieta and Malabang in Mindanao. In 1968 he was assigned for four years to the Vocations Apostolate in Ireland. In September 1972 he was back in the Philippines, serving as Parish Priest of Mambajao on the island of Camiguin. In 1976 he served as Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Cagayan and secretary to Archbishop Patrick Cronin. He was reappointed to the Irish Region in 1982 where he became director of the Faith and Mission Renewal Programme for Missionaries and co-director of the first renewal course for secular priests in Ireland. Between 1987 and 1996 he was assigned to initial formation programmes in the Philippines, in Cebu and in Manila, where he accompanied Columban seminarians and lay missionaries. From 1997 to 2001, he served as director of the Columban Retirement Home in Dalgan, then as assistant house superior. Fr. Pat was a contemplative person, a fisherman, at ease in his own company. A very rare neurological illness unexpectedly attacked him in 2010. Fr. Pat died after a prolonged illness at the Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin. He is buried at Dalgan.