Four Donegal priests to celebrate significant ordination anniversaries

Four veteran Donegal clerics in the Raphoe Diocese will mark significant anniversaries of their priestly ordinations this month.

Monsignor Dan Carr and Canon Denis McGettigan will celebrate their diamond jubilees with Fr Francis McLoone and Fr Kieran McAteer toasting their golden jubilees. 

This Friday at 7pm, Mass will be celebrated in St Mary’s Church, Killymard for the celebration of the golden jubilee of Fr McLoone’s ordination.

He was ordained in St Connell’s Church in Glenties by the then Bishop McFeely in 1975.

He previously served as the administrator of St Eunan’s Cathedral and has been in the Killymard parish since 2006. In 2018, he was appointed as a Vicar General of the Raphoe Diocese alongside Fr Michael McKeever.

Refreshments will be served in the St John Bosco Centre following Mass on Friday evening.

On Sunday evening at 6pm, Fr McAteer will celebrate his golden jubilee at Mass in the Church of Mary Immaculate, Stranorlar, followed by refreshments in the Villa Rose Hotel.

A native of Fanad and a talented sportsman, he was ordained the day after Fr McLoone in 1975. Bishop McFeely performed the ordination at the Church of St Mary’s in Fanavolty. 

He spent several years working as a missionary priest in Peru before being appointed as a curate in Stranorlar in 1993. He is now the parish priest in Stranorlar.

Next Thursday evening, June 12, Monsignor Carr will mark his diamond jubilee - 60 years on from his ordination to the priesthood - at St Baithin’s Church, St Johnston at 7.30pm with refreshments in the Resource Centre afterwards. 

The native of Ballyheerin in Fanad, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in Maynooth.

He retired in 2023 after serving as the parish priest of St Johnston since 1988. 

In 1996, following the transfer of Bishop Seamus Hegarty, he was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of the Raphoe Diocese.

Having been appointed as a Prelate of Honour, with the title of Monsignor, in December 1996, he was appointed as the Vicar General of the Diocese by Bishop Philip Boyce before becoming a Canon to the Cathedral Chapter in 2000.

He previously worked at St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny, where he was President from 1982-88.

He still resides in St Johnston as Pastor Emeritus.

Canon McGettigan retired in 2018 after being the parish priest in Raphoe since 1993, when he succeeded Canon Patrick Deegan, who became Dean of the Cathedral Chapter. 

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The then Fr McGettigan, who originally hailed from Kilmacrennan, was the PP in Carrick before being transferred to Raphoe, where he still lives as Pastor Emeritus.

He was ordained on the same afternoon in 1965 as Fr Carr by Archbishop McQuaid. His diamond jubilee celebrations will take place on June 20 at 7pm in St Eunan’s Church, Raphoe. Refreshments will be served after Mass in Deele College.