In March 2005, at the instigation of Mgr Rob Egar and Fr Michael Trainor, a small group of priests agreed to help compile a short life history of all the clergy of the Archdiocese who had died since 1950. It was felt that the good work done by many of them should not go unrecorded. It has been an ongoing task since that time.

While it may sound a simple project it has proved rather difficult as in many cases there is little to build on. Very little was recorded about clergy in earlier times, especially many of the Irish priests who spent their lives simply caring for the people in their parishes. Few of them were involved in committees or other organisations, there are few people alive who remember them and often very little was recorded. For example in The Southern Cross newspaper some priests were accorded lengthy obituaries, others were scarcely mentioned.

Because this is an on-going task we believe it was not appropriate to publish them in a book and yet we wanted them to be available to the public, so we are grateful for the Archdiocese allowing these short life histories to be placed on the Diocesan website.

We recognise that many may seem very brief and not do justice to the man involved. So if any reader would like to add more detail to any of these stories please fill in the Clergy Biographies Feedback form with any additional information you may have along with you contact details.

We hope these life stories may be a way of recognising and paying tribute to the wonderful service offered by so many priests over the years. May they rest in the peace of Christ.

– Fr John Swann