15 -- Fr Sean Kilbane
(PP Menlough 1999 - 2007)
Gerry Costello
Fr. Seán Kilbane 1999 – 2007
Fr. Sean Kilbane, a native of Mountbellew, was educated at St. Mary’s College, Galway and ordained to the priesthood on December 21st. 1960 by Most Rev. Dr. O’Doherty, Bishop of Dromore, as he was of the African Missionary Society Seminary, Dromantine, Newry, Co. Down. He was the youngest son of Mrs. Kilbane and Mr. Sean Kilbane, Headmaster, St. Jarlath’s Vocational School, Mountbellew. He is brother of Rev. Seamus Kilbane, Middlesbrough, England; Sister M. Genevieve, Presentation Convent, Tuam; Sister M. Angelina, San Antonio, Texas; Mrs. Soraghan, Dublin, Angela and Martha Kilbane, both of Mountbellew. In October 1961 he was among 22 priests who volunteered for ministries in Nigeria and Liberia and in October 1962 he rescued four people from drowning during severe flooding in Nigeria. In 1977 he was appointed CC in Tullycross and in 1979 he was ministering in nearby Renvyle, Co. Galway. By 1992 he had moved to Kilmeena, Co. Mayo, came to Skehana in 1995, and served as parish priest of Menlough from June 1999 until his retirement in 2007. He then went on to minister as AP in the parish of Moore and attched to Clonfad Church.
Westmeath Independent – July 6th. 2011
Large crowds turned out in Moore and Clonfad on Monday last to pay tribute to local curate Fr Sean Kilbane on the occasion of his retirement and the year of his Golden Jubilee as a cleric.
A popular figure in the parish of Moore, where he has been based for the last four years, Fr Sean, a native of Mountbellew in Co Galway, was first ordained back in 1960 as an SMA priest.
He was one of 24 ordained SMA priests during that year, the highest ever for the order. He later spent 13 years working in various parts of Nigeria prior to returning to Ireland in 1974.
After a number of years studying in NUIG Maynooth, Fr Sean returned to serve in the Archdiocese of Tuam. He was later posted in Tullycross from 1976 to 1989 and then worked in Kilmeena and Menlough in Galway for some years before he arrived in Moore in 2007, where he is set to continue to living during his retirement at the curate’s residence at Rooty.
On Monday last, retired Archbishop Dr Joseph Cassidy presided at a celebration Mass in Our Lady of Rosary Church in Clonfad before a large attendance of local people.
Afterwards, the crowds adjourned to the nearby hall for refreshments, where Chairman of the Pastoral Council John Mulvey acted as MC for the event.
Fr Sean Kilbane received a large number of presentations on the night, a sign of the esteem he is held in the community. On behalf of the people of the parish, Padraig Kilduff, sacristan in Clonfad presented the priest with a piece of cut glass, while Mary Kelly, sacristan in Moore, along with Padraig Egan, Chairperson of Moore Community Council and Mai Greene, a member of the Pastoral Council also gave him tokens on the night to mark the occasion. All in Moore parish wish Fr Sean a long and a happy retirement in the area.
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