Congratulations to our Spa GAA Club President Fr Tim O’Sullivan who celebrates his Diamond Jubilee this weekend!

Canon Tim was ordained on June 4th 1961 and he marked this special 60 year anniversary at mass at St Mary’s Church, Derby, UK where he has been serving for almost 30 years.

The sermon at this special mass was delivered by Fr Michael O’Donoghue and can be read here

Fr Tim O’Sullivan pictured on Friday with his sisters Joan and Maureen (Photo: Fr Michael O’Donoghue)

He studied for the priesthood at Kilkenny College and was ordained on 4 June 1961 for the Diocese of Nottingham. His first appointment was as Assistant Priest at St Mary’s, Derby and since then Fr Tim has been Assistant Priest at Holy Souls, Scunthorpe, and at St Mary’s, Worksop.

In 1972 he was appointed Parish Priest at Our Lady of Lourdes, Mickleover, Derby, and then in 1976 moved to Holy Trinity Parish, Newark (where’s Spa’s Fr Michael O’Donoghue is located).

He returned to St Mary’s, Derby in 1993 and in 2000 he was made Canon of the Cathedral Chapter.

Our congratulations to Fr Tim from all at Spa GAA club and hopefully we will get to welcome him home to celebrate in person very soon.

Fr Michael O’Donoghue and Fr Tim O’Sullivan at the concelebrated mass at St Marys

On the occasion of his Golden Jubilee (50 years) in the summer of 2011, we had a wonderful celebration at the Spa clubhouse to honour his years of service to the church.

The community of family and friends were invited to a special mass and celebration in Spa on August 1st 2011. Special guests on the night were Bishop Bill Murphy and Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh. Entertainment was supplied by our Spa dancers and musicians, with local musicians, singers and seachchaí .

Hope to be able to celebrate in Killarney again with him very soon.

Some memories below from the 2011 anniversary mass in Spa (Photos: Anne Holland)