Diocesan News
Service To Commemorate The Life And Ministry Of Father John Sullivan SJ (1861–1933)
L–R: Fr Conor Harper SJ, Dean Dermot Dunne, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Archbishop Michael Jackson
People from a broad spectrum of Irish life gathered in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday afternoon (14 June) to commemorate the life and ministry of Fr John Sullivan SJ (1861–1933). Described by Archbishop Michael Jackson as a “much loved human being and priest” Fr Sullivan was baptised in the Church of Ireland Parish Church of St George in Hardwick Street and was later ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. He was elevated to Venerable by Pope Francis last year.
The service was organised by Archbishop Jackson, Dean Dermot Dunne and Fr Conor Harper SJ and attended by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. Among the large congregation were members of the Gardiner Street Parish and Community; members of the Jesuit Order nationwide; members of Clongowes Wood College, where Fr Sullivan taught, and of Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, where he was educated. Also present were descendants of his brother, Sir William Sullivan, Peter and Hector Lloyd.
Archbishop Martin addressed the congregation at the beginning of the service and spoke about Fr John Sullivan’s progression towards sainthood. He said that John Sullivan understood the “universal call to holiness and holiness knows no denominational boundaries”. He spoke of ecumenism and said that John Sullivan’s faith was the product of two traditions and it was enriched by that fact.
Describing the priest he said: “Most of John Sullivan’s life was spent with young people who were struck by the authenticity of his life… Now days we worry about reaching young people. John Sullivan teaches that perhaps the church does not fascinate young people because we do not fascinate young people.”
In his sermon Archbishop Jackson said that John Sullivan touched the life’s of countless people across a wide spectrum of society and did so without pretension. “None of you here this afternoon probably needs to be reminded of what makes John Sullivan so special in the life of Ireland, as history has dealt its hand in our complex, indeed contorted, national life. He spent half of his life as an Anglican and a layperson and half as a Roman Catholic and a priest–and–Jesuit. Anglican and Roman Catholic; lay and ordained: these for long have played their part as interlocking and interacting identities in Irish life and frequently have been seen as incompatibles and contradictions. We can throw into this equation the fact that he was educated in Portora Royal School, Enniskillen a school which is now in today’s Northern Ireland,” he said.
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