“I want to die here because people at Christendom College will pray for me when I am gone.”
These were the opening words of Fr. Seamus O’Kielty at his first homily at his first Mass that he celebrated at Christendom College when he came to serve the community as an assistant chaplain in 2002.
Fr. Seamus O’Kielty.
When Fr. O’Kielty, 88, took his last breath in the afternoon on Monday, February 18, the college community had been praying many chaplets and rosaries, offering him Holy Hours and Masses, and praying for him as he lay in the hospital room, surrounded by his closest friends, dying of an internal infection resulting in sepsis.
For close to 20 years, Fr. O’Kielty served the college community faithfully as Christendom’s longest-running resident priest, with great love and humor. He was famous for hitting people with his cane, or sprinkling people with holy water from the font, or calling all the boys Billy and the girls Sheila. He gave his altar boys cash presents after Mass and welcomed Christ during the consecration at each Mass with an Irish welcome of “céad míle fáilte.” He was famous for speaking many languages and for recounting stories of how he would eat “beans and bananas” every day in Burundi, except on Sundays when they would eat “bananas and beans.” He loved alliteration during homilies, and singing at any time during the Mass. Nobody who ever met him would forget him, and now that he has gone to his eternal reward – after receiving last rites and Viaticum – everyone will most certainly fulfill his prophecy and pray for him and his eternal soul.
Fr. O’Kielty showed an incredible passion during every Mass he celebrated.
A missionary, teacher, Navy Chaplain, and beloved member of the Christendom community, Fr. O’Kielty will be dearly missed by all who came into contact with him.
“Along with his family and the entire Christendom College community, we mourn the loss of Fr. Seamus O’Kielty,” says college president Dr. Timothy O’Donnell. “Fr. Seamus was truly a priest after the heart of Christ, who served the Church faithfully for so many years. The college had been blessed to receive the graces from his priestly ministry since 2002. His love for Jesus and passion for the Faith inspired all the students that came into contact with him. He will be deeply missed and we commend his soul to God with hearts filled with love and gratitude.”
Born in County Mayo, Ireland, Fr. O’Kielty was the 8th of nine children. He was ordained a priest (a White Father Missionary) in 1954, and served for the next 11 years in Tanganyika as a missionary, before it became the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964. He later served as a missionary in war-torn Bolivia as well, even becoming temporary chaplain to the Bolivian army when “Che” Guevara was attempting to establish an insurgency. While in this role, Fr. O’Kielty also created a catechetical program — despite being forbidden to by the government — to evangelize the Aymara Indians. In the end, he trained more than 100 catechists before leaving the country.
Fr. O’Kielty with his sisters in his native Ireland.
Fr. O’Kielty went to the United States after his time as a missionary, attending Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, where he earned a master’s in education and became certified by the state as an accredited teacher of German, French, and Spanish. He earned a master’s in linguistics at New York University as well, and became a doctoral candidate while there.
Fr. O’Kielty spent many years as a missionary, including in Tanganyika and war-torn Bolivia.
In 1974, he returned to Tanganyika, now Burundi, to become a parish pastor, taking on a role left abandoned after the massacre of Hutu priests in the region. Five years later, Fr. O’Kielty found himself as a Navy chaplain, serving sailors in Libya, Lebanon, Turkey, Morocco, and near Cuba. He qualified as an expert marksman with a pistol and M16, and engaged in Jungle Fighting Training. For all of his service, Fr. O’Kielty was awarded Sea Service Deployment medals, the Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal, all before retiring from the Navy in 1995.
While a Navy chaplain, Fr. O’Kielty met Pope Saint John Paul II.
With his duty done, Fr. O’Kielty returned to education, serving as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickenson University’s School of Education before returning to the Paterson Diocese as an assistant priest at various parishes. In 2002, Fr. O’Kielty made his final stop, becoming an assistant chaplain at Christendom before becoming the head chaplain in 2004, a role he held until resuming assistant chaplain duties till his final days.
Fr. O’Kielty forged incredible bonds in the Christendom community, becoming part of many Christendom families, including the McFadden’s (he baptized 6 of the 11 McFadden children and gave 6 of them their first Holy Communions).
His love of Christendom, particularly of its students, changed thousands of lives during his seventeen years. For alumni, the man’s force in their lives inspired them to be better Catholics, both in and outside of the Chapel, an inspiration that will continue on long after his passing. When Christendom builds its new Christ the King Chapel, there will be a sacristy dedicated to Fr. O’Kielty – as requested by the alumni of the college.
May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace. Amen.