Mayo parish pays sad farewell to popular visiting priest

COMMUNITY NOTES: BALLYHAUNIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (FEBRUARY 4 EDITION)

Logboy paid a sad farewell to Fr Tom Cleary, a popular visitor to the local church from his missionary work as a Columban priest. Fr Tom said Mass during holidays from his mission in Korea before he later moved to Australia.

Many households in Logboy still have photos of a farewell party in the late 1960s held for Fr Tom in Logboy National School after his ordination in 1969 and prior to his departure to the Far East as a member of the Columban religious order.

In a 2008 article in the Far East magazine, Fr Tom described his pastorship of the parish of Hwa Yang Dong in Seoul and the rebuilding of his church there in 1978, his fourth year in Korea.

Fr Tom passed away on January 9 at Mercy Place, Melbourne, where he had been receiving palliative care.