This Obituary for Father John Sheehy taken from his diocese newsletter.
FATHER SHEEHY was born in County Limerick on 4 May 1929. He followed two of his older
brothers to the Junior Seminary at Mark Cross in 1943, getting off the train in war-torn London,
wondering what he had got himself into. It was a brief moment of wondering, for he had a
vocation to the priesthood, and wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way. From Mark Cross
he went to St John’s Seminary, Wonersh and was ordained priest at St Mary’s, Preston Park on
13 June 1954, and then went to St Michael’s, Chatham as curate, with special responsibility for
youth. In 1956 he was sent back to Mark Cross, where he taught English, Latin and Greek, and
perhaps more enthusiastically, coached various games.
Bishop Cowderoy wrote to him in 1959, informing him that his services were needed
as chaplain in the Royal Navy and instructing him to report immediately, unless he
had serious objections ‘which would not be lightly entertained’, a letter Fr John was
fond of quoting all his life. He served in the Navy and with the Royal Marines (whose
rigorous training he insisted on undertaking with his men), serving all over the world.
It was a different sort of priestly service, but essential, and his sixteen years of service
were a very happy time for him. In 1975, when he came out of the Navy, the then
Bishop Bowen assigned him to the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows, Effingham, with
East Horsley.
Fr John’s predecessor had been in office for 39 years, and Bishop Bowen expressed
the hope that John might equal or surpass that. To his regret, he retired a few years
short of that record, but at the time of his retirement, he was the only serving parish
priest who had been appointed by Bishop Bowen. His parish (and parishioners) at
Effingham were a source of grace and life for him, and he served them long and faithfully,
always considering himself incredibly blessed in them. He was a man of intense
loyalties: to God and the Church; to the diocese and its bishops; to his parish and people;
and to his friends and fellow priests. He retired very reluctantly, but the time had
come, and when Bishop Kieran told him he needed to retire for the good of his parish,
there was no question. He had several good years at St. Mary’s, Westbrook, in
Worthing, where his Priest Support Group continued to meet with him for lunch. In
the Bishop’s absence, Mgr John Hull presided at his Requiem Mass in St George’s
chapel, with more than 30 priests concelebrating, all of the Augustinian Sisters and
many staff, and many parishioners from Effingham in attendance. He was buried
shortly after back home, in Effingham, in the church’s cemetery where his two priest
brothers and another brother are buried. He was a good man and a good and faithful
priest.
MAY HE REST IN PEACE