Retired Irish priest led flock to Christ with humor

By Mary Moore, The Catholic Sun
July 19, 2007

CHANDLER — Since founding St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in 1985, Fr. Joseph Hennessy has helped meet the needs of churchgoers in one of the fastest sprawling cities in Arizona.

Now he’s turning over the keys to the next pastor, Fr. John Coleman, and retiring to his home in Sun Lakes. He celebrated his last Mass as pastor on June 30.

The County Cork native was ordained on June 8, 1963, at St. Patrick’s College in Carlow, Ireland, and soon after found himself serving in the Valley of the Sun. After many years serving Mesa’s first parish, Queen of Peace, he was asked to build a new church in nearby Chandler, and his Irish wit came in handy when it was time to harvest parishioners.

“I went around to the nearby churches and asked for all the good sinners,” he said. “And I told all the self-righteous to stay behind.”

St. Andrew’s first Mass was in the gymnasium of Chandler’s Carver Junior High School with 420 people in attendance. Later, Masses moved to Seton Catholic High School’s cafeteria, where it was later discovered that the evaporative coolers had no water.

“There was hot air coming from two sources, the blower and the priest,” he laughed.

Parishioners count Fr. Hennessy’s ability to laugh at himself as one of his most endearing qualities.

“He has a wonderful sense of humor. It’s been very entertaining,” long-time parishioner Lois Rodrick said. “He’s a real person, a real human being. With him, there’s never a show. And I think that is why so many people relate to him on a personal level.”

The Irishman maintains that a good priest shouldn’t take himself too seriously, and that the Children’s Mass is the perfect example of why every priest needs a sense of humor.

“Liturgy and life are the same, they are one,” Fr. Hennessy said. “Only in children’s liturgy can you experience the surprises that are part of life.”

His affinity for children is a part of the legacy he will leave behind as well as his ability to recall people’s names, whether they came to Mass twice a year or every Sunday, parishioners say.

Combined with a thorough sense of leadership, the two make up the formula that Fr. Hennessy believes is essential to being a successful parish priest: the proper balance between good business principles and pastoral sensibility.

The combination has proved fruitful at St. Andrew where ministry has grown exponentially since the parish was founded. What began as a handful of ministries has grown to nearly 80, each developing its own respective success.

Among those successes, St. Andrew’s Mother’s Lifeline has helped more than 1,200 mothers in crisis pregnancies, the Christmas giving tree project garnered 3,000 gifts, and the annual party for foster and adoptive families grew by more than 100 percent last year.

In 1992, St. Andrew was cited by author Patrick Brennan as one of the “Parishes that Excel” in America. But Fr. Hennessy takes little credit for the parish’s overall success.

“It’s none of my doing,” he said. “If we’re not reaching out, then we have no right to what we have been given. We’re to be stewards of all that we have.”

Rodrick and others maintain that Fr. Hennessy’s leadership was essential to the parish’s growth.

“He has great vision and knows how to execute it,” she said. “He has a vision of helping everybody. For him, it’s never too late, it’s never too hard.”

In his 44 years of priesthood, Fr. Hennessy believes the biggest surprise is that he survived.

“It’s by the miracle of God’s grace that I got to this point. God has a great sense of humor.”

“He was a great pastor, a good and holy priest, and we will miss him tremendously,” said parishioner Pat Kosis, who has known him for 20 years. “But he certainly deserves a rest.”

Due to various health problems, Fr. Hennessy will retire to his home in Sun Lakes where he plans to spend time reading, traveling, and learning to use his iPod. He will continue to serve on occasion at St. Andrew.

In the end, the Irishman says that he plans on getting three things: “a dog, a computer and a tattoo… not necessarily in that order.”