Irish-born priest remembered as
‘a remarkable human being’

“People could see the spirit of Fr. John,” said longtime friend Patricia Mullen. “He use to talk about the importance of emptying oneself in order to be totally present to others, and we saw that in him. He was a remarkable human being.”

Fr. Cullinan was one of six children born to an Irish farmer in Askra County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1922. Although several of his brothers became farmers, Fr. Cullinan went into the seminary, following the lead of an older brother and two uncles who were priests.

The Diocese of Tucson was recruiting priests in 1946, the year Fr. Cullinan was ordained in Carlow by Bishop Thomas Keogh.

The young and adventurous Fr. Cullinan volunteered to come to the Wild West, landing at Immaculate Conception Parish in Ajo as parochial vicar.

Mullen said once Fr. Cullinan realized everyone spoke Spanish, he immediately got a tutor and could communicate by year’s end.

That’s the kind of person Fr. Cullinan was; attentive, kindhearted and somewhat of a pushover.

It was no secret the poor knew he was always good for $10.

“They would walk around the church (at St. Joan of Arc), find his car and sit and wait,” Mullen said. “We knew he gave out money and we teased him about it, but we also knew he wouldn’t change. He was very generous, especially to those that worked with the poor.”

At the very least, Fr. Cullinan left the world a better place than he found it. From his assignments in Tombstone and Sierra Vista to Chandler and Gilbert, Fr. Cullinan was a witness of what it means to be a Catholic Christian.

“He was just a sweet, kind and gentle soul,” said Mary O’Halloran. “He was always smiling.”

In 1959, Fr. Cullinan became the founding pastor of Christ the King Parish in Mesa during a time of explosive growth in the Valley. Ten years later, he was founding pastor of St. Joseph Parish where he served for the next 24 years until he retired in 1994.

When he wasn’t on the golf course, Fr. Cullinan assisted at St. Joan of Arc Parish with daily Mass, and ministered to the sick and homebound.

Fr. Greg Adolf, pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Sierra Vista, remembered how Fr. Cullinan went door-to-door and gathered the first Catholic community for Mass before the City of Sierra Vista even existed.

“We were blessed to have Fr. John present with us for the dedication of our new parish church in 2006, and again for the celebration of our 50th anniversary in 2008,” he wrote in the online guest book. “He is greatly loved and honored here by all of us and we treasure the time that Fr. John spent with us, his spiritual heirs and heiresses. Well done, good and faithful servant. Requiescat in pace.”

About 1,000 people joined his first cousin, Gerald McSorley, pastor of St. Bernard Parish in Los Angeles, during the Jan. 28 Mass of Resurrection at St. Joan of Arc.

Fr. McSorley took his body back to Fivemile Town in Northern Ireland for final burial.

Fr. Cullinan is preceded in death by his parents and three brothers.  He is survived by his brother, Willie, and sister Mary, as well as cousins, nieces, nephews and many friends.