{"id":358959,"date":"2026-03-22T07:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/358959\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:13:09","slug":"twin-priests-celebrate-turning-95-together-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/358959\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin priests celebrate turning 95 together \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twins, Fr Joe Kelly and Fr Matt Kelly, were born on March 21st, 1931. Nine popes, 29 D\u00e1ils and 30 Kerry All-Ireland senior football titles later, they celebrate their 95th birthday today. <\/p>\n

Matt had long believed he was the eldest, but Monsignor Frank Cremin at Maynooth<\/a> assured Joe he was. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been boasting about it ever since,\u201d said Joe. <\/p>\n

Regardless, the mystery continues.<\/p>\n

The brothers were ordained in 1956 and, as they approach the platinum anniversary of that event, both reside at Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home in Raheny, Dublin<\/a>. Mother superior Jacinta said it was \u201ca pleasure\u201d to have the two \u201cvery peaceful\u201d men living there. <\/p>\n

Joe said he was \u201cvery happy\u201d in the six or seven parishes he served. \u201cI enjoyed meeting people and there were wonderful people in every parish.\u201d <\/p>\n

He retired as curate in Dublin\u2019s Bayside parish last year. His 69 years serving as a priest began in Kilmeague parish, Dublin, where his grandparents were from. Subsequent appointments were in Dublin \u2013 in Finglas, Larkhill-Whitehall-Santry (as parish priest) and finally as curate in Bayside.<\/p>\n

\"Twins,Twins, Fr Joe Kelly and Fr Matt Kelly, with Mother Superior Jacinta, at Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home in Raheny, Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Matt had a more academic career, first as a diocesan examiner in schools throughout the Kildare and Leighlin diocese for 10 years. He subsequently lectured in philosophy at Carlow College seminary for 20 years, where he was also president. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was very happy there too,\u201d he said, adding that summers were spent serving in Long Island in the US. <\/p>\n

Matt was also parish priest in Kildare Town and then curate in Kill\/Ardclough. Throughout, he was involved with church music, many times as choir director. He joined the award-winning Kill Singers and sang in the church choir. <\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up in Kill where I learned to sing as it should be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He was active until almost three years ago, arriving in the nursing home in July, 2023, after a bout of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Bishops have come down in the world too. It\u2019s a great thing in fact<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Fr Joe Kelly<\/p>\n

Despite being twins and sharing a close bond, church<\/a> authorities decided they would be separated when both opted for a life in the priesthood. <\/p>\n

The then-bishop of Kildare & Leighlin, Thomas Keogh, insisted Matt go to Maynooth and Joe to Clonliffe College in Dublin, which he did for three years before being allowed attend Maynooth with his twin. <\/p>\n

The circumstances were similar when it came to ordination. Rather than the two men doing so together, as the family wished, church authorities insisted they be ordained three weeks apart \u2013 Matt for Kildare and Leighlin, and Joe for the Dublin archdiocese. <\/p>\n

Bishops did things differently back in 1956, but Joe says they are different today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBishops have come down in the world too. It\u2019s a great thing in fact because it didn\u2019t make any sense at all to separate us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FrFr Joe Kelly (left) and Fr Matt Kelly (second right) with their parents, Ann and Peter, at Saint Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth, after both men had been ordained in 1956. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Matt remembered writing a letter to Keogh at the time, asking that they be ordained together. <\/p>\n

\u201cI got it back by post and on the top was written \u2018request not being observed\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was ordained by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, of whom he said: \u201cHe was remote \u2013 was always remote. But he was all right behind it all. We\u2019re all just people.”<\/p>\n

Reflecting on all the changes they had experienced in the church since then, including the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, Joe said: \u201cThe church had to change and it is all the better for changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their childhood, \u201ceverybody was religious\u201d, but Joe believes people today are \u201cprobably more religious, in good ways\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are very good deep down. I always believed that and still believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religion was in their background. Their uncle, Canon John Waters, then president at Clonliffe College, administered the last rites to Kevin Barry before his execution in 1920. Writing to Barry\u2019s mother Mary afterwards, he said her son as \u201cone of the bravest and best boys\u201d he had ever known. <\/p>\n

Priests were regular visitors to their home at Coolcarrigan, Co Kildare, while their mother Ann was principal at the primary school in nearby Timahoe. Their father Peter ran a shop.<\/p>\n

The brothers have been active golfers and members of Royal Dublin Golf Club. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re not able to play football, you play golf,\u201d said Joe, who was a member of the Kildare minor football team in 1953\/54. <\/p>\n

A special Mass to mark their 70th anniversary as priests will be concelebrated on May 17th at the Church of the Resurrection in Bayside. It will be led by Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, and Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin, Denis Nulty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twins, Fr Joe Kelly and Fr Matt Kelly, were born on March 21st, 1931. Nine popes, 29 D\u00e1ils…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12780,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-358959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catholic-church","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}