Fr Michael McGowan, our esteemed and cherished Parish Chaplain, celebrated a real milestone of a birthday recently, his 90th. We congratulate him and, at the same time, thank him for all he has done in the many parishes he has served in. Here are some glimpses into that long, dedicated life: the early years in Mohill, his training in Maynooth (the photo below is from the Maynooth Calendar 1953-54, A. being for 'acolyte') and his ten years in Ballymore Eustace for which tribute was paid him in 2002.
Fr Michael's elder brother Myles (b.1920) became a priest too. Having trained in St Patrick's College, Carlow, he was ordained in 1945 (ten years before Fr Michael's ordination) and served in the archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis. He died in 2008 at the age of 88. Fr Michael talks about him in this American newspaper tribute.
