Photo By Michael Alexander

ATLANTA—Father Richard Kieran, who marked 50 years in the priesthood June 20, enjoyed tending gardens as a young priest. A native of Ireland, Father Kieran also had a green thumb when it came to establishing new ministries now firmly rooted in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

In 1958, Atlanta’s then vocation director, Msgr. P.J. O’Connor, spoke to the senior class at Benedictine High School in Ireland. He asked for volunteers to serve as missionary priests in north Georgia. Richard Kieran was the first to raise his hand.

Father Richard Kieran is shown in a 1968 photo, three years after he was ordained a priest. At the time he was the director of Cursillo and director of Exceptional Children for the Atlanta Archdiocese.

Within a few weeks of his 1965 ordination at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland, Father Richard had arrived in Atlanta to serve under Msgr. Michael Regan at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church.

His first assignment was to go to a program on Cursillo.

“Father Richard attended it and from then on he was spiritual director,” said Sister Margaret McAnoy, vicar for religious in the archdiocese.

Cursillo is a program of spiritual renewal helping Catholics to put their faith into action. Sister Margaret said not only did Father Richard bring Cursillo to Atlanta, but also to Florida, Tennessee and Alabama, as well as to the Lutheran, Episcopal and other churches in Atlanta.

To date, more than 5,000 archdiocesan Catholics have attended Cursillo weekend retreats, including many who chose to serve in the permanent diaconate.

Sister Margaret first met Father Richard when they worked together at St.Pius X High School. He started as a part-time teacher and eventually became its principal from 1969-73.

He taught both theology and the sciences, and loved to talk about Scripture.

“He was a born teacher,” said Sister Margaret.

He also helped many parishes to thrive while pastor of six churches: twice at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Holy Family Church in Marietta, St. Joseph Church in Athens, the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, St. Anna Church in Monroe and St. Michael Church in Gainesville.

Scripture came alive on his Holy Land pilgrimages

Longtime family friend Phyllis Wigton said Father Richard planted a tree at each of the churches in Atlanta where he served as pastor.

“He’s planted a lot of seeds,” said Wigton.

Father Richard did early ecumenical work and served as a president of the Christian Council of Metro Atlanta. He is credited with bringing Pax Christi to the diocese, wrote the guidelines for impaired persons to receive the sacraments, was secretary for Catholic education in the archdiocese, and was a member of the Council of Priests. He learned to speak Spanish to bring Cursillo to the Hispanic community.

Wigton, a parishioner at Holy Family, has known Father Richard since 1979.

“He came and preached a week of renewal,” she said.

Wigton had the chance to get to know the priest better when he served as pastor, and she was on the parish council. After his move to Athens, the two kept in touch. She later joined his staff at the cathedral.

The office staff at Christ the King enjoyed a good relationship with the pastor, she said.

“He looks so straight and narrow,” said Wigton of his exterior. In reality, Father Richard was able to tease and be teased.

In 1991, he took on the new endeavor of leading pilgrimages.

“He started taking groups to the Holy Land,” said Wigton.

The trips typically had about 50 people each time and always relied on the knowledge of the same local guide. For one trip, Father Richard encouraged a widow and widower to make the pilgrimage, suspecting they would hit it off. The man and woman later married.

Wigton made the trip a few times, once with her son. The pilgrimages, drawing on Father Richard’s knowledge of Scripture, were important to her faith.

“You never read Scripture the same again,” she said.

At a certain point, Wigton mentioned to him that she was finding difficulties in praying.

His advice was “just be in the garden.”

Health crisis in 1999

In 1999, the nature of Father Richard’s priesthood changed. He suffered a debilitating stroke. Now 75, the priest uses a wheelchair and has impaired vision. His long-term memory is good, but he suffers from short-term memory problems.

A resident of Golden Living in Sandy Springs, Father Richard retains a sense of humor and a positive nature.

Being able to celebrate his jubilee anniversary is “amazing” said Father Richard. “God is good,” he added.

Father Richard Kieran celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood at a June 20 Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Atlanta. Helping him mark the jubilee were, l-r, niece Rachel, sister-in-law Rosemary, and brother, Father John Kieran. Rosemary is the wife of the Kierans’ late brother, Eugene. Photo By Cindy Connell Palmer

Father John Kieran, the priest’s older brother, lives nearby and each Sunday takes him to Saint Joseph Hospital where the chapel has a wheelchair ramp. This allows Father Richard to concelebrate Mass with Father Steven Yander, hospital chaplain.

Father John followed his younger brother into the priesthood and to Atlanta. He and many of the friends Father Richard made through the Cursillo movement kept constant watch for months after the stroke.

Father John said his brother was in a coma for six weeks, and couldn’t swallow or speak initially.

“We had to be very, very careful then,” he recalled.

Wigton said being able to celebrate Mass and be with people is so important for Father Richard.

“He’s a priest at his very core,” she explained.

“A lot of people come to him for confessions,” said Sister Margaret.

Wigton typed up a card for the priest with the appropriate prayers so that he is able to offer the sacrament of reconciliation.

“He’s such a gifted teacher. And he’s still teaching us,” said Wigton.

She said Father Richard is a man at peace. “He has such a gentle spirit,” she said. “He’s a man of deep prayer.”

Despite the stroke, Father Richard is still able to speak Spanish and knows French, Italian and Latin as well.

“His conversational Spanish is very good,” said Father John. “He’s a linguist.”

Father Richard still spot-checks his brother’s Spanish language homilies. Father Richard said it took him a few months to learn Spanish with the help of friends in the Latino community.

“They were all very patient with me,” he said.

The two siblings, coming from a family of eight, banter about who has seniority. While John is older, Richard has more years as a priest and says canon law trumps age.

Wigton offers another perspective on the brothers.

“The two are very complementary,” said Wigton.

She said she is blessed to know Father Richard and his family, and that the priest’s life offers an important lesson. “You live in the moment,” she offered.

‘Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel’

A black and white photo from 1959 of the Kieran family hangs on the wall of Father Richard’s room. He has prayer cards for Archbishop Wilton Gregory and Auxiliary Bishops David Talley and Luis Zarama on his bulletin board.

“Richard recruited both auxiliary bishops,” explained Father John.

He directly invited the future Bishop Talley to consider the priesthood when the then-graduate student at the University of Georgia met with him for a research project.

Father Kieran also made more than a half dozen trips to Colombia and Mexico to recruit diocesan priests, including Bishop Zarama, a Colombian.

“We didn’t have a vocations director who spoke Spanish at that time,” said Father John.

Father Richard has enjoyed the teaching aspect of the priesthood, serving as a principal and the “wonderful privilege” of leading others to the Holy Land.

“I love teaching the Scriptures,” he said. “I like Luke’s Gospel the best.”

St. Andrew, the second apostle, who led his own brother Peter to Jesus is Father Richard’s favorite saint.

“He was the second evangelist,” he said.

Father Richard used Pope Paul VI’s 1975 apostolic exhortation on evangelization as the direction for his own ministry and to encourage others to make this call of Christ central in their work.

Father John said through his brother’s efforts, Father Alvin Illig, a well-known Catholic evangelist came to the archdiocese to speak at a conference.

“Richard was always strong in peace and justice,” said Father John. “He preached the social Gospel very strongly.”

Another early effort of Father Richard’s was to prepare impaired persons to receive sacraments, including forming guidelines.

“He personally wrote these up … to minister to these people in a special way,” said Father John.

Looking back, Father Richard expressed hope that all who participated in Cursillo, including those from other churches, are “safe in heaven.”

He has seen many positive changes in his 50 years in Atlanta.

“It’s wonderful how it’s grown,” said Father Richard of the archdiocese

Former parishioners, family members and friends attended an anniversary Mass June 20 at Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In his homily, Father John outlined his brother’s many priestly achievements, including serving as a leader for Campus Crusade for Christ and as diocesan director of Hispanic ministries.

“Outstanding, since it was self-done, Richard perfected his speaking Spanish so that he could preach to the Latino community,” he said. “He loves that community very much and reached out to them long before other priests did.”

Father John pointed out that in all of his successes, Father Richard sought to be an evangelizer for Jesus.

“For a long time he had a sign on his desk with the pointed comment of St. Paul: ‘Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!’ That saying was the foundation for all that Richard did, and does, in his priesthood.”

“Often I go into Richard’s room and find him head down as if sleeping,” Father John told those attending the Mass. “Invariably, he will say: ‘I was praying!’ Despite everything that has happened to Richard, his tender loving mind remains a reservoir of prayer.”