In pictures: Fr Francis McLoone marks golden jubilee with 'a grateful heart'

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Fr Francis McLoone with Bishop Emeritus of Raphoe, Philip Boyce, Diocesan Administrator Monsignor Kevin Gillespie and fellow priests. Photos: Siobhan McGowan

Fr Francis McLoone said he felt “humbled” on Friday night as parishioners turned out in their droves to mark the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood.

St Mary’s Church in Killymard was packed for the special Mass before a celebration was held at the St John Bosco Centre. 

Bishop Emeritus of Raphoe, Philip Boyce, Diocesan Administrator Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, and Fr Kieran McAteer - the Stranorlar parish priest who was ordained on the same weekend in 1975 - concelebrated Mass.

A large crowd of Fr McLoone’s fellow clerics were also in attendance. 

“I don’t know how worthy I am of all that but I accept it all with a grateful heart,” Fr McLoone told the congregation.

“I will always bring away happy memories of this very special occasion.”

Born in 1949, the youngest of eight children to John and Bella McLoone at Lugnagillew, Glenties, he attended Edeninfagh NS and St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny before going to St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

His father died when he was just nine months old and his mother was tragically killed in a road traffic collision within a year of his ordination.

He was ordained a deacon in 1974 by Archbishop Dermot Ryan before being ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Anthony McFeely, the Bishop of Raphoe, in 1975 in St Connell’s Church, Glenties.

On Friday night, Fr McLoone wore the same vestments - made by his aunt, Maggie - that he dawned on the day of his ordination.

For the last 19 years he has been the parish priest in Killymard having previously served for 20 years as the administrator in St Eunan’s Cathedral. Beforehand, he was the chaplain at Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair and went to Canada for a period before he returned to be a curate in Gortahork.

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Fr McLoone spent three years working in Armagh before moving to Letterkenny.

During the episcopacy of Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Fr McLoone was made Vicar General of the Raphoe Diocese.

The St Naul’s Pipe Band lent their music to the night and Fr McLoone spoke of the warmth he felt since moving to the Killymard parish in 2006.

He said: “If there was any one thing I liked in the parish it was to see people working together. Any initiative anyone wanted to take, I would be delighted. It’s always better to have tried and fail as to never to have tried.

““I settled very quickly here. I spent 20 years in the Cathedral, a very busy parish…Within a week, I had a sense of peace and I had a sense of belonging.”