Mass honouring Fr’s Joe & Matt Kelly marking their Platinum Jubilee of Priestly Ordinations Feast of the Ascension – 17 May 2026, Church of the Resurrection, Bayside
—————————————————————————————————-
There is an image that captures beautifully today’s feast, the Ascension, it can be found in the College Chapel of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth where Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt were ordained from, seventy years ago. The late Martin Drennan speaks of the striking feature of this Ascension image is how Our Lady is not looking towards her Son, as we might expect, but instead looking out towards us: “Jesus is ascending. Mary is telling us that from now on the place to look for him is in the hearts of his people”[1]. Ascension always seems to have us looking up, Our Lady suggests we look out.
Luke in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminds us: “they were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’”[2] The Ascension of Christ is about Him coming closer to us, not about Him taking leave of us. We are not to stand there gazing or gawking, as so many Ascension images might suggest, but to grasp that God is unimaginably closer to us than ever before. Our preface puts it beautifully: “he ascended, not to distance himself from our lowly state but that we, his members, might be confident of following, where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before”[3].
The Ascension brings to an end an extraordinary forty-day honeymoon, a period of special intimacy, where the Risen One, showed himself repeatedly to the disciples. We sometimes forget that the disciples had returned to doing what they knew best, fishing, until Jesus appears to them by the Sea of Tiberias[4]. More were downbeat on a road signposted Emmaus[5], they journey along aimlessly and then this ‘stranger’ walks by their side. Others who saw the Risen One a week earlier[6] are joined by a doubter called Thomas, who refused to believe until that evening when he could put his fingers in the holes the nails made and his hand into his side[7]. He didn’t need to, the encounter with the Risen One was enough to convince him.
Fr. Joe & Fr. Matt celebrated their 95th birthday on March 21st last. Their ordination dates differ by a month, Joe was ordained on May 17th and Matt on June 17th. When the Dean of Maynooth suggested that Matt write to Bishop Tom Keogh looking for permission for the twins to be ordained together, Matt’s letter seeking that request was returned to him, with a message written in the margin “No permission given – T.K.”! And so it made eminent sense today, to celebrate both Platinum Jubilees, not separate, but together. In their 70 years of priesthood Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt have seen eight Popes, six Archbishops of Dublin and five Bishops of Kildare & Leighlin!
They were born in Coolcarrigan, Timahoe, County Kildare, in the then parish of Clane, attended primary school where their mother was Principal. Their secondary school days saw them in Knockbeg where they feature in the May 1949 of ‘Cnocbeag Anois’ in a verse called ‘The Lost Legion’: “K is for Kellys – the twins up from Clane, Matt’s slow to argue – Joe can’t refrain”. The same edition carried the report of the Football Final that Knockbeg had played in O’Connor Park, Tullamore on March 16th, 1949. It records a goal scored by a certain Matt Kelly for Knockbeg to lead St. Finian’s 1-8 to 1-4 at half-time, sadly the wind was against the Barrow men in the second half, and Archbishop Dermot’s alma mater won the final in the end.
Twins always interest me. At Confirmation recently I confirmed three sets of twins in the one ceremony. I’m always intrigued to enquire who is the elder twin. Even that question is a matter of debate for Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt. Joe was born a few minutes earlier than Matt, although a Professor at Maynooth disputed if the second born is not the oldest!
The Feast of the Ascension also marks World Day of Social Communications. Pope Leo XIV offers a message on this the 60th iteration of the day focusing clearly on the AI era we are living in and how we must preserve human voices and faces. He reminds us “our faces and voices are unique, distinctive features of every person … each of us possesses an irreplaceable and inimitable vocation, that originates from our own lived experience and becomes manifest through interaction with others”[8]. The risks around AI are huge and concerning, and yet still there is much to learn as how properly controlled and used, such technology may be of use to society. Archbishop Eamon Martin welcoming the message says: “Every human being has a face and a voice. Before a person is a profile, a statistic, a screen-name, a consumer, a complainant, or a ‘case’ they are someone created in the image and likeness of God”[9]. Faces and voices matter and this is even more so with twins.
St. Paul prays that “the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to the full knowledge of him”[10]. Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt in their very fulfilled and faith-filled priestly lives have indeed lived these words fully. For us it remains our challenge this Ascension Day. Paul in writing to the Ephesians didn’t pray that the first Christians be strong, perfect, astute and recruitment savvy; he prayed that they would come to know God, be touched by his presence and offer that to others.
Matthew’s gospel concludes with the invitation “to make disciples of all nations”[11]. We are a missionary church; let’s not be content with being a disciple, we must make disciples. During Matt’s time on the staff of Carlow College, as Professor of Philosophy we think of the seminarians he helped to form to ‘go teach all nations’[12] and so many went out to places like Phoenix, Biloxi, Atlanta, Miami and of course to many dioceses in Ireland, particularly Kildare & Leighlin. Here in Bayside where Joe more recently retired from, we think of the countless number of parishioners whose lives were inspired by his presence. Together they have given 140 years of faithful ministry. This is what we are celebrating this Ascension Day, remember Our Lady is looking out at us all in that painting of the Ascension in the College Chapel, Maynooth. A clarion call to find the ascended Christ in ourselves and in one another. May the Lord bless both Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt.
[1] Drennan, Martin: ‘Turning Wounds into Wisdom’, Dominican Publications, 2019, pg. 126.
[2] Ac.1:10-11
[3] Preface 1 of the Ascension of the Lord, The Roman Missal, 2010
[4] Jn.21:1-14
[5] Lk.24:13-35
[6] Jn.20:19-23
[7] Jn.20:24-29
[8] Pope Leo XIV, ‘Message for 60th World Day of Social Communications’, issued 24 January 2026, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales
[9] Martin, Archbishop Eamon, ‘In the AI era, Pope Leo asks us to preserve human voices and faces’, CCO, 15 May 2026
[10] Ep.1:17
[11] Mt.28:19
[12] ‘Euntes docete omnes Gentes’
