By Gretchen Keiser

Just off the plane from Ireland 25 years ago, Father Richard Kieran had a fateful encounter with Monsignor Michael Regan.

Father Kieran’s first pastor told his new assistant that his first assignment was to take part in a Cursillo, that weekend. A visiting team from Chicago was giving the unheard of renewal weekend at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish to introduce it to the archdiocese of Atlanta.

Probably not the ideal way to approach spiritual renewal -- under orders -- but Father Kieran did what he was told and began an involvement that has impacted the priest, the archdiocese and thousands of lay people in north Georgia since 1965.

Those who approach Father Kieran expecting to hear a Pauline conversion story about his noted involvement with Cursillo will be disappointed. “Most things in the Church don’t happen that way,” he says of the lack of drama.

However, the practical effect has been dramatic over time. Sister Margaret McAnoy, IHM, who is spiritual director of Cursillo in 1990, estimates that 4,000 lay people have taken part in a Cursillo weekend and are still impacted by the renewal movement. An overwhelming number of permanent deacons in the archdiocese, perhaps 80 percent, cite the Cursillo movement as part of the spiritual background that led them to the diaconate.

The Cursillo movement is strong in the archdiocese, she says, “because of the continuous leadership” of Father Richard Kieran. After taking part in that first Atlanta weekend, he “stayed with it,” becoming its first spiritual director in 1966 and holding that post until 1983.

At that time he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph’s parish in Athens, and the distance from Atlanta made it impossible for him to continue to serve as director. He remained involved, however, and continues to teach and give talks that are a part of the weekends. He is also a teacher in Cursillo’s Leaders School, an ongoing program of study in Scripture and Church teaching available to men and women who have made a Cursillo weekend. He pioneered Cursillo weekend in Spanish, teaching himself the language to make it possible for Spanish weekends to be held.

Nationally he co-authored the spiritual directors’ manual for the National Cursillo Secretariat in 1976.

“He’s probably the one priest most singularly responsible for lay renewal” in the archdiocese “through his consistent involvement with Cursillo,” said Father Henry Gracz, a fellow pastor who has been a member for 12 years of a Jesu Caritas priest support group with Father Kieran and several other priests.

Father Kieran’s comment on the movement emphasizes its practical effort on the Church. “I have seen nothing in the church so effective in forming lay leadership,” he says to explain his 25-year commitment to the movement.

Talking with people who are close to Father Richard Kieran, one theme is the enduring nature of his friendships and commitments. Those people and the way they affirm him are also one of the first things Father Richard brings up when he is asked about the heart of his 25 years of priesthood.

“I’m blessed to have my own brother here,” he says immediately of his fellow Atlanta pastor, Father John Kieran. “We’re very different, but we affirm each other.” The Cursillo movement has led to several enduring friendships, particularly with Sister Margaret McAnoy.

The Jesu Caritas group he belongs to has been a monthly support for the last 12 years. Right now it includes Father Gracz and Father Steve Yander, Father John Kelley, Father Ed Danneker and Father Ed Everitt, OP. He also started and continues to meet with a lay Jesu Caritas group that is made up of five married couples and several Religious.

The archbishops he has served under, Archbishop Thomas Donnellan and Archbishop Eugene Marino, SSJ, have also been a source of affirmation, he says.

It was Monsignor P.J. O’Connor, who was legendary in encouraging many young Irish seminarians to choose Atlanta as a place to serve, who also had the decisive effect on Richard Kieran.

“I chose to come here my senior year in high school,” he said. “I have never regretted my choice of coming to Atlanta. The Church here is young and growing, and there are lots of opportunities for ministry. I’ve never had a dull day in 15 years. I’m kind of looking for a dull day!”

The fourth of eight children, Father Richard grew up on a farm in Dunleer, Ireland, and is one of three in the family in active ministry. In addition to his brother in the priesthood, a married sister, Eileen Willson, is a lay missionary in East Africa. These church vocations grew out of an ecumenical household where his father was Catholic and his mother was a member of the Church of Ireland.