The new pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Blairsville and St. Paul the Apostle in Cleveland is one of only two priests in the archdiocese from Northern Ireland.

Father Patrick (Paddy) Donaghey is a native of Derry. He was ordained by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan in 1985 at St. Bridget’s at Carnhill in Derry.

The son of the late Charles and Rebecca Donaghey, he has a married sister, Mary Donaghey. A brother, who was 17 at the time, was killed by British soldiers in what has become known as “bloody Sunday.”

Father Donaghey owes much of his priestly formation to the Redemptorist fathers who were his teachers and with whom he worked until he decided to be ordained a diocesan priest.

“My training by the Redemptorists has had a big influence on me,” he said. “The prayer life and community orientation. You find community with the people, and if a priest comes to the door, it’s open.”

It was his work with the Redemptorists that took him to Brazil where he served for 18 months in a poverty-stricken area in the northeastern part of the country. He was touched by the people’s deep faith in spite of their extreme poverty. It was not unusual for a family to borrow a coffin for the wake and funeral of a family member and then return it after the body was buried. While he was in Brazil he decided that he could best serve the people of God as a diocesan priest.

The 43-year-old priest had by-pass surgery earlier this year but has received a clean bill of health from his doctors. He looks forward to his ministry in the North Georgia mountains.

“The Glenmarys have built up those parishes and that is all any priest can hope for,” he said. “I hope to continue what the Glenmarys have achieved with the help of the people. The people will make it happen.”

Father Donaghey’s previous assignments in the archdiocese have been as parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist in Hapeville and St. Joseph’s in Athens.

--Paula Day