Father Seamus (James) P. O’Kielty was born in County Mayo,
Ireland, the eighth child of 10. He studied in seminaries in
England, Belgium, Germany and Scotland and was ordained a
priest in 1954.
He spent the next 11 years as a missionary in
Tanganyika/Burundi. In 1965 he came to the U.S. and taught
high school in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. In 1966 he
served in the missions in Bolivia where he became temporary
chaplain to the Bolivian army when Che Guevara was in power.
While there, he created a catechetical program to evangelize
to the Aymara Indians by training more than 100 catechists
despite government opposition.
Father O’Kielty later attended Farleigh Dickinson University
in Madison, N.J., where he earned a master’s in education and
became certified by the state as an accredited teacher of
German, French and Spanish. He earned a master’s in
linguistics at New York University, and became a doctoral
candidate.
In 1974 he returned to Burundi and became a parish pastor,
replacing Hutu priests who had been massacred. In 1979 he was
inducted as a Navy chaplain. He was deployed to Libya,
Lebanon, Turkey, Morocco and near Cuba. He qualified as
expert marksman with pistol and M16. He did Jungle Fighting
Training and was awarded Sea Service Deployment medals, and
the Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and
the Meritorious Service Medal. He later retired in 1995.
Since then he was adjunct professor at Farleigh Dickenson
University’s School of Education, spent three months at the
Knock Shrine in Ireland and returned to the Paterson Diocese
where he assisted at local parishes. He currently works as a
chaplain at Christendom College in Front Royal. He is working
toward a doctorate from Catholic University (CUA).
Tom McFadden, the director of admissions at Christendom
College said Father O’Kielty has added much to the campus
over the years.
“He is such a wonderful example of a priest,” McFadden said.
“And the most amazing thing about him is that, at 78 years
old, he is currently in the process of earning his Ph.D. in
philosophy from CUA, showing that the love of learning is a
lifelong adventure.”
Editor’s Note: Fr. O’Kielty was inadvertently left off the
list of priest jubilarians provided by the Chancery, so he
was not included in the article “Priests celebrate
anniversaries” which appeared in the May 7 issue of the
Catholic Herald.
