Clonoe priest who served in Japan is laid to rest

A CLONOE priest who spent almost five decades of his vocation in Japan, passed away last Wednesday June 8.

Fr Sean Corr, a member of the Columban Order, was a regular visitor to his home and relatives in Clonoe and Coalisland during that time.

Described by many as ‘quiet and unassuming’, he was part of the historic first Clonoe O’Rahilly squad to win the senior club championship, the O’Neill Cup, in 1958. However because of his clerical duties he was unable to play in the final.

Born in September 1934 at Lower Annagher, Coalisland, Fr Corr was educated at Annaghmore Primary School and St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon.

He went to Dalgan in Navan, Co Meath in 1952 and after probation year and philosophy studies, he was sent to the Columban seminary in Boston as an exchange student for his first three years of Theology. He was ordained in Dalgan on December 21, 1958.

In 1959 he was appointed to Japan and after language school studies in Tokyo his early appointments were to Kamakura in Yokohama Diocese, Kumamoto and then his first appointment to Sakitsu, both in Fukuoka Diocese.

A spokesman for the Columban Fathers said, “Sakitsu was a small, isolated island parish, where French missionaries had ministered for many, years before the arrival of the Columbans. It seemed to suit Sean’s quiet, gentle temperament and he ministered there for 12 further years until 1978. He spent the following 20 years in various parishes in Osaka Diocese, in Imafuku, Wakayama City and Kainan while also serving as District Superior and District Bursar.”

In 2008, after almost 50 years in Japan he retired to Clonoe and helped in the local parish until his health began to fail. He later took up residence in the Dalgan Retirement Home in January 2020 where he died last week.

Fr Sean’s nephew, Aidan McMahon, who was aged eight when he assisted at his first Mass in Coalisland, said, “He was a very quiet inoffensive man. He would be in Japan for seven years at a time and come home for leave of six to nine months. Anytime he came home he would go to football with my father.

“He was a great worker and loved to garden and get his hands dirty with the flowers and cutting hedges and planting trees. However his health went downhill and he returned to Dalgan. Fr Sean was a very humble decent man.”

Mourners at Fr Corr’s Requiem Mass were told he also had a great love of music and played the harmonica. A small Irish tricolour and Japanese flag was on a table by the altar.

A message from Larry Pangan formerly with Fr Corr in the Columbans in Japan was also read. He wrote, “Sean was kind, caring, prayerful, funny, organised, humble, dedicated, respected and respectful, mission orientated, compassionate, human truly human. Goodbye Sean from your fellow carpenter, Larry Pangan.”

The service took place at St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Navan on Friday morning, followed by burial in the Community Cemetery.