FATHER O'DONNELL'S
SILVER SACERDOTAL.
LONG SERVICE IN THE PRIEST-
HOOD IN KANSAS CITY.
Friends to Commemorate the Event
on November 1 -- Came From
Tipperary to the West on
Advice of a Friend.
FATHER PATRICK J. O'DONNELL,
FOR 25 YEARS A PRIEST HERE.
In 1885 St. Joseph's hospital was an unpretentious structure, a building which now forms a small wing to the greater buildings constructed adjoining it. In one corner of the hospital grounds there stood a little frame building which was used by the druggist attached to the hospital.
In addition to the hospital buildings the grounds now contain a finely appointed church. The priest is the Rev. Father Patrick J. O'Donnell. He has been there twenty-four years. The church building has succeeded a modest chapel in which Father O'Donnell first celebrated mass when he was given charge of the chapel. It was his second charge in the priesthood.
On November 1, Father O'Donnell will celebrate his silver sacerdotal. At least, his friends have advised him that they will celebrate it for him. They have arranged a reception with Father O'Donnell as honor guest in the chapel hall at Eighth and Penn streets for the night of the day which will mark his twenty-fifth anniversary as a priest of the Roman Catholic church.
Father O'Donnell was born in Tipperary in May, 1862. He left Ireland when 14 years old and lived for four years with an aunt in New York. In 1880, he returned to Ireland and attended St. John's Theological seminary at Wexford. He completed the course of religious instruction there in 1884 and came direct to Kansas City.
The reason for his choosing Kansas City as a field for religious work was that a classmate in the Irish school had been ordered to the St. Joseph diocese and had written Father O'Donnell of what a fine country the Western part of the United States is. Kansas City at that time was a part of the St. Joseph diocese. The Right Reverend John J. Hogan, now bishop of Kansas City, was bishop of the St. Joseph diocese. Afterward, when the Kansas City diocese was created, Bishop Hogan became spiritual head of the Kansas City diocese and administrator for St. Joseph.
Father O'Donnell's first religious work in Kansas City was as an instructor in the parochial school of the Cathedral near Eleventh street and Broadway. He taught in the school for several months. In November, 1884, he was ordained as a priest in the Cathedral.
The first charge given Father O'Donnell was in Norborne, Mo. At the time of his ordination, Father O'Donnell was too young to be admitted to the priesthood, but a papal dispensation was granted. He remained in Norborne, Mo., until 1885, when he was appointed chaplain to St. Joseph's hospital and celebrated mass each alternate Sunday at Lee's Summit. He retained the Lee's Summit charge for two years.
Father O'Donnell was asked to build a church in Sheffield. He worked for several years to bring it about. After the church was built he celebrated mass in it. Two years ago it was made a separate charge. In the meantime, the new church at the hospital building was erected. It now serves many parishioners in addition to the convalescents at the hospital.
Father O'Donnell is of genial disposition. He is known as "a man's priest" because of the strong interest he invariably has held in athletics and his liking for the society of men. He is a member of the Kansas City lodge of the Elks, being the only member of the order among the priests of Missouri.
Father O'Donnell's family lives in Kansas City, they having removed from Ireland several years after he was assigned to the charge at Norborne. His various charges in Jackson county have given him a wide acquaintance here, while he is one of the few priests ordained at the Cathedral who has retained a parish in the city. As a result of his long residence here, the reception planned for him is to be made notable by his friends.
