Father Sean Kearney was a dedicated and much loved parish priest at St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sandfields. He served here from 1970 ~ 1986 so had left Port Talbot by the time the new diocese of Menevia was created.
In 1971 Fr. Kearney celebrated the first mass in the glittering new church, prior to this the school had served as the parish church! During his tenure the parish flourished alongside the housing estate built for employees at the steel works. As well as enhancing the church the grounds were developed also with a beautiful grotto in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes and a water garden watched over by a statue of the Sacred Heart. When news of Father’s death reached the parish there was an expected outpouring of grief.
Soon parishioners were asking how we could remember him. We decided a life size Calvary would be the most appropriate memorial since Father Kearney had founded the Margam Passion Play and was deeply committed to the ecumenical movement from which this had sprung. The work was carried out on December 3rd by former altar boys trained by Father in the 1970’s and led by parish MC, Mark Ashton.
Father Paul Brophy
