Fr. Fintan Crotty sscc

IN MEMORY

FINTAN GERARD CROTTY SSCC RIP
IRELAND - ENGLAND PROVINCE

Father Fintan Gerard Crotty ss.cc. RIP [Aged 85]

Called home to the Lord – Wednesday 6th January 2021

at Charing Cross Hospital, London.

May He Rest in Peace

Professed – 15 August 1954 Ordained – 26 June 1960

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Fintan was born on 14th April 1935 to Martin Crotty and Anastasia Reddy in Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny.

He was educated at National School, Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny and
De La Salle College, Waterford.
He entered the Novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Cootehill on 14th August 1953,
and made his First Profession on 15th August 1954 in Sacred Heart Chapel, Tanagh, Cootehill, Co Cavan.

APPOINTMENTS

1960—1961 : Teacher & Pastor, Bishop Amat High School, Glendora, California, USA
1961—1962 : Secretary, Provincial House, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, USA
1962—1968 : Vocation Director, Ireland-England Province
1968—1970 : Director, Fr Damien Juniorate, Clones, Co Monaghan
1970—1977 : Parish Priest, Holy Cross Church, Bedford, England
1974—1977 : Provincial, Ireland-England Province
1977—1980 : Parish Priest, St Augustine’s, Daventry, Northants, England
1980—1991 : Development & Parish Priest, Sacred Heart Parish, Sruleen, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
1991—1992 : Sabbatical, Sacred Hearts Community, Berkeley, California, USA
1992—2002 : Parish Priest, Holy Cross Church, Bedford, England
2003—2004 : Sabbatical
2004—2020 : Curate, Our Lady of Lourdes, Acton, London W3 8AA, England

Fintan was predeceased by his brothers Brendan and Patrick and his sister, Sr Angela.
He will be deeply missed by his brother Fr Columban [Kevin] ss.cc., USA, nieces, nephews,
extended family, friends, and his religious family.

Michael Ruddy ss.cc., Provincial - Ireland-England Province

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“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis”

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

Fr Fintan’s (R.I.P.) requiem Mass in Acton, West London, will be celebrated on Thursday 21st January at 2pm. For online access click on following link. 1acton

http://clearmems.com/father-fintan-crotty-ss-cc/

After repatriation on Monday January 25th, Fr Fintan’s remains will be received into the Sacred Heart Church, St Johns Drive, Sruleen, Clondalkin that evening at 6pm.

(This is the Church and Parish that Fr Fintan built and encouraged during his eleven years in Clondalkin.)

Fr Fintan’s Funeral Mass following Covid guidelines, will be celebrated on Tuesday January 26th at 12 noon, with interment afterwards in the Sacred Hearts Community plot in Palmerstown.
Live streaming of the funeral from Sruleen can be accessed via: https://www.churchservices.tv/sruleen

A FITTING TRIBUTE TO FINTAN

A legend, a cornerstone, a friend to all.

6 london Fr Fintan had a way with people. If anyone could embody the phrase ‘the man, the myth, the legend’, it would be him. He had that rare and beautiful capacity to communicate with anyone and everyone, whether you were 9 or 99. His appeal was radically intergenerational and this came, I think, out of a kindness, a humour and a warmth of heart that made you feel understood, assured and at ease whenever you talked. In Bedford, his gentle reputation didn’t just precede him — it did the opposite too, echoing and reverberating in the hearts of so many well after he left. He was, in so many eyes, the gold standard.

He was a friend to my grandma and to my mum, but he was also a friend to me. When I needed help at work reaching out to faith communities near HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Fr Fintan invited my colleague and I over so we could to speak to his parishioners in Acton. But not before giving us a full tour of the parish and a three course lunch! What was meant to be an hour out of the working day turned into an afternoon of laughter and stories. I will never forget his kindness and hospitality.

On the tour of the house he showed us a noticeboard on which he kept photos of his family and friends. It warmed my heart to see so many pictures of people I knew from Holy Cross, despite him having left Bedford years ago, alongside one of him and my family at a hotel restaurant somewhere in Dún Laoghaire, when our journeys to and from Dublin had serendipitously coincided. There was another one of us in Rome in 2009 when we went to the canonisation of St Damien.

A few months after that afternoon, I invited him to a fundraising event and he trekked half way across London to offer his full support not only to Pact, the charity I worked for, but of course to me too. That is where the photo below was taken. I was so grateful and surprised he made the trip, and he was content enough talking to everyone he met there. He didn’t need to come all that way, but he did anyway. It was one of many small, encouraging gestures.

So many memories keep on cropping up in my mind since hearing the news of his passing, funny ones too... like when I accidentally took him and my mum to a Protestant church service in London, or when I did my first reconciliation with him aged 8 and he laughed at the picture I drew of me calling my family a ‘bunch of eejits’ (more on that another day...). Perhaps, though, what I will miss most is putting my key in the front door after work on a Monday evening and hearing the sound of his voice and laughter emanating from the kitchen. I’m sad he won’t be over for dinner or a cup of tea after golf ever again, but what a blessing it is to remember.

RIP Fr Fintan Crotty, you will be dearly missed. (Sophie Fordham)

abedford bgolden jubilee 2c 1985