*Fr Joe McMahon.
TWO OF Clare’s most prominent priests have died this week.
Miltown Malbay native Fr Joe McMahon and Ennis based Fr Cletus Noone died on Sunday and Wednesday respectively. As a mark of respect, St Flannan’s College was lit up in blue and white on Tuesday night in memory of its former president, Fr McMahon.
Born on 14th January 1949 in Miltown Malbay, Joe attended St. Flannan’s College from 1961 to 1966 and from there he undertook his studies for the priesthood in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
He was ordained on the 16th of June 1973, in Miltown Malbay by Bishop Michael Harty.
After ordination he undertook a Higher Diploma in Education and was appointed to St. Flannan’s College, this began a four decade long association with St. Flannan’s.
In 1982 he undertook a career guidance course in U.C.D. He worked as a guidance counsellor and taught Irish and Latin among other subjects. In July 1994 he was appointed Vice President of St. Flannan’s College. In 2005 he was appointed President of St. Flannan’s College. In September 2014 he became PP pro-tem of Scariff, Feakle and Killanena/ Flagmount.
As part of the Diocesan Restructuring of 2018, he was appointed Co-PP of Inis Cealtra Pastoral Area and in 2021 he became Vicar Forane. In 2024 on reaching his 75th Birthday he became A.P. In Inis Cealtra Pastoral Area.
Francis Noone was born in November 1932 in Woodquay, Galway city, where he was an altar boy in the nearby Franciscan church, ‘The Abbey’.
He joined the Friars Minor in 1951 when he went to the novitiate in Killarney where he received his religous name, Cletus. He celebrated his First Profession the following year, and after studies in Galway and Rome he was ordained to the priesthood in 1959.
Over his long years of priestly ministry, Cletus served in friaries in Killarney, where he was appointed Guardian, and in Limerick and Ennis, where he spent the last decades of his life.
His warm, jovial personality warmed him to the people, and he was a popular preacher. His weekly homilies at the St Anthony Novena always began with the telling of a few jokes.
For years Cletus hosted a very popular weekly Saturday night programme on Clare FM, ‘Noone at Night’. The hour included songs, listeners requests, reflections and occasional interviews.
A minute’s silence for Fr McMahon at Wednesday’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District. “He was a great supporter of music and culture, he had a programme on Scariff Bay Community Radio and he gave quite the commitment to many groups throughout his life, he looked after the needs of a lot of people in East Clare, it is a sad loss,” said Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).
Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe MD, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) said, “he was a fantastic man” while Cllr Burke added, “Fr McMahon will be a loss”.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) remembered Fr Noone. “He was an absolute tonic, he always had funny stories in mass or on the radio, he had you laughing before the punch line”.
