Tributes paid to Cork Archbishop following his passing

TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Cork Archbishop who served the Sacraments in the county in his final days after a lifetime of serving missions abroad.

Archbishop Patrick Coveney had resided in Crosshaven Parish in the Diocese of Cork and Ross since his retirement as Apostolic Nuncio to Greece in 2009.

Archbishop Coveney was born in 1934 and was a native of Tracton Abbey Parish. He was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Cork and Ross in Rome in 1959. His first pastoral appointment was in Kidlington, Archdiocese of Birmingham, for one year before joining the staff of Saint Finbarr’s Seminary, Farranferris, Cork, from 1960 to 1966.

His colleague in the Diocese of Cork and Ross, Fr Tom Hayes, said Archbishop Coveney had worked administering the Sacrament of Confirmation in the parishes right up until his death.

“A good share of the young people who were confirmed since 2009 would have been confirmed by him. All the priests would have known him, and just the week before last, he was on a Retreat with us,” said Fr Hayes. 

“He was in good form. He lived every day that he had fully, and he was a great age. He was a nice man, and we were all glad to have known him.”

In 1966 Archbishop Coveney joined the Secretariat of State in the Vatican and then entered the Pontifical Ecclesial Academy in 1969. He served as Secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio in Argentina from 1972 -1976 after which he returned to Rome to re-join the Secretariat of State until 1982. He then moved to New Delhi until 1984 as counsellor to the Nunciature, and then to Khartoum in Sudan until 1985.

He was consecrated as Titular Archbishop of Satrianum in the Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne in the Diocese of Cork and Ross on 15 September 1985 and was appointed as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Zimbabwe and Apostolic Delegate to Mozambique until 1990. He then served as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Ethiopia residing in Addis Ababa as well as Apostolic Delegate to Djibouti until 1996.

In 1996 Archbishop Coveney was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, residing in Wellington. In this period he also served as Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu, Nauru, Cook Islands and Palau. He was appointed in 2005 as Apostolic Nuncio to Greece residing in Athens until his retirement in 2009.

From 2009 Archbishop Coveney returned to the diocese to reside in Crosshaven Parish. He assisted in this parish as well as celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation in many parishes throughout the diocese at the invitation of Bishop Gavin and the former Bishop of Cork and Ross, Bishop John Buckley.

Archbishop Coveney is survived by his loving sister Nora (Murphy), sister-in-law Molly Coveney, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, Bishop Gavin and all of his clerical colleagues, parishioners, relatives and friends.

Requiem Mass is on Wednesday, October26, at 11am with burial afterwards in Ballyfeard Cemetery. May Archbishop Coveney rest in peace