89, Priest of the Diocese of Ossory, Ireland and long time priest-in-residence at Ss. John and Paul Parish, Coventry, peacefully passed away at the Rectory on Thursday, November 4, 2021. 

Born in County Kilkenny, he was the beloved son of the late Richard and Molly (O’Gorman) Duggan, and attended St. Kieran’s College and Maynooth Seminary in preparation for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest on June 17, 1956. 

In his early priesthood, Fr. JD taught Greek and Latin at St. Kieran’s College. He received his MA in Education and PhD in Counseling from Boston College  in the 1970s, and also at this time served as Chaplain to the Pittsburgh Steelers during their string of Super Bowl victories. Returning to Ireland to serve in several parish assignments, in 1983 he began serving as Chaplain at Salve Regina University, Newport. In 1997, Fr. Duggan moved into Ss. John and Paul Parish to assist at the parish. For the past 24 years, Fr. JD has been well loved by his parishioners. He will be sadly missed.

Father Duggan is survived by his brothers Thomas, Richard, and Michael Duggan, all of Kilkenny, his sister Anne Brereton of Norwich England, and his sister and caregiver Sr. Vincent Mary Duggan of Dublin, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and nephews, and countless friends from the US and Ireland. He was brother of the late Fr. Nicholas Duggan of the Diocese of Sacramento. Fr. JD's family wishes to thank Fr. Woolley, Renee Johnson, the Rectory staff, and all who cared for him in his final days.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Ss. John and Paul Parish, 341 South Main St. Coventry RI 02816, or Our Lady of Providence Seminary 485 Mt. Pleasant Ave., Providence RI, 02908, in his memory would be appreciated.

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FROM THE PASTOR 
Here is the text of the Homily I preached in honor of Fr. JD.

Fr. JD passed away peacefully this past Thursday afternoon in his room at the Rectory, with his Sister, Sister Mary Duggan, myself and his caregiver Renee Johnson by his side. St. Joseph answered our prayers and gave Fr. JD the grace of a Happy Death, he didn’t suffer much, he was in good spirits until the end, and he received all the Last Rites of the Church and even was visited and blessed by Bishop Tobin a few days before he passed away. While I will be celebrating the Mass on Wednesday Evening, Fr. Chris Murphy the Rector of Our Lady of Providence Seminary will be preaching that Mass, and Fr. Grenon will be preaching his Funeral Mass Thursday, so I thought this Sunday that I would say a few words in honor of Fr. JD. John Duggan was born 1932 in County Kilkenny in rural Ireland, the second of seven children. After graduating from St. Kieran’s College, he went to the National Seminary at Maynooth and was ordained a priest for his home diocese of Ossory in 1956. Fr. JD was proud to say that he followed in the footsteps of Bishop Hendricken, the first bishop of Providence, who was also born in Kilkenny, went to St. Kierans and Maynooth, was ordained for the Diocese of Ossory, and then ended up in Rhode Island. And while unlike Hendricken, he didn’t go on to become Bishop John Duggan, Fr. JD had nonetheless a very impressive 65 year priestly ministry. His first assignment was as a teacher at his alma mater St. Kieran’s, where he taught Latin and Greek, and directed plays which the lay students of the college acted in. In the early 1960s, Fr. JD began spending summers helping out in parishes in the United States, and in the early 1970s he received a Master’s degree in Education from Boston College.Around that time, Fr. JD heard I believe from his St. Kieran’s College connections that the Pittsburg Steelers were looking for a priest to travel with them and say Mass for the team. It was while he was Chaplain of the Steelers in 1975 that they won their first Super Bowl victory. I sure it must have been those prayers to St. Joseph that Fr. JD prayed for Lynn, Terry and Franco which caused them to win.Somehow or other, Father JD found the time to get a PhD in Counseling from Boston College in the mid 70s, after which he returned to Ireland, and spent several years as a parish priest, a few of those years as administrator in charge of a parish. According to Fr. JD, the climate in Ireland was bad for his Asthma, and his doctor recommended that he move elsewhere in the hopes that it would help him to breathe better. So in 1983, Fr. JD came to what ended up being his new home of Rhode Island, joining the staff at Salve Regina in Newport as Chaplain. The President of Salve, Sister Lucille McKillop, told Fr. JD that his job was to “waste time” with the students, because only then will his ministry to them be effective. Meanwhile, back in our neck of the woods, one of our Associate Pastors, Father Silipigni, got into a bad car accident in 1997, and was out of commission for quite some time. Fr. Henry had heard about this Irish Priest at Salve, and asked him if he could fill in. JD did a pretty good job, so Father Henry said “well, I’ll be going on sabbatical in Rome for three months, think you could move in while I’m gone?” “Oh, OK!” Fr. JD said.  Then three months later when Fr. Henry came back, he said “You see how busy it is at this parish, why don’t you just move in permanently?” “Oh, OK!” When Father JD moved into Ss. John and Paul, he was 65 years old, and had already been ordained a priest 41 years. When I got ordained a priest in 1999, I would concelebrate the 5pm Weekday Mass on my day off here at the parish. I must confess that I actually dreaded when Fr. JD had the 5pm Weekday Mass; I wanted to attend a quick Mass on my day off, and Fr. JD wasn’t known for short Masses, especially when he got going on a story during the homily, he could go on for 15 minutes.  You also never knew what Fr. JD was going to do at Mass, as he tended to ad lib the prayers and do the Children’s Eucharistic prayer when there were no kids present, all of which kind of drove me bananas. And to be honest, I really wasn’t sure how Fr. JD and I would get along when I was appointed Pastor three years ago. But when I moved in, I started to see a side of Fr. JD I couldn’t see just being with him at a half hour daily Mass once a week (although sometimes with Fr. JD it was a 50 minute daily Mass!). For all his liturgical and at times theological quirkiness, John Duggan was a true priest of Jesus Christ, a real son of the Church, and a great man of prayer. He prayed a Holy Hour every day, prayed the Rosary each day and whenever he was driving or hearing “carfessions”, and prayed his Breviary religiously each day, until he became too sick to pray it, and even then he called Bishop Tobin and asked that he be dispensed from doing so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a priest pray as much as Fr. JD did. And of course, anyone who’s a friend of St. Joseph is a friend of mine! Secondly, as many of you know, Father JD had a very caring and considerate heart for others. Whenever he heard that someone in the parish was sick or needed prayers, or if someone in the parish was having a big wedding anniversary, he would personally call them, say a Mass for them, sometimes a private Mass, or get a gift for them. Over the summer, Fr. JD did a wedding for a long time friend’s son, you would have thought that it was the Queen’s son getting married, Fr. JD spent weeks writing the homily, getting special gifts for the couple. You definitely knew Father was praying for you and cared about you. He especially had a care and concern for the seminarians from our parish and the ones who had summer assignments here. And finally, as Father Dandeneau said to me before I came here, JD was a great guy to just hang out with, or as JD would say, to “waste time” with. Fr. Doan, Fr. Rowley, Fr. Lee and Fr. Fleming and I would spend a lot of time after dinner playing card games and board games with Fr. JD, or just having conversations with him. It continually amazed me also how much life experience Father JD had. One day at dinner, we started talking about the Concorde Supersonic Jet, and I said “Had you ever flown on the Concorde?” And of course, he had, but he was too humble to brag about it, you had to pry these things out of him.
hen I got to Ss. John and Paul three years ago, my 91 year old father who I had been caring for had just passed away a few months before.And so, I kind of went from taking care of an elderly dad, to taking care of an elderly priest. And when Fr. JD started to get really sick a year ago, the business manager Renee Johnson and I wanted to do everything we could to keep Father here at the Rectory, his home for the past 24 years, and we’re very happy that we were able to keep Father here and keep him comfortable right until the end. We wouldn’t have been able to do that had it not been for so many of you parishioners and friends of Fr. JD, those who took him back and forth to dialysis or who stayed with him when he was alone in the Rectory, who helped get him out of bed for morning Mass, especially our secretary Jeanne DiMassi, or wheeled him over to Sunday Mass, or who have been praying for him these past several months. But two people really deserve the most credit for caring for Fr. JD: our business manager Renee Johnson, who was an Angel of Mercy to Father JD in so many ways to the end; she cared for him as if he were her own father. As one of Fr. JD’s doctor’s rightly said, every sick person needs a Renee in their lives, and Father was very grateful for all she did for him. And Father JD’s sister, Sister Mary Duggan, who flew over from Ireland on September 11th, moved into the room across the hall from Fr. JD, and has barely got a good nights sleep since. God Bless you Sister Mary and Renee, for all you did for Fr. JD! One of our parishioners said recently “poor Father Woolley, he’s the only priest in the diocese that has both a School and a Nursing Home in his parish!” But I’m very happy we were able to keep Father here until the end, and I’m really going to miss his presence around the Rectory as I’m sure you are going to miss him as well. Hopefully the Lord will send us in the future another retired priest to help us out at the parish and who we can take care of as well, but no one will replace John Duggan. So thank you, Fr. JD, for the blessing that you’ve been to our parish and to so many people, and for your witness of 65 years of priestly service, and for the 24 years you’ve spent at Ss. John and Paul. I’ll conclude with the Prayer from the Roman Missal: Hear with favor our prayers, which we humbly offer, O Lord, for the salvation of the soul of John Duggan, your servant and Priest, that he, who devoted a faithful ministry to your name, may rejoice in the perpetual company of your Saints. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN.