Death of Joe Lucey

Got news this morning of the death, yesterday, of Salesian Fr Joe Lucey, in Ireland. He was an important figure of the Irish province, and very active in the European region of the Salesians in areas of youth-at-risk and initial formation. Joe was 47 years old, and was struck down by a heart attack.

It was in 1993 that I first met Joe -- at a weeklong meeting of the Salesian province teams of the English-speaking region. At the time I was the delegate for youth ministry for the Salesians in California, and Joe filled the same role for the Salesians in Ireland. We worked on some committees together during that time, and I had occasion to meet his several other times in following years when I visited Ireland or when I was part of some European initiatives. He was always on-fire, if I can put it that way: lots of enthusiasm; a strong sense of justice; compassion for the young in trouble; demanding of himself and others for a coherent Gospel witness.

My strongest memory is of him at work with the poor and gang-banger kids of Sean McDermott Street in Dublin. They were a hardend lot, but he had their confidence and did great things with them. Sometimes he expected all the young Salesians to have his same talent among kids-at-risk, but this was not so. Sean McDermott Street scares a lot of people, after all; if some of the young Salesians felt intimidated, it is very understandable. Joe Lucey, however, was not to be intimidated. He ploughed right into that work, and had some success.

The following verse, written by Joe, has been found to be especially poignant:

Master, I need you to find me. The hide-and-seek game is over. I need you to find me again and again. Come, hound me, sniff me out. Come free me from dependencies of sore-filled wounds -- the kind that fester with volcano strength. Come, break my breath, and breathe in me again, and fill me with an emptiness which has given all, for the love of you.

Funeral arrangements will begin with prayers tomorrow evening at 17.00 at Milford, in Limerick - and then a fewing at Sean McDermott Street Church in Dublin on Wednesday, with an evening mass there at 18.00. Thursday, the 12.00 noon funeral mass at Milford, with burial at Pallaskenry.

This is a great loss, I repeat, for the Salesians of Ireland. We can only pray that Joe Lucey's Gospel fire will inspire young people to take up the calling.