By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper
DEERFIELD BEACH | It’s a good thing most of the Irish priests are on vacation in Ireland this month, said Sally Kerins. It means they will be able to celebrate her brother’s funeral Mass in the church where he was baptized.
Kerins’ brother was Father James Connaughton, an Irishman who spent his entire priesthood in Florida. He died July 19 at the age of 90 after a long illness. He had been a priest for 65 years, including 25 as pastor of St. Ambrose in Deerfield Beach.
“He wants to be buried over there in the family plot. My mother and father are buried there (along with) his twin brother,” said Kerins, Father Connaughton’s only surviving sibling and also a parishioner at St. Ambrose.
The funeral Mass will take place at St. Theresa Church in Williamstown, County Galway, and among the concelebrants will be Father Bryan Dalton, Father Connaughton’s successor as pastor of St. Ambrose.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Father James Connaughton is shown here outside the rectory of St. Ambrose Church in Deerfield Beach, where he served as pastor for 25 years. Born Dec. 15, 1924, he was ordained a priest in June 1950 and retired from active ministry in June 1993. He died July 19, 2015, after being in failing health for about a decade.
During his years of service in Florida, Father Connaughton directed the construction of three churches — St. Ambrose, St. John the Apostle in Hialeah and San Pablo in Marathon — and founded four missions which later grew into parishes. He also oversaw the establishment of Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton, which is now part of the Diocese of Palm Beach.
“He was wonderful,” said Kerins. “He put all his life into the Church. And he was happy doing this. So I think he’s happy in heaven.”
She described her brother as very likeable, with a good sense of humor, and “very priestly.”
“He loved St. Ambrose. He loved Florida. And he was always talking about the Church,” she said. “Everybody liked him.”
One of eight siblings, Father Connaughton was born in Williamstown, County Galway, Dec. 15, 1924. He studied at St. John’s Seminary in Waterford, Ireland, and was ordained June 18, 1950 for service in the Diocese of St. Augustine, which at that time encompassed the entire state of Florida.
He arrived in St. Augustine July 10, 1950 and was assigned to St. Vincent’s Hospital and Nursing School in Jacksonville as chaplain and teacher. A year later, he was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Patrick in Miami Beach. He served there until Aug. 15, 1955, when he was sent to Tampa to establish what is now St. Patrick Parish, then a mission of Christ the King Parish.
In January 1956, he returned to South Florida, becoming administrator of San Pablo Church in Marathon. There he directed the building of the parish church and erected several pre-fabricated buildings for use as a school.
While in the Keys, he also established a mission in Big Pine Key, known then as St. Mary of the Pines and now as St. Peter Parish, and cared for San Pedro Church in Tavernier.
File photo of Father James Connaughton taken from one of St. Ambrose Parish's yearbooks.
In March 1960, he was named pastor of St. John the Apostle in Hialeah. During his eight years there he built the permanent church, the first in South Florida to have the baptistery located outside the main building. He also expanded the school — from 400 to 1,200 students — to accommodate the influx of Cuban refugees, and established a mission in west Hialeah, now known as St. Cecilia Parish.
On Aug. 15, 1968, he was named pastor of St. Ambrose in Deerfield Beach. There he built another permanent church with seating for 1,200, plus a chapel. He also expanded the capacity of the school and parish center and established a mission in west Deerfield, now Our Lady of Mercy Parish.
At the dedication of St. Ambrose’s new church, Miami’s then archbishop, Edward McCarthy, asked Father Connaughton to establish a new regional Catholic high school in Boca Raton. In a matter of 18 months, he oversaw the construction of the $12 million John Paul II High School and gymnasium, serving approximately 1,200 students.
Father Connaughton also served for a decade as a member of the Archdiocesan Financial Board and as one of the coordinators of ABCD (Archbishop’s Charities and Development campaign.)
Due to failing health, he retired from fulltime ministry in 1993.
On his 25th anniversary as a priest, he reflected on his vocation in a message to his parishioners and friends, a message which began with a poem entitled “The Splendid Cause.”
In the letter which followed, he compared the work of a priest to the cross, “both horizontal and vertical in its love and service. It exists in the cult of the living God and the service of the least of his brothers,” he wrote. “Our job is on leveling the mountains that separate people and filling in the gaps in the road which makes difficult their access to one another and to God. To put it another way, our calling is to announce the good news of redemption but to do so with the persuasion that pacifies and satisfies the angry and makes generous the self-centered and the selfish.”
It is “not an easy task,” he admitted. “I have often been asked if I had my choice, would I do it all over again. My answer is simply ‘YES’ because I know of no other vocation in life that allows man to do so much good for his fellow man.”
Aside from his sister and her daughter, Margaret Kerins, also a resident of Deerfield Beach, Father Connaughton is survived by many nieces and nephews back in Ireland. A memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Ambrose sometime in the next few weeks.
