- Feb 5, 2002
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Meet Connecticut pastor Father Kevin Reilly, a burly disciplinarian who is drawing young Catholic parents back into the fold.
MYSTIC, Conn. — Most people peg Father Kevin Reilly, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Mystic as ex-military, especially with a U.S. Navy submarine base just 10 miles away in Groton.
Tall and muscular, he presents an imposing figure in this seaside town known for its colonial quaintness as well as its pizza. Parishioners say his baritone voice booms from the lectern at Mass, and his homilies almost always touch on practical elements of spiritual discipline, especially the need for regular confession.
Father Reilly, 55, in his 14th year at St. Patrick’s, learned discipline in a different kind of former life: as a bouncer and bartender in Washington, D.C., and later in San Francisco. Following a rough-and-tumble young adulthood, he received a vision of Christ’s face that sent him on a path to the priesthood. And despite gaining a reputation for a no-nonsense approach to his pastoral duties, St. Patrick’s, in the Diocese of Norwich, has become a beacon for young families with small children in a geographic region (New England) that has seen a steady decline in Catholic communicants in recent decades.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
MYSTIC, Conn. — Most people peg Father Kevin Reilly, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Mystic as ex-military, especially with a U.S. Navy submarine base just 10 miles away in Groton.
Tall and muscular, he presents an imposing figure in this seaside town known for its colonial quaintness as well as its pizza. Parishioners say his baritone voice booms from the lectern at Mass, and his homilies almost always touch on practical elements of spiritual discipline, especially the need for regular confession.
Father Reilly, 55, in his 14th year at St. Patrick’s, learned discipline in a different kind of former life: as a bouncer and bartender in Washington, D.C., and later in San Francisco. Following a rough-and-tumble young adulthood, he received a vision of Christ’s face that sent him on a path to the priesthood. And despite gaining a reputation for a no-nonsense approach to his pastoral duties, St. Patrick’s, in the Diocese of Norwich, has become a beacon for young families with small children in a geographic region (New England) that has seen a steady decline in Catholic communicants in recent decades.
An Unlikely Calling
Continued below.
From Bouncer to Bartender to Catholic Priest
Meet Connecticut pastor Father Kevin Reilly, a burly disciplinarian who is drawing young Catholic parents back into the fold.
