Northern Ireland

Fr Rooney was a 'beautiful, beautiful priest' - bishop

Fr Rooney served as a Redemptorist Brother in Ireland before his ordination.
Fr Rooney served as a Redemptorist Brother in Ireland before his ordination. Fr Rooney served as a Redemptorist Brother in Ireland before his ordination.

FR Stephen Rooney trained initially for the Redemptorist Order becoming a brother at St Joseph’s in Dundalk in 1975.

He moved to the Cistercian Order at Bolton Abbey, Moone, Co Kildare in 1978 and remained there until his move to the US where he was ordained as a Cistercian priest in June 1985.

Since then he served in parishes across the Archdiocese of Detroit. He became pastor of the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Temperance in 2008 and remained there until 2013 when he moved to the parish of Our Lady on the River in Marine City.

Fr Rooney took up his most recent appointment at the Church of St Joseph’s in Trenton in 2018.

At a vigil held at St Joseph’s on Sunday night, Bishop Gerard Battersby described Fr Rooney as a “beautiful, beautiful priest” who was much loved by his people.

Bishop Battersby said: “The man could charm the birds out of the trees. He had a deep faith in our Lord. He really had an abiding trust in our Blessed lady and he brought people to the church. And he was a rascal. He had a beautiful Irish sense of humour and shared it with everybody.”