By Priscilla Greear - Florida Catholic
MIAMI | With a friendly Irish spirit and zest for ministry, Father Sean Mulcahy devoted 63 years to priestly service in the Miami Archdiocese and shared and abiding love for his flock, from weekly churchgoers and estranged Catholics to prisoners and migrant workers. Father Mulcahy died age 88 in Lorida, Fla., on April 10, 2025.
Michelle Robles recalled his joyful leadership of St. Maurice Church (now St. Maurice at Resurrection), where he served as pastor for over 20 years. “Everybody just loved him. The church was always packed. They had all kinds of activities for children and adults. A lot of people say he saved their lives. If it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t have come back to church,” said Robles, a parishioner. “He was very humble. He made people laugh. He made everybody at church feel welcome and that they were part of it.”
Father Mulcahy baptized Robles’ daughter and made a big impact with his deep spirituality and caring, pastoral demeanor. And after his transfer he would return to the parish to pick up church members in his truck to go caroling at nursing homes at Christmastime, she recalled.
Father Mulcahy was born on Feb. 2, 1937 in Killahee, County Clare, Ireland. He studied at Ballinefad College in County Mayo and All Hallow’s College in Dublin before being ordained there on Feb. 17, 1962 for the Diocese of Miami. His assignments in South Florida included: parochial vicar at Epiphany, South Miami (1962-63); at Little Flower, Hollywood (1963-66); at St. Timothy, Miami (1966-67); at Little Flower, Coral Gables (1968-70). He was the founding administrator of St. Ignatius Loyola, Palm Beach Gardens (1970-76). After completing master’s degrees in counseling and religious studies, he served as a staff member of the Family Counseling Center in Miami from 1968-70 and concurrently as director of the Family Counseling Center in Palm Beach County and on the staff of the Catholic Service Bureau there from 1970 to 1975. In January 1976 he was appointed administrator and later pastor of St. Maurice Church in Fort Lauderdale until 1998, after which he served as part-time parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament Church in Oak Park and then as pastor at St Charles Borromeo, Hallandale (now merged with St. Matthew, Hallandale) until his retirement in 2006.
With a motto to “do the loving thing,” Father Mulcahy spearheaded St. Maurice’s Hunger Program Ministry, hosting a popular annual country fair that drew attendees from across the region and raised funds to support local charities, migrants in Okeechobee and humanitarian projects in Jamaica and Haiti.
Growing up in the soft green countryside of Killaloe on the banks of River Shannon, Father Mulcahy would also host an annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner show with Irish step dancing, said his longtime friend Maria Rienzo. The scrappy priest had a farmer’s heart and would often ride around on his day off to cut the lawn and tend to church maintenance, picking up trash himself. He drove an 18-wheeler to deliver food to the Immokalee migrants and locals facing food insecurity. “He was very strong and he loved outdoor work,” said Rienzo, who was his secretary for six years.
Pamela Ferrante, a St. Maurice parishioner since 1976, also affirmed his “tremendous love of the poor.” He was extremely hard working and high energy to create a loving faith community, she added. Under his leadership the parish would present an annual dramatic interpretation of the Passion of Christ for the community. Father Robert Tywoniak, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in Oakland Park, said that the priest was very innovative and admired for his imaginative liturgy and intense, theatrical Passion plays. “They had all the costuming to draw people in. It intrigued people and surely would have attracted people other than Roman Catholics.”
Father Tywoniak commended Father Mulcahy’ gifts to transform St. Maurice Parish into a vibrant faith community after land was donated from the former Smith’s Stables. The barn interior was converted to a church but the exterior retained a stable appearance. “It was a unique place to go and worship. He was innovative to take something so mundane and make it sacred,” he said. “ You take a stable where animals were and make it sacred with the Eucharist and the Word of God.”
Rienzo said that in retirement Father Mulcahy remained active in ministry into his 80s after moving to Central Florida. He would visit people in prison three times a week and would come down to South Florida once or twice weekly to visit people in the hospital and provide pastoral care, said Rienzo.
“The Mass was everything to him. My mom was sick. Before she went to the hospital he would just come and say a Mass. He would always do wonderful things like that. The Mass and Eucharist were very important and it is fitting that he starts Holy Week. Easter was a very special thing to him.”
- The Mass of Christian Burial for Father Sean Mulcahy will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 16, at 11 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Parish, 1701 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park.
- The viewing will be held prior to the Mass at 10 a.m.
- Burial will take place in County Clare, Ireland.
