A GROUP OF 54 PILGRIMS from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Huntington Beach recently returned from a 10-day parish trip to Ireland.
The trip came to fruition after Fr. Sweeney was invited to a concert in Vista, Calif., to hear the Irish tenor Emmet Cahill and the Irish singing group Celtic Thunder.
“It was a great concert,” Fr. Kevin said. “Afterward, I was able to meet and talk with Emmet. I asked if he would consider doing a concert in my parish when he was in the U.S. again before Christmas.”
At the time, Cahill’s accompanist Seamus Brett mentioned that he and Cahill also do some group tours of Ireland.
“From then we started talking about the possibility of putting a parish tour together. It gained traction and by the time Emmet and Seamus came for the Christmas concert, we had a good number of people already signed up.”
Led by Fr. Kevin, the pilgrimage also included Deacon Angelo Giambrone and Brother Thomas Weldon, F.S.P.
“We visited many important holy sites, historical sites and fun sites, some of which I had never been to before, like Downpatrick where St. Patrick, St. Bridget and St. Colmcille are buried,” Fr. Kevin said.
Judy Wisenbaker reflected on her experience.
“We were a group of ‘pilgrims’ from diverse backgrounds,” she said. “Most of us didn’t know each other; however, by the end of the trip we all came together to support each other physically, emotionally and spiritually.”
After an overnight flight and arrival followed by a respite in Dublin, Mass was celebrated at St. Sylvester’s Catholic Church, Malahide, in County Dublin, and a visit to the St. Brigid Shrine in Faughart, County Louth, the birthplace of St. Brigid. Then the group headed along the northern coast toward Downpatrick, the burial site of St. Patrick at Down Cathedral and exploring the legacy and history of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. En route stops included the Round Tower at Monasterboice in County Louth, one of the tallest towers in Ireland, and the High Crosses, including the West Cross, the tallest cross in Ireland.
The day included a visit to Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, and part of the United Kingdom since the partition of Ireland in 1921. After a bus tour ofhistoric Belfast, other stops included the famous Giants Causeway and Lough Eske Castle in Donegal and a private concert with Emmet Cahill.
Also featured was a visit to Titanic Belfast, where the RMS Titanic was designed, built and launched before its fateful maiden voyage to New York when it famously struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic in 1912.
The itinerary for the next day began with Mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica in Lough Derg, the first pilgrimage site on the tour. It was here, at St. Patrick’s Purgatory, that legend has it that Christ revealed a cave as an entrance to Purgatory. “It was a privilege to be able to celebrate Mass there and join with the communion of saints who have prayed there for many centuries,” Fr. Kevin reflected.
APPARITION CHAPEL AT OUR LADY OF KNOCK SHRINE. FR. KEVIN SWEENEY CELEBRATES MASS WITH DEACON ANGELO GIAMBRONE ASSISTING. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDY SISON
The next pilgrimage site was a visit to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, known as the Knock Shrine. This site honors the apparition in 1879 of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist.
“Our group was able to have Mass in the apparition chapel attached to the back wall of the old church where the apparition took place,” Fr. Kevin reported. “Emmet Cahill even sang ‘Our Lady of Knock.’”
The third and final pilgrimage site was Croagh Patrick, considered to be the holiest mountain in Ireland. It has been considered as such ever since St. Patrick is said to have spent 40 days fasting on the summit.
The day was finished at the National Famine Memorial. It is the largest bronze sculpture in Ireland in the form of an immigrant ship whose rigging is composed of skeletal figures, dedicated to the millions who died in the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-1800s. Millions of others fled the country, most notably emigrating to the United States and Canada.
Mass the following day was celebrated at Kylemore Abbey, concelebrated with the Benedictine Nuns’ chaplain and Fr. Kevin.
The Abbey was originally built as a private estate in 1868. It now serves as a monastery and retreat center. Later was a visit to the Quiet Man Museum, on the site where the movie “The Quiet Man” was filmed, starring John Wayne.
The next stop was shopping and sightseeing in Galway, followed by Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Emmet Cahill’s family parish.
The last stop of the pilgrimage before returning to Dublin, was Glendalough, a monastic site founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century in County Wicklow. Finally, back to Dublin where the group had a city tour of Dublin followed by a visit to Pope John Paul II Park with the Papal Cross and nearby Phoenix Park where Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Mass during his visit to Ireland in 1979. The closing Mass of the Ireland 2026 tour and pilgrimage was concelebrated by Fr. Kevin at St. Francis Xavier Church in Dublin, the parish of Seamus Brett, Emmet Cahill’s accompanist.
KYLEMORE ABBEY CHURCH IN CONNEMARA. FR. KEVIN SWEENEY HAD A VERY RARE OPPORTUNITY TO CONCELEBRATE MASS AT THE ABBEY WITH THE BENEDICTINE SISTERS.
And what trip to Ireland would be complete without partaking in Taylor’s Irish Night and Cabaret at the renowned Taylor’s Three Rock, a historic, thatched roof pub located in Dublin.
Many of the pilgrims commented on their pilgrimage experience to the Emerald Isle.
Michelle Gregorian has a memory that she will always treasure.
“I’ll always remember watching Fr. Kevin celebrate Mass while we were in Ireland,” she said. “You could see how happy he was to be there with his flock, and that joy made the Mass feel even more special.”
Maureen Andrews, sister of Fr. Kevin, and her husband Monte were also on the trip.
“For me, Ireland has always been the dream trip for Monte and me,” said Maureen, who celebrated her birthday in Ireland.
She continued, “I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to go to Kevin’s Masses and having Emmet singing at them. And having Emmet sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me has spoiled me for life!”
Fr. Kevin said the trip was a wonderful combination of prayer mixed with history and fun.
“I am a great promoter of St. Patrick as an evangelist missionary. From the roots of the faith in Ireland, Irish missionaries have gone out to the far corners of the world.”
Emmet Cahill has been invited to give a Christmas Concert at St. Vincent de Paul in December.