It is with great sadness that the Diocese of Leeds announces the death of Canon Joseph Finan who died peacefully in the early hours Thursday, 11 February at The Little Sisters of the Poor, Sacred Heart Residence, in Dublin, at the age of eighty-eight His Requiem Mass and burial will take place on Saturday, 13 February in Dublin.
Please pray for the repose of Fr Joe’s soul and remember him and his family and friends in your prayers at this time.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Very Rev Canon Joseph Finan RIP
Canon Finan hailed from Carrowcorragh, Lavagh in County Sligo in the West of Ireland. He was born on 9 October 1932. His parents were Charlie and Mary Ann Finan and he was one of five children, with two sisters and two brothers. Both his brothers also became priests. Canon Joe studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College in Dublin and was ordained in the college chapel, for the Diocese of Leeds, on 16 June 1957.
Following ordination he was appointed as Assistant Priest in the parish of St Mary, East Parade, Bradford. In 1963 he moved to St Ignatius, Ossett and in 1968 he returned to Bradford as Assistant at St Cuthbert’s parish.
The then Fr Finan became a Parish Priest in 1972 with his appointment to St Mary & St Monica’s, Cottingley. In 1978 he was appointed to St William’s, Bradford and in 1986 he moved to the parish of St Columba in Halifax, where he remained for the next twenty-one years, until his retirement in 2007. In 2006 he was appointed a Canon of the Cathedral Chapter by Bishop Roche.
Following his retirement Canon Finan initially went to live at Mount St Joseph’s Home at Headingley in Leeds. In 2010 he returned to Ireland and thereafter he lived in Dublin, latterly at the Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, in Raheny. Following his death, his family have spoken of the exceptional and loving care shown to Canon Joe by the Sisters and staff of the home. In turn, Canon Joe will be fondly remembered for the kindness he showed to others and for half-a-century of devoted service to the Bishops of Leeds, and to the people of the parishes in which he exercised his priestly ministry.
May he rest in peace.
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