Father Tony Kelly, SCJ, dies in Memphis HERNANDO — Father Tony Kelly, SCJ, died Dec. 2 in Memphis, Tenn., after a long bout with cancer. He was 64 and a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart since 1966; he was ordained in 1973.
Originally from Bangor, Maine, Father Kelly did his undergraduate studies at Marquette University, Milwaukee, earning a bachelor’s in sociology, and his theology at Sacred Heart School of Theology. He also studied at the Jesuit School in Weston, Mass., and at the School of Theology in Berkeley.
When Father Kelly returned to Mississippi in 2006 to serve as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Hernando, he said he felt like he was “coming home.” Although away from the area for many years, it was Mississippi where Father Kelly first began ministry. His first assignment was at Christ the King Parish in Southaven (1976-78), followed by St. Gregory the Great in Senatobia (1978-81) and Sacred Heart in Walls (1982-86).
In 1987, he headed to Houston, Texas, to serve at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish (1987-93). From 1993 to 2001 he ministered in South Dakota, first at St. Mary Parish in Lower Brule and then at St. James Parish in Chamberlain. From 2002-2005 he was a part of the ministerial team in Raymondville, Texas.
Returning to Mississippi in 2005, he said he saw a lot of familiar faces from his first time in the area. “Some of them are people I baptized years ago and now they have children,” he said soon after settling in. Of his last assignment at Holy Spirit, he said he enjoyed his parishioners because they have “ministries that reach out to the broader community as well as tending to the needs of parishioners.”
The family has requested Father Kelly be buried in Maine. Because of this, the province and local funeral were to be combined in Mississippi. There will not be a funeral at Sacred Heart Monastery.
Funeral services were scheduled to be held at Hernando Holy Spirit Parish: a wake on Tuesday, Dec. 4, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. and a Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. Internment will take place in Maine where Father Kelly grew up and still has family.
ber of the Priests of the Sacred Heart since 1966; he was ordained in 1973. 