Mullen, Rev John
REVEREND JOHN MULLEN
April 8, 2002
Personal Info
- Date of Birth: 19 February 1926
- Place of Birth in Ireland: Curragh West, Dunmore
- County: Galway
- Education: St Jarlath’s College, Tuam and St Patrick’s College, Carlow
- Date of Ordination: 8 June 1952
- Place of Ordination: St Patrick’s College Chapel, Carlow
- Ordained by: Bishop Thomas Keogh
Diocesan Appointments
- Assistant – St Teresa Parish, Hutchinson – 10/29/1952 to 5/8/1959
- Assistant – Church of the Magdalen, Wichita – 5/9/1959 to 6/14/1962
- Pastor – St Patrick’s, Harper – 6/15/1962 to 6/30/1967
- Chancery – Diocesan Boundary Commission Member, Wichita – 8/26/1966
- Pastor – St Teresa, Hutchinson – 7/1/1967 to 11/28/1984
- Pastor – Holy Name, Coffeyville – 11/29/1984 to 1996
- Chancery – Vicar Forane of the Coffeyville Deanery – 11/29/1984
- Administrator – Sacred Heart Church, Caney – 8/4/1986
Monsignor Mullen, along with 63 other immigrants became citizens of the United States in January 1958. The new citizens came from all over the world but Father Mullen was joined by Father Kevin Trayers for the swearing in ceremony who was also from Ireland.
Father Mullen was appointed first resident pastor for the new St Patrick’s Parish in Harper, KS. The new church, replaced the edifice originally built in 1897. Father Mullen, during the dedication ceremony explained that the parish was a mission to Sacred Heart parish in Anthony, Kansas and before that a mission to Immaculate Conception parish in Danville.
Father John Mullen, was awarded the 1996 Good Shepherd Award for Pastoral Service for his yeoman service to two parishes with Catholic schools – St Teresa’s in Hutchinson and Holy Name in Coffeyville. From 1952 to 1959, Father Mullen served as a teacher and administrator of St Teresa High School. When he was reassigned to take the helm at Holy Name School in Coffeyville, Father personally reviewed religion textbooks and visited religion classes on a regular basis. He also stressed the need for the parish to embrace stewardship and in short time had the parish debt free.
In Father Mullen’s obituary printed in the Catholic Advance, it said Father was well-known for his motto: “God love you and keep smiling!” He was the only priest out of his ordination class of 1952 to travel to Kansas and in an interview in 1984, he stated he didn’t regret his decision. He had heard about Kansas in school and having grown up on a farm in Ireland, he felt very much at home in the rural parishes.
- Date of Death: 8 April 2002
- Place of Death: Catholic Care Center, Wichita, KS
- Age of Death: 76
- Funeral Celebrant: Most Rev Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita, KS and Father Francis Cox, homilist in St Elizabeth Chapel at the Catholic Care Center, Wichita.
- Burial: Christ the King Cemetery in Kiltevna, County Galway, Ireland