Joyful Celebration of Fr. Jim's Golden Jubilee

Intermountain Catholic

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Father James Semple (right) with Bishop John C. Wester during the local celebration of Fr. Semple's jubilee. IC file photo

The Golden Jubilee of the ordination to the priesthood of Fr. Jim Semple, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. and Fianna Road, Thurles, formerly, was celebrated with joy and acclamation at the Cathedral of the Assumption on Friday last, in the presence of family members, neighbours and friends.

Having been Baptised, received his First Holy Communion, and Confirmation, and having been ordained in the Cathedral in June 1961, the first class from St. Patrick’s College ordained by the late Archbishop Thomas Morris, it was entirely appropriate that the Cathedral should be the setting for this further significant milestone in Fr. Jim’s career.

Fr. Jim was joined on the altar for a Mass of Thanksgiving by Fr. Martin Hayes, Adm., Fr. Phil Barry, S.C.A., a classmate, and Fr. James Feehan, who was chairman of Sarsfields club when the club proposed that the then Thurles Sportsfield be dedicated to the memory of Fr. Jim’s father, the late Tom Semple, the renowned GAA player, referee and administrator.

Before Mass he was greeted by Archbishop Dermot Clifford, who extended his congratulations to him on his Golden Jubilee.

The congregation included Fr. Semple’s brother, Martin (Denver, Colo.), his sister, Anne Gunning, Dublin; nephew TJ Semple, Monadreen; and niece Maureen Thomas, Carlow; cousins, family friends and neighbours, representatives of Thurles Sarsfields GAA club and of the Durlas Eile Fhogartaigh Memorial Committee who were responsible for the erection of a monument to the memory of Tom Semple in St Mary’s Cemetery, where Tom Semple is buried.

In the course of his homily, Fr. Jim thanked all who had come to join him in the celebration of his Golden Jubilee and said that from his earliest years it was his aspiration to become a priest. He thanked his family, neighbours, and friends for their support which had always been a great source of encouragement and inspiration to him and asked for their prayers to continue to assist him in his ministry.

At the conclusion of the Mass, as Fr. Jim and his co-concelebrants processed to the sacristy, Michael Molumby, whose singing hugely enhanced the celebration, led the congregation in an emotional rendering of the Tipperary anthem, Slievenamon.

Later, Fr. Jim laid a wreath at the memorial to his father in St. Mary’s Church grounds after which Liam O Donnchu, vice president of Sarsfields club, gave a short talk on the life of Tom Semple. Martin Semple, on behalf of the family, expressed thanks to the Memorial Committee for their work in honouring his father.

At a reception afterwards in the Anner Hotel, Martin Semple recalled the family growing up in Fianna Road and the dedication of their mother to their well-being after their father had died while they were all so young. He related how Fr. Jim in 1953, had been, at the insistence of the then secretary of the local athletic club, Ned O Shea, chosen to carry the urn with soil from Thurles Sportsfield on the first leg of a relay of runners for the opening of Casement Park in Belfast.

He also recalled a photo taken at the opening of Scoil Ailbhe, the CBS Primary School, of Fr. Jim, then head altar boy, leading the procession to the school for the opening ceremony. He outlined the offices held by Fr. Jim in Salt Lake, and said that at a celebration of his Golden Jubilee in Salt Lake this summer, organised by his friend, Fr. Paddy Carley, Iona Ave., formerly, it was very gratifying for the family that so many of his former parishioners took the trouble to speak to them of their appreciation of the great work Fr. Jim had done in their parishes and the empathy he had with his parishioners.

Other speakers included Fr. Feehan and T J Semple.

In thanking all for their attendance, Fr. Jim was particularly grateful to his sister, Ann who organised the function, and to his brother, Martin, for their support. He spoke with pride of his late father, Tom, and affectionately of his late mother, Winifred, who, on his father’s death, while they were all so young, had single-handedly dedicated herself to raising the family, being particularly cognisant of the importance of their education. He thanked God for his fifty years of ministry and jokingly concluded by promising that he would meet up with all again when he came home to celebrate his sixtieth year in the priesthood.

A most enjoyable occasion concluded fittingly with Michael Molumby once more leading the gathering in a rousing rendition of Slievenamon.

(Editor’s note: Michael Dundon recently retired from the Tipperary Star, a weekly regional newspaper covering County Tipperary, Ireland, in which this article first appeared. Reprinted by permission of the author.)