Archbishop laid to rest
Parishioners in Crosshaven are mourning the loss of Archbishop Patrick Coveney who was laid to rest in the village yesterday, Wednesday.
Born in 1934, Archbishop Coveney was a native of Tracton Abbey Parish in the south east of county Cork.
In 1959, in Rome, he was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Cork and Ross. His first pastoral appointment was in Kidlington, Archdiocese of Bermingham where he spent for 1 year before joining the staff of St Finbarr’s Seminary in Farranferris, from 1960-1966.
In 1966, Archbishop Coveney joined the Secretariat of State in the Vatican and then entered the Pontifical Ecclesial Academy in 1969. He later served as Secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio in Argentina from 1972 -1976 before returning to Rome to re-join the Secretariat of State until 1982. He then moved to New Delhi until 1984 as counsellor to the Nunciature, and then to Khartoum in Sudan until 1985.
On 15 September 1985, Archbishop Coveney was consecrated as Titular Archbishop of Satrianum in the Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne in the Diocese of Cork and Ross before being appointed as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Zimbabwe and Apostolic Delegate to Mozambique until 1990.
He then served as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Ethiopia residing in Addis Ababa as well as Apostolic Delegate to Djibouti until 1996.
In 1996, Archbishop Coveney was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, residing in Wellington. In this period, he also served as Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu, Nauru, Cook Islands, and Palau. In 2005 he was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to Greece residing in Athens until his retirement in 2009.
From 2009, Archbishop Coveney returned to Ireland to reside in Crosshaven where he assisted in the parish and celebrated the sacrament of confirmation in many parishes throughout the diocese at the invitation of Bishop Fintan Gavin and the former Bishop of Cork and Ross, Bishop John Buckley.
He was laid to rest in Ballyfeard Cemetery in Crosshaven.