Bishop Jaime Soto will preside at a funeral Mass for Msgr. Edward Kavanagh on Friday, March 23 at noon in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacramento, located at 1017 11th St. in Sacramento. Msgr. Kavanagh, pastor emeritus of St. Rose Parish in Sacramento, served as a priest of the diocese for nearly 70 years, serving 58 of those years at St. Rose Parish as assistant pastor and pastor. He died on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, at Mercy McMahon Terrace assisted living in Sacramento after failing to recover from the flu. He was 93.
Msgr. James Murphy, rector emeritus of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, will be the homilist at the funeral Mass. Following the Mass, there will be a reception at Msgr. Kavanagh Community Center, located at 5905 Franklin Blvd. in Sacramento.
The viewing for Msgr. Kavanagh will be held on Thursday, March 22 at 6 p.m. in St. Rose Church, located at 5961 Franklin Blvd. in Sacramento. The rosary will be at 7 p.m. Following will be a vigil of prayer throughout the night.
“Msgr. Kavanagh was an indomitable priestly figure, a force of nature,” said Bishop Soto in a statement on March 17. “He cared deeply for the community, working tirelessly on behalf of the poor and children. He was an indefatigable defender of the unborn, always fighting to end the practice of abortion, because he believed all children deserve a chance. He gave his heart to the children and young people who passed through St. Patrick’s Home and Academy. Did you need a job? A place to live? Maybe an old car to get to that job? A few dollars for gas? Msgr. Kavanagh would always find a way.”
(The full text of Bishop Soto’s statement is at https://www.scd.org/news/monsignor-edward-kavanagh-longtime-pastor-st-rose-parish-sacramento-dies-st-patricks-day-age.)
Msgr. Kavanagh was born and raised in the small Irish village of Urlingford in Kilkenny County, one of four children born to devout Catholic parents. Much of his time was spent helping out with his family’s bus transport and newspaper distribution business. He attended St. Kieran’s School in Kilkenny and after primary school he entered St. Kieran’s Seminary.
He was a fierce sportsman and played fullback for the Kilkenny Cats hurling team, Ireland’s national sport, which is a mix of hockey, lacrosse and baseball. In 1947, Msgr. Kavanagh as a midfielder led the Cats won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, which they had not won for 10 years.
The young Irishman’s vocational plans to become a banker were forgotten after some of his friends, who were seminarians, encouraged Msgr. Kavanagh to consider a vocation to religious life. Listening to vocations directors speak about missions to China, Japan and Africa changed everything. “There was the appeal of helping people less fortunate,” Msgr. Kavanagh told The Catholic Herald in November 2006, prior to his retirement on Dec. 1, 2006.
Upon learning that the United States was experiencing a serious shortage of priests, Msgr. Kavanagh joined eight other Irish priests destined to serve in the Diocese of Sacramento. On June 6, 1948, he was ordained a priest for the diocese in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny.
Upon arriving in Sacramento, he was assigned by then Bishop Robert Armstrong to stay with Father Patrick Bennett, pastor of St. Rose Parish and director of St. Patrick’s Home. Two weeks later, on Dec. 21, 1948, Father Bennett died of a sudden heart attack and Father Carroll Lawsen was appointed as pastor of St. Rose Parish. On Dec. 27, 1948, Msgr. Kavanagh was appointed to St. Rose as assistant pastor. Little did he realize then that he would spend the rest of his priestly ministry serving the people of St. Rose Parish.
He told The Herald upon his retirement that from the moment he arrived at St. Rose in 1948 it was a comfortable fit. “St. Rose was always special – the people, the Sisters of Mercy, and the kids who are still my friends,” he said. “There were kids there that needed you.”
He worked from 1954 to 2005 as director of St. Patrick’s Home for Childrenm a social welfare agency providing residential and educational services. He was appointed pastor of St. Rose Parish on June 21, 1962, after the death of Father Lawsen, and served as pastor until his retirement. When he was appointed pastor, there were about 100 children living in the orphanage who attended the parish school, many of them coming from broken homes. For 20 years, he drove the parish bus on Saturday mornings, picking up public school children for religious education classes.
Over the years, the orphanage ceased but developed into two daycare centers and several group homes in south Sacramento. St. Rose Parish grew tremendously. During the 44 years Msgr. Kavanagh served as pastor, the parish expanded its Sunday Mass schedule from three to 12 Masses and he baptized more than 16,000 people and celebrated 4,000 marriages. His extensive outreach extended to the Latino community and several Masses were celebrated in Spanish in the Kavanagh Community Center each weekend.
In addition to the 1932 vintage buildings, during Msgr. Kavanagh’s tenure a church rectory was built in 1956, the Cornelia administrative building was constructed in 1966, and the Msgr. Kavanagh Community Center, a multipurpose facility adjacent to what is now St. Patrick’s Academy and St. Rose Church, was completed in 1982.
Msgr. Kavanagh was appointed Chaplain of His Holiness on July 21, 1965 by Pope Paul VI and appointed an Honorary Prelate on Jan. 21, 1977 by Pope Paul VI.
Following his retirement, he continued to live in residence at St. Rose Parish with Msgr. James Church, who became pastor on Dec. 1, 2006. In 2014, after a variety of ailments, he moved to assisted living care at Mercy McMahon Terrace, where he resided until his death.