Father Patrick Lanigan, a retired priest of the diocese who served as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Fairfield for almost 20 years, was remembered during a memorial Mass May 22 at the Fairfield church.

Father Lanigan died May 16 in Ireland. A native of Thurles, County Tipperary, he went to Ireland earlier this year to celebrate his brother’s funeral when he was diagnosed with cancer. He was 83.

Father Lanigan served as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish from 1976 until his retirement on July 1, 1995.

Father Michael Downey, who succeeded Father Lanigan as pastor of Holy Spirit, celebrated the Mass, with Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia, Bishop Emeritus Francis A. Quinn and many priests of the diocese in attendance.

In his homily, Father Downey recalled memories of his friend of many years. He served as associate pastor under Father Lanigan from 1983 to 1989 and they remained close friends for the past 11 years, when Father Lanigan lived in Fairfield during his retirement.

“He was a man who had a lot of energy and a great passion for the church,” Father Downey said. “He adapted well to the changes that took place in the church during his priesthood. He also loved people, regardless of who they were or where they came from. That really helped him be an effective pastor.”

Father Lanigan arrived in Fairfield to take over as pastor of Holy Spirit following various assignments throughout Northern California. “It was already a marvelous parish, and it was unique because the people are very committed,” he told The Herald a few weeks before his retirement in 1995. “I just happened to be here during the years when so much renewal took place.”

Many parishioners during his tenure became involved in the charismatic renewal and in prayer groups and Father Lanigan encouragement this involvement. Many of the prayer groups are still active in the parish, Father Downey said.

“He gave people a great deal of freedom to start things, to nurture their own spirituality,” Father Downey said. “He gave them the freedom because he always felt people were mature in their faith.”

As the ethnic makeup of the parish changed, Father Lanigan worked to help make all people welcome in the parish. “We are an international church,” he told The Herald in 1995, noting that he was proud of Holy Spirit’s large Latino and Filipino Catholic communities.

As a surprise to Father Lanigan, parishioners named a new parish center after him when it was dedicated in January 1994. The dedication reads: “Loving pastor and sincere friend, whose courage led us from the dream to the reality of our parish center.”

Parishioner Bob King knew Father Lanigan since 1980. He played golf with the priest every week after he retired. He called him “as kind a man as you could ever imagine and a fine golfer.”

“He had patience, kindness and intelligence,” King said. “He was very bright and well-read and could quote Shakespeare and poetry at the drop of a hat. We would be on the golf course and he would quote Shakespeare and he made you feel peaceful.”

Father Lanigan entered the seminary at age 20 and attended St. Patrick’s College in Ireland. After ordination at the cathedral in Thurles in September 1951 for service in the Diocese of Sacramento, he served as assistant pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Angels Camp from 1952 to 1956, of Holy Spirit Parish in Sacramento from 1956 to 1959, and of St. Joseph Parish in Marysville from 1959 to 1965.

He was pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Dunsmuir from 1965 to 1973 and of St. John the Baptist Parish in Chico from 1973 to 1976.

On the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2001, Father Lanigan wrote in The Herald that although many demands were placed on him as a priest and he encountered “some bumps along the road,” on the whole “these were good years, they were happy years.”

“My good priest friends were a tremendous encouragement to me,” he said. “I am grateful to them and to the good people of God. The faith of parishioners was a great inspiration to me.”

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