Fr Joe Lucey:Fr Joe Lucey, who died recently aged 47, was a Salesian priest whose ministry led him to join Focus Ireland's street service.
There he worked with homeless people in Dublin, developed support services for young people at risk in the north inner city at the Crinan project in Seán McDermott Street, and helped people searching for meaning and spirituality as a meditation teacher at the Sanctuary, a spirituality centre in Stanhope Street, also in Dublin's inner city.
Sr Stanislaus Kennedy this week said: "Joe realised that within every human being there is a deep well of greatness, beauty and inner stillness waiting to be nurtured. [ He] devoted his life to honouring and nurturing these gifts in himself and in others."
Born in Mallow, Co Cork, on June 9th, 1960, he was the youngest of 10 children of John Lucey and his wife Kay (née Healy). He was educated locally and at the Salesian College, Pallaskenry, Co Limerick. He enjoyed school life to the full, taking part in stage productions and playing in a rock group. Impressed by the Salesians he encountered, he set out to explore their way of living further. He spent a year with the Salesian community in Maynooth, then another year in the novitiate in Crumlin, Dublin, after which he made his first profession in 1978.
Following three years at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, he graduated with a BA. There followed two years of practical training at the Salesian College, Ballinakill. After four years spent studying theology, he was ordained a Salesian priest in 1987.
To give full expression to the great empathy he had with people in trouble, he next trained as a counsellor and psychotherapist and within five years was fully qualified.
During these years he had become convinced that the Salesian charism (dream) had to be lived in a radical manner. His move to Seán McDermott Street as rector of the Formation community allowed him to see at first hand the needs of young people who were often lost and homeless.
Throughout his 15 years in the inner city he gave freely of his expertise to many groups. He deepened his interest in the contemplative life and found a natural home in the Sanctuary as he sought to enrich his own Christian prayer with some of the insights and wisdom of Buddhism. His writings in Doctrine and Life and the Salesian Bulletin are evidence of this.
He had a warm, affectionate presence, and was a valued friend to many. He was refined in his manner and in his mind. As vice-provincial, his contributions were characterised by understanding, good judgment and a deep understanding of the Salesian way of living.
The order's regional leader, Fr Albert Van Hecke, described him as "a family maker", reaching out to everyone - encouraging, making connections, looking for the lines of harmony and rapport. He is remembered by his colleagues as a man who desired to live a holy life following Jesus, who wanted to give himself completely, whose love drove him towards the margins where people struggle to survive; he was a shepherd of the young.
Impact trade union, which in recent years has distributed €100,000 to projects in the northeast inner city, is honouring the memory of Fr Joe Lucey by naming its grants fund after him.
He often quoted Henry Thoreau: "I went down to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately . . . and not when I came to die to discover that I had not lived."
He is survived by his brothers Con, Pat, John, Denis and Tom, sisters Brigid, Mary Rose, Catherine and Ann and Salesian confrères.
Fr Joe Lucey SDB: born June 9th, 1960; died November 25th, 2007