Priest laid to rest, remembered

Councilman speaks of brother he lost

FREDERICKSBURG — Three brothers. All history majors. All Civil War re-enactors.

Irish — and very serious about it.

“We took our Irish heritage very seriously,” said Matt Kelly, Fredericksburg councilman, whose brother, Michael Craig Kelly, 53, died tragically New Year’s Eve while doing what he did best: being in the service of others.

Father Kelly was on his way to the funeral of another priest when he stopped to remove a fallen tree from a Loudon County road. As he did so, another tree fell and fatally struck him.

Father Kelly had been ordained in the priesthood in 1995. He graduated as a history major at then Mary Washington College in 1984, as did his brother, Dan, and Matt’s wife. All of them took some classes together.

Matt graduated in 1982.

Matt reflects that roles were reversed in his Irish family.

“Normally, the oldest joins the military, the second does something else, and the youngest becomes a priest. We did it in reverse order,” he said.

The youngest brother, Dan, is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps and is stationed at Quantico Marine Base. Their father was a colonel in the Corps, also.

Matt says their mother promoted the principles of service to others.

Matt himself has been involved in neighborhood, city and state organizations including the College Heights Civic Association, Neighborhoods First, the Fredericksburg Civic League and the board of trustees for the Virginia State Parks Foundation, and he is reportedly active in youth activities and favors completion of the Parks and Recreation Department's Dixon Street project, riverfront improvements and other initiatives.

Mike did not take a direct path to the priesthood. Before realizing his calling and before becoming a history major, he was a Boatswain’s Mate Second Class in the United States Navy.

He did reach his decision through an epiphany, said Matt, but through a long period of pondering before he made his commitment.

Matt recalls Mike as being very smart.

“In the early days of video games he would score over 50,000 points in Jeopardy. Trivial Pursuit — why bother?”

Even so, Matt calls his brother’s attitude as “understated,” that he never flaunted any of his abilities.

“He taught through example,” said Matt.

At the time of his death, Mike presided over St. Francis de Sales in Purcellville. Prior to that, he held assignments at St. James in Falls Church, St. Ambrose in Annandale, and Sacred Heart in Winchester.

Bishop Paul Loverde of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Arlington expressed his condolences to the church’s parishioners in a letter posted on the church’s website.

Kelly was a “faithful and zealous priest not only among you but in all his previous assignments as well,” wrote Loverde.

A wake was held Monday evening and a funeral mass the next morning at St. Francis De Sales. Interment followed immediately in Fairfax Memorial Cemetery in Fairfax.

Jim Lawrence is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.