NEW PRIEST ORDAINED AT ST MACARTAN’S CATHEDRAL
Bishop of Clogher Most Rev Liam MacDaid officiated at the ordination in St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan Town on Sunday last of Fr Leo Creelman.
Fr Creelman (51) is a native of Coleraine in County Derry. He is one of nine children, five daughters and four sons of Harry and Philomena Creelman. Leo was educated at Dominican College, Portstewart and then obtained a degree in Accountancy and Economics from Queens University Belfast.
After working in the family business, Leo embarked upon a very successful career as an entrepreneur and businessman both in Ireland and the U.S. Having developed business interests in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, he eventually settled there in the late 1990s. However, although his businesses continued to thrive, Leo’s thoughts turned increasingly towards the priestly life. Leo explains:
“Despite the busy, diverse and exciting commercial activities, the one thing that remained constant for me from my childhood and through to today was my faith. I was blessed to have grown up in a family where faith mattered. Educated in primary school by some wonderful Loreto sisters, the parish school and church was the centre of social life and a secure place to be especially at that troubled time in the North of Ireland. At our home, the parish priest lived on one side of us and three curates the other, so much so that a priest visiting our home was a natural part of family life.
Perhaps because of that contact, priesthood fascinated me from an early age. My first memory of wanting to be a priest was as a ten year old serving …