The three newly ordained priests.
Fr Michael Kelly
Fr Kelly (33) is a native of Hartstown in Dublin. He is a former rock musician who has previously worked for computer giant IBM and as an orderly in the radiotherapy department in St Luke's Hospital in Dublin.
He entered St Patrick's seminary in Maynooth in August, 2002 and one of his first duties as a priest will be to officiate at his sister Martina's wedding in three weeks' time.
Fr Dan an Nguyen
Fr Nguyen (37) is one of a family of 12 children from Saigon in Vietnam. His eldest brother, John, serves as a priest in Peterborough, England.
Fr Nguyen studied and qualified as a veterinary surgeon in Saigon. However, when he wished to fulfil his vocation, he was unable to do so in Vietnam due to restrictions imposed on the number of Catholic seminarians by the Vietnamese government. He then travelled to Ireland and entered the seminary in Maynooth in August, 2001.
Fr Richard Shannon
Fr Shannon (58) has worked in the voluntary sector in Dublin for the past 28 years. He served for 25 years as director of the Simon Community in Ireland, working with and on behalf of the country's homeless people.
He also spent two years studying for a masters in canon law in London. Fr Shannon has worked in the parish of St Mary's on Haddington Road in Dublin for the past three years while studying in the Milltown Institute.
