Msgr. McGettrick celebrates 

60 of priestly ordination

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Bishop Mulvey blesses Msgr. McGettrick at the 60th Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Andrews by the Sea.

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There was much laughter and joy as Msgr. Thomas McGettrick regaled and roasted bishops, priests, sisters, family members and parishioners during his homily at his 60th Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving on June 5 at St. Andrew by the Sea.
 
Msgr. McGettrick, who was one of 15 children growing up in Ireland, said he remembers his ordination exactly 60 years to the day. After celebrating his first Mass, he walked into the kitchen where his sister Mary was doing dishes—and who he indicated was sitting in a pew at the Anniversary Mass—threw him a cloth and said, "don’t think that just because you are now a priest, you don't have to wash dishes."
 
He thanked all his family, the Diocese of Corpus Christi and the bishops he has served. "They have all been worthy men," he said. He thanked all the many lay people who have been an important part of his life, especially those thousands of families he was able to share in their times of joy and challenges.
 
He said he was amazed that by playing golf every Tuesday with other priests, both religious and diocesan, he had made lifelong friendships. The support-group of priests has been a "marvelous experience and over the years very entertaining," Msgr. McGettrick said.
 
He said he felt grateful and thanked God for giving him a vocation to the priesthood. "The greatest event in the history of the human race was the incarnation, the coming of Jesus into this world. When the Lord came into this world. His life summed up in scripture, 'He went about doing good' and that is the call of the priest," he said.