Canon McGovern's remains will be received into St Columbkille's Church, Rutherglen at 6.00pm on Sunday 22nd January and his Requiem Mass will take place on Monday 23rd January at 12noon in St Columbkille's.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of the late Canon Patrick McGovern who has sadly died. Canon was in his 70th year of the Priesthood.
May the Lord who chose Patrick to serve Him as priest, number him among his chosen in heaven. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Born in Rutherglen, Canon McGovern, like many others of that day, spent his high school years at Our Lady ' s High in Motherwell. Ordained on May 31st 1947, he took up his first post as a curate in St. John Bosco, New Stevenson. Then on to St. Monica's, Coatbridge from 1954 - 1962, then Corpus Christi, Calderbank from 1962 - 1969. He returned to Coatbridge in 1969 to St. Bartholomew's, Townhead 1969 where he served until his transfer to Moodiesburn in 1984.
He was a contemporary of the late Thomas Cardinal Winning and apparently knew Shieldmuir quite well from his frequent visits to the Winning home. His photo taken at his Golden Jubilee shows how he merited the nickname of "Smiler" given to him by his classmates.
Canon Mc Govern succeeded Monsignor O'Donnell in 1984 when the Monsignor became too ill to continue. He had a previous connection with St. Ignatius Parish however : he acted as Assistant to Bishop Scanlon when the Bishop attended St. Ignatius ' Centenary as a Parish in 1959 -also in attendance in Wishaw that day as Assistant Priest was Monsignor O'Donnell. He was always attentive to the sick and visited them regularly during his time in St. Ignatius - probably from having a history of heart trouble of his own before he came here. His prescription for good health was a cold shower in the morning and a large number of pints - ( of fresh water!) every day. After celebrating his Golden Jubilee in the priesthood in 1997, he retired in July 1998 to a well earned rest with Fr. Gerry Maguiness administering the Parish until Monsignor Conway took over in Nov. 1998.
