Patrick Sheedy

Father Pat, as he prefers to be called, still carries the farm with him. The fourth of twelve children raised on a 160-acre spread in County Clare, Ireland, he grew up milking cows, tending crops, and praying the rosary with his family every night before bed. He describes himself as a shy boy, but the kind of shy that listened, watched, and learned how things grow. "Giving is what we grew up with," he has said. "Everybody is part of a team. We just had to cooperate with God and bring God's gifts to the family and community." That quiet teamwork shaped everything about the priest he would become. He was ordained on June 13, 1965, and came to Florida knowing little about the state beyond its sunshine. He served several assignments before arriving at Blessed Trinity Parish in Ocala in 1988, and he has called it home ever since. Those who know him describe a man who is devout, honorable, and trustworthy, the kind of priest who will show up at your hospital bedside in the middle of the night without thinking twice, the kind people call when it matters most and who never hesitates to come. What started on a small farm in Ireland followed Father Pat across the ocean. He believes that if you are tuned into God, you will see the opportunities, and he has spent decades living that out. Under his care, the parish embraced a stewardship way of life, grew its school to over 660 students, and opened a 24/7 Perpetual Adoration Chapel that has been attended every single hour for more than thirty years. When a Ugandan sister at the school shared a photo of her village church, a tiny hut of sticks and mud, the parish raised $185,000 to build a real one. That single moment grew into a mission that now spans 32 village churches, 22 schools, 40 deep water wells, medical clinics, and over 120 college graduates who are now teachers, doctors, and nurses. Father Pat wrote about it in his 2023 book, "God is Able." "God gives me people who believe and help me," he says, "and by the time we're finished, we have more than we need."