The entry for James Joseph Kelly in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography leads with the statement that Kelly "regarded himself first as an Irishman, then a Catholic, then a Christian".
The controversial clergyman was born on 11 November 1887 in County Wexford, Ireland and was sent to Rome for seminary training in 1895. He excelled, staying to complete a doctorate in philosophy after his ordination in 1901.
Kelly moved to New Zealand in 1913 and among his first appointments was a stint as parish priest at Ōpunake.
In February 1917 he was appointed editor of the weekly Catholic newspaper, the New Zealand Tablet. This gave the outspoken and passionate Irish nationalist the opportunity to promote his views. His strong anti-British opinions were notably controversial in New Zealand at the time - in 1917 he famously described Queen Victoria as a "certain fat old German woman" which prompted the solicitor-general to recommend he be arrested and prosecuted for sedition (in the end no action was taken).
Kelly resigned from the Tablet in 1931 and returned to Taranaki, spending the final years of his life as the parish priest at Pungarehu. He died on 1 February 1939 in Hāwera Hospital. His funeral service was held at St Martin de Tours in Pungarehu and he was buried in Ōkato Cemetery beneath a Celtic cross erected by his parishioners.
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