Bishops Beckman, Spalding lead funeral Mass for Father John Kirk
By Jim Casey
Nashville Catholic
Father John Kirk, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville for more than 55 years, died on Jan. 18 in Knoxville. He was 84.
A funeral Mass was celebrated by Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville on Jan. 23 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville served as concelebrant and presided over the final commendation.
Father John Hammond, vicar general and judicial vicar for the Diocese of Nashville and rector of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, and Father Andy Bulso, vicar for priests for the Diocese of Nashville and pastor of St. Edward Church, served as concelebrants, as did several priests of the Diocese of Knoxville, including Father Peter Iorio, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Alcoa and vicar general for the Diocese of Knoxville, Father David Boettner, rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral, and Father Diego Rivera, associate pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Assisting at the Mass were Deacon Sean Smith, Diocese of Knoxville chancellor, and Deacon Mike Mescall and Deacon Walt Otey, both of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
“Father John Kirk was a real inspiration for me both because he seemed to be a man of prayer, but also because he really connected to the youth,” Bishop Beckman said in a 2023 interview with the Tennessee Register about his journey to the priesthood before being named the fourth bishop of East Tennessee.
Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville gives the final commendation for Father John Kirk to conclude the funeral Mass for Father Kirk on Jan. 23 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Mark Beckman, seated, celebrated the funeral Mass. (Photo Bill Brewer)
Bishop Beckman echoed those sentiments during his homily at the funeral Mass, noting that he met Father Kirk during the summer of his seventh- and eighth-grade years when Father Kirk became pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Lawrenceburg.
“I will never forget his arrival,” said Bishop Beckman, in part. “The energy and enthusiasm he brought to us and our community, and for me as a young person, were truly inspiring. He reached out to me and asked me to be an altar server.
“He planted that seed of a vocation of God in me,” Bishop Beckman continued, in part. “The two qualities I saw in him so clearly that drew me to consider this vocation were his closeness to God, his life of prayer, and his closeness to the people, especially us young people. He was a good mentor for us.
“I remember once thinking, ‘God, if I could be as close to You as Father Kirk seems to be and as close to the people, I would like to be a priest.’ That is where the seed really began.”
Following the funeral Mass, Father Kirk was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Knoxville.
During the homily, Bishop Beckman described with some emotion how Father Kirk asked if he would accompany him to a cemetery on one occasion when Bishop Beckman was young.
“So, today when I go to the cemetery one last time with Father Kirk, I will never forget that first time I went with him to a cemetery.”
Prior to his retirement in 2018, Father Kirk served as a pastor or associate pastor at more than a dozen parishes in the Diocese of Nashville, including three parishes where he served as founding pastor: St. Luke Church in Smyrna, St. Mark Church in Manchester, and Church of the Nativity in Thompson’s Station.
Father Kirk was born on Oct. 25, 1941, in Knoxville. He attended St. Mary School, which was operated by the Sisters of Mercy, and Knoxville Catholic High School. He continued his studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, studying Latin, before entering St. Pius X Seminary in Erlanger, Ky., and later St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.
He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Nashville on May 9, 1970, by Bishop Joseph A. Durick, who was the eighth bishop of Nashville, at his home parish of Sacred Heart in Knoxville.
His first assignments included associate pastor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, St. Joseph Church in Madison, and Holy Rosary Church in Donelson, before being assigned pastor of Sacred Heart Church in June 1975. While serving as pastor, he was also assigned as liaison to the National Committee for Charismatic Renewal.
In July 1979, he was assigned pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Springfield and St. Michael Mission Church in Cedar Hill. While serving in his next assignment as pastor at St. Luke, which began in June 1982, he was also appointed the bishop’s liaison for the charismatic prayer groups of the diocese.
Additional assignments included pastor of St. Ann Parish in Nashville; pastor of St. Patrick Parish in McEwen and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Tennessee Ridge; pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Tullahoma, and eventually St. Mark in Manchester, where he helped build the current church building.
After leaving St. Paul and St. Mark, he was assigned associate pastor and eventual administrator of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Franklin in 2003. He was also appointed chaplain of the Williamson County Serra Club in Franklin in 2004. From July 1995 to August 2003, he served as dean of the Southeast Deanery of the diocese.
In July 2008, Bishop David R. Choby, the 11th bishop of Nashville, appointed Father Kirk to establish a new parish in Spring Hill and Thompson’s Station, which would become the Church of the Nativity. The first Mass of the parish was celebrated on Christmas Eve 2008.
“Nativity grew and flourished under the guidance of Father Kirk, to whom a great debt is owed,” according to the history on the parish website. “The entire parish stands as a tribute to his tireless efforts to grow the Church in Middle Tennessee.”
Father Kirk remained pastor of Church of the Nativity until his retirement on Nov. 5, 2018.
“I have been blessed in the parishes I have served,” Father Kirk said in an interview with the Register on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of priesthood in 2020. A parish priest “receives many blessings from the people, known and unknown.”
“Being a parish priest is all I wanted to be,” he continued. “I am eternally grateful and thankful to Our Lord for the call to be His priest.”
During the final commendation at Father Kirk’s funeral Mass, Bishop Spalding spoke of Father Kirk’s years of service at more than a dozen parishes in the diocese and his eventual retirement in 2018.
“He was a man who loved to serve and loved to be involved with people’s lives,” Bishop Spalding said. “Whenever he moved—and this is a great sign of a good priest—it was tough for him to move because he had invested his life in and for others in the name of Christ Jesus. What an example we’ve been given—a humble, prayerful, and obedient servant of the Church. May we find the courage and the strength to live our lives just like his, in the light of Christ.”
Father Kirk was preceded in death by his parents, Stephen L. and Anna Mae Billington Kirk; sister, Mary Kirk Bassett Montgomery; and brothers, Stephen L. Kirk Jr., Joseph Billington Kirk, and Monsignor Thomas Kirk. He is survived by his twin sister, Anne Gallegos; sister, Joan Lyttle; brother, Philip Anthony Kirk; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
At the funeral Mass, Father Kirk’s nieces—Eve Smith, Sarah Jones, Rebekah Posadas, and Mary Easterday—placed the funeral pall on his casket. His nephews—Gregory Bassett, Stephen Gallegos, Michael Gallegos, Lorenzo Kirk, Andrew Lyttle, Mark Lyttle, and Brian Lyttle—served as pallbearers.
Bishop Spalding celebrated a Memorial Mass for Father Kirk on Feb. 7 at the Church of the Nativity in Thompson’s Station, the final church of Father Kirk’s active priestly ministry before he retired in 2018.
Jim Casey and Katie Peterson of Nashville Catholic, and Bill Brewer of The East Tennessee Catholic contributed to this report.