Father Thomas J. Relihan, a beloved priest of the Diocese of Sacramento for more than 76 years, died on Jan. 6 in Ione. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living priest of the diocese. He celebrated his 100th birthday on May 11, 2023.
A vigil service will be held on Sunday, Jan. 14, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Sacred Heart of Jesus Mission Church at 20 Relihan Dr. in Ione. The vigil will follow at 6 p.m.
Bishop Jaime Soto will preside at a funeral Mass, with Bishop Emeritus William K. Weigand as concelebrant, on Monday, Jan. 15 at 11 a.m. in St. Katharine Drexel Church at 11361 Prospect Dr. in Martell. A reception will follow the Mass. The burial will be at 2:30 p.m. in Sacred Heart of Jesus Cemetery in Ione.
Father Relihan, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish (now a mission) from May 1983 to July 28, 2008, retired on July 28, 2008, and was named Pastor Emeritus of the parish. He has resided in Ione in the rectory since his retirement. During his priesthood he served under six of the nine bishops of the Diocese of Sacramento.
Prior to serving at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, he was parochial administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Susanville from 1974 to 1978, while also chaplain of the California Conservation Center in Susanville from 1972 to 1983.
He served from 1953 to 1972 as chaplain at DeWitt State Hospital in the Auburn-Weimar area. Prior to those years, he was assistant pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento from 1952 to 1953; of St. Patrick Parish in Grass Valley from 1951 to 1952; and of Our Lady of Grace Parish in West Sacramento from 1947 to 1951.
Father Relihan was born in the family home on the farm in Kilcara, County Kerry, Ireland, the first-born son of Michael Relihan and Mary Brosnan. He had seven siblings.
According to his close friend, Tim Sands, when Father Relihan was six years old, he was sent to live on an adjoining farm with his aunt, Mary Ann, and her husband, Jim Kelly. The Kellys had no children and the Relihan household was bursting with the seams with them. Father Relihan was raised by Jim and Mary Ann and “treated like a prince,” so much so that he always returned to the Kelly farm and would make a “hello” trip to see his mother and brothers. He always looked to Jim and Mary Ann as the people who made him the man he was.
Father Relihan attended the local National School from 1928 to 1935 and then went on to high school from 1935 to 1941. He entered the junior seminary with the Society of Jesus in Mungret, County Limerick, where he completed two years of philosophical studies.
While he was finishing the junior seminary in 1943, he decided to study for the Diocese of Sacramento, since Sacramento was recruiting seminarians and Father Relihan had two priest relatives working in San Francisco. He was also a friend of Father Jerry O’Driscoll in Sacramento, and with Father O’Driscoll’s help, Father Relihan was accepted by the Diocese of Sacramento.
For the next four years, 1943 to 1947, Father Relihan studied theology at All Hallows College in Dublin, and was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Sacramento on June 22, 1947 in All Hallows Seminary Chapel.
After arriving in Sacramento in September 1947, He was assigned to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Broderick (West Sacramento), serving with Father James O’Shea for four years. Father Relihan recalls the establishment of Our Lady of Grace Parish in West Sacramento, with this new church constructed stick by stick from a barracks that was brought from Camp Beale, which was later called Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County.
Father Relihan served for one year at St. Patrick Parish in Grass Valley, then was assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento to succeed Father Hugh Bannon. In May 1953, he became a U.S. citizen. In June 1953, Father Relihan was assigned to DeWitt State Hospital to serve as chaplain. Serving there until 1972, he said he loved his hospital work because he was able to see people improve from their physical and mental illnesses. During these years he lived in an apartment on the hospital grounds.
When the state of California closed DeWitt State Hospital, Father Relihan became the Catholic chaplain at the state prison in Susanville, where he served from 1972 to 1983. He said prison ministry was very different from his hospital work and while he served at Susanville, most of the inmates were low-level prisoners.
In May 1983, Father Relihan was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Ione by Bishop Francis Quinn. For the next 30 years, he served as pastor, noting that he loved the rural parish community and that he came to know everyone.
After his retirement in July 2008, he continued to live in the rectory in Ione and played golf and went skiing into his early 90s.
In an article for the Amador Ledger Dispatch in July 2022, marking Father Relihan’s 75th anniversary of priestly ordination on June 22, 2022, Father Colin Wen, current pastor of St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Martell and its mission churches, noted that Father Relihan had celebrated nearly 27,000 Masses in 75 years. He celebrated the sacraments of baptism, first Communion, confirmation and marriage for hundreds of Ione residents. On his leisure time, he also traveled to visit six out of seven continents in the world.
On May 11, 2023, friends, parishioners, clergy and women religious, as well as Father Wen and Bishop Emeritus William K. Weigand, gathered for a special Mass in Sacred Heart Church to celebrate Father Relihan’s 100th birthday. Sacred Heart Church is at 20 Relihan Drive, named after Father Relihan.
A few years ago, Father Relihan was at the home of a parishioner for a simple gathering, and in a conversation he mentioned that he had met with some other Catholic priests. He said that he told the other priests that if he had to do it all over again, that he would still be a priest. “It’s been a good life,” he said.
Father Relihan is survived by his sisters, Eileen and Philomena.
Father Relihan requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Friends Of Vinh Son Orphanages at P.O. Box 9322, Auburn, California, 95604. The orphanages in the Central Highlands of Vietnam care for the needs of Montagnard children for which Fr. Tom raised substantial funds. After visiting the orphanages personally several times, Fr. Tom was seen as a visiting angel by the children.
Much of this article was taken from a biography of Father Relihan written by Father John Boll of the diocese and some information from a May 26, 2023 article by Jim Rooney for the Ledger Dispatch.