By Dennis Kellogg
Director of Communications
This month, Conán McGonagle will be ordained a priest in the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), marking the culmination of 10 years of priestly formation, seven of them at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton.
A marathon of prayer and preparation has gotten him to the finish line. And this 31-year-old from Limavady, County Derry, in the north of Ireland knows all about finish lines.
“I thought to myself, if I’m going to do this, if I’m going to build the habit of running for physical well-being, running to enjoy myself, it’s either go hard or go home,” McGonagle said.
Growing up in Ireland, he loved athletics. He played Gaelic football. He also competed in kickboxing, boxing and racquet sports like badminton.
“Probably the game on the street was soccer, or football as we call it,” McGonagle said with a smile.
But running?
“Never in the context of running for its own sake,” he said. “A lot of running as conditioning, stamina building.”
Context, though, can change. It was just three years ago, while in seminary in Nebraska, when McGonagle started “running for its own sake.” He got an experienced training partner at the seminary, Rodrigo Torres, someone he describes as “the Mickey to my Rocky,” with a nod to the big screen boxing legend’s trainer.
He spent a month or two training for his first half-marathon, which he finished in one hour and 42 minutes, a time he described as “much beyond my expectations, much beyond anyone else’s expectations.”
McGonagle said long distance running isn’t your typical sport for a guy “6’4,” sort of hitting between 180 and 200 (pounds).” Using long strides and good breathing technique, though, he made it work.
Since that first race in 2024, he’s now run in three half marathons and three full marathons, including the recent Lincoln Marathon, finishing in a time of four hours and three minutes, “which I was very happy with.”
He said his training for the marathon this year was more hectic than usual because of “preparations for other big events coming up.” The big events he refers to are answering God’s call for his vocation and beginning his life’s calling to the priesthood.
That calling came a long time ago as a child.
“I can remember from the age of 6, 7 (years old) saying to my mother, ‘I want to be a priest,’” McGonagle recalled. “Saying it to my teachers at school. My teachers still remember this. I didn’t know what a priest was. There just comes a thought like that. It just has to come from God, really.”
It’s a thought that only got stronger with time.
“I can remember looking up at the big crucifix in my church at home where I went to school in Magilligan and just looking at the priest below it and saying, ‘You know, there’s something between these two.’”
Still, the decision to go to seminary wasn’t necessarily an easy one. It meant leaving the country, friends and family he loved behind, for a place he had never heard of, six time zones away. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the North American seminary for the FSSP, which offers the sacraments according to the Latin liturgical books of 1962. Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton was established in 2000.
“God has a sense of humor,” McGonagle said. “I’m a real homeboy. I love Limavady. I love Ireland. Never had any intention of leaving it. It took me a few years to accept God saying, ‘You need to go to Nebraska.’ I remember asking the people at home (about Nebraska) and they said, ‘That’s a Bruce Springsteen album, isn’t it?’”
It is. However, it’s Springsteen’s song “Hungry Heart” that’s probably a better description of where McGonagle’s focus would head. Throughout his studies at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, he wanted to do more, to give back more. He turned to a cause that he had always had a heart for—childhood hunger.
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Courtesy photos
“I think it resonates in a very particular way with the Irish because of our more recent history,” McGonagle explained. “It’s only 170, 180 years since Ireland lost a million of its population because of hunger, because of starvation (in the Irish Famine). So that resonates very strongly with me.”
He was introduced to the work of the organization Mary’s Meals back home. It is a global school-feeding charity that provides daily meals to more than 3 million children in 16 countries.
He said he was impressed by the commitment of the charity, the goal of the charity and the way the charity used its money.
“The whole tagline was “19 pound ($25) to feed a child for a year... It’s such an achievable sum.”
As a seminarian, McGonagle didn’t have much extra money. But when he started running marathons, he saw an opportunity: he would set up a fundraising goal for each race with the money donated going to Mary’s Meals. He just finished his sixth run for Mary’s Meals, and each time, he exceeded his goal. He said working with the charity has really felt like being a part of a family, all striving to help one another.
“I thought to myself, just get over the finish line for Mary’s Meals,” McGonagle said of his most recent race. “Get over the finish line for all of the poor children that you can’t guarantee just the most basic needs on Earth.
“They’re looking for one meal a day and walking miles to get any sort of provisions,” he continued. “The fact that you can run four hours and deal with dehydration and the cold sweats to try and give back to these children who have absolutely nothing and are out in the mid-summer heat to try and go to school, trying to get an education, trying to better themselves. To be able to give them a bowl of rice a day. It’s so worth it.”
Not to mention, Mary’s Meals is named for the Blessed Mother who, as McGonagle pointed out, “was constantly working to provide for the Bread of Life.”
McGonagle said he’ll always appreciate the support he has received while he’s been in Nebraska.
“I’ll always owe the United States, I’ll always owe Nebraska a great deal. It will hold a very important place in my heart.”
He also sees the Catholic Church here as providing an example the rest of the world can follow.
“Coming from Europe to America, you see a different Church. You see something we can aim for, something that’s very vibrant,” McGonagle said. “It’s amazing seeing Catholic education in this diocese. It’s amazing seeing all the religious orders I was able to pass on my marathon, a number of sisters, a couple of priests, and to be able to ask for prayers and just such a great witness. I often had the chance to go out and pray outside of Planned Parenthood… Just the witness of everyone is something that I’ll take with me as a sign of hope for the vibrancy of the Church. That these things are possible everywhere.”
After his ordination May 28 in Denton, McGonagle will return to Ireland for his first Mass of Thanksgiving and to spend time with family and friends before learning where in the world he will be assigned to begin his priesthood.
McGonagle said he loves that St. Paul used the image of a race to describe the spiritual life, in which the athletes in the stadium run to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
“Running a distance like (a marathon) is incredibly difficult. It’s painful. It’s mentally draining, It’s tough. But life in conformity with our Lord is also difficult. Our Lord said, ‘he who wishes to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ As Christians we have to be ready for a battle. Life is going to hit us hard at times. We’re going to hit the wall. You hit the runners’ wall. Mile 17 to 23, as they say in the marathon, is the wall. You just have to keep going. You have to stop looking at yourself. You have to start looking at someone else, and in both situations, that’s God.”
Conán McGonagle will probably never stop running. It won’t always be toward the finish line of a marathon, but helping his flock toward a finish line where the reward is much greater.
“It’s one thing to be a priest, to have that incredible privilege, incredible priestly character, sacrament of orders, but to become a holy priest, to really grow in love of the faithful, entrusted to be a spiritual father, to be willing to be like the Good Shepherd to lay down your life. That’s something I’m still working on, but that’s what I want. That’s the ultimate goal.”
To make a contribution, visit Conán’s Mary’s Meals donation page.
Editor’s Note: Watch the full video interview with Conán McGonagle below or on the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube page.
