LENOIR — Father Gabriel Joseph Meehan passed away Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in Lenoir. He was 89.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church at noon Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, officiated by Bishop Peter J. Jugis. Father Meehan’s body will be received at the church at 10:45 a.m. Friday for a viewing from 11 a.m. until the Mass. He will also lie in repose from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, at The Padgett and King Mortuary in Forest City.
Born July 29, 1931, in Philadelphia, he began his studies at Holy Trinity College in Holy Trinity, Ala., and then studied at seminaries in Brackney, Pa., and Winchester, Va.
On May 19, 1959, he was ordained at Winchester as a priest for the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. In 1961, he became a Trappist priest at the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y.
After 12 years of monastic life as a Trappist priest, Father Meehan came to the Diocese of Charlotte in 1973 to pursue a more active priesthood. He served for a few months as an assistant at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte and then served for three years as administrator of St. John the Evangelist Church in Waynesville. In July 1976, Father Meehan became pastor of St. Lucien Church in Spruce Pine. While serving there, he formally became a priest of the Diocese of Charlotte in January 1978. In July of that year, he was named pastor of Holy Infant Church in Reidsville.
Father Meehan also served as pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Albemarle and as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lenoir, as well as vicar forane for the Hickory Vicariate. In June 1985, he was named pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City and served there until 2001, when he retired to Lenoir.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 1024 W. Main St., Forest City, N.C. 28043.
The Padgett and King Mortuary & Crematory was in charge of arrangements, and an online guest registry is available at www.padgettking.com.
— Catholic News Herald