Brother Kevin Crowley OFMCap, the founder of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin, has died aged 90.
The Irish Capuchin Friar, originally from Cork, devoted his life to the service of the poor.
The Capuchin Day Centre was founded in Dublin City Centre in 1969 to provide hot meals, clothing and hygiene facilities to the homeless.
Brother Crowley’s decades of work with the Capuchin Day Centre staff and volunteers transformed the lives of the poor and marginalised in Dublin city.
From its very humble beginnings in the Friary garden, the day centre now provides over 700 meals each day and over 1500 food parcels each Wednesday to the homeless and poor of Dublin.
“He was always able to see Christ in the people he met. His was a love that reached out with no questions asked of those who sought assistance. Brother Kevin was an authentic follower of St Francis of Assisi,” said a statement from Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin.
“As we mourn Brother Kevin’s death, he would want us to remember the poor we still have with us in ever greater numbers because of homelessness, wars, famine and the multiplicity of addictions that affect our county today. Today we ask the Lord to grant us compassion for those who are experiencing Calvary and sorrow for our own self-indulgence. We cannot put words on that love of God, and yet when we have witnessed it in a good man’s life and death, we too are able to recognise it, and to say a deeper and more grateful ‘yes’ to God.”
