Chai Brady
One lucky Irish priest who bagged half a million Euro said he would “share his luck around” and looks forward to giving something back.
Mayo-born Msgr John Delaney said it was a policy he learned from his late mother and his bishop, with Premier Lotteries quoting him as saying: “I am a big believer in what goes around comes around.”
Kind-spirited Msgr Delaney won the EuroMillions Plus draw after buying a quick pick ticket at Donnybrook Fair in Malahide, Dublin on December 22 – the same date as his niece’s birthday. Back home for Christmas, Msgr Delaney is based in Florida, where he was sent after his ordination, but regularly visits family in Dublin.
Lucky
This isn’t the first time the priest has won big, having previously received thousands in US lotteries and more recently €17,000 on the Garrymore GAA club lotto in Mayo. “I suppose you can say I am lucky. But I have always had a policy of sharing my luck around,” he said.
“I didn’t get too excited when I heard this first. I went back to the shop and gave the ticket to the same girl I had purchased it from to be checked. Lo and behold, there was a message on the system to contact the National Lottery. So I knew at that stage I had won.”
Msgr Delaney was ordained in Ireland in June 1964 and was sent to the Archdiocese of Miami two months later. He has served in a variety of roles across the state of Florida including as a parochial vicar at the Immaculate Conception in Hialeah, then St Anastasia in Fort Pierce and St Edward in Palm Beach, and in 1971 was named administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Lake Worth, then pastor of the Holy Family in North Miami in 1974.
He was given an Irish Diaspora Award in August 2017 for his work abroad.