Historic visit marks lifetime journey for Lanigans

Family reunion: Vivienne Flanagan, Richard Laws, Mary Lanigan, Paula Kennedy, Fr Bill Kennedy, John Lanigan and Ellen Lanigan.

As John Lanigan steps out of the car at Lanigan House in Garran, he looks up at the sign and breaks into an enormous smile.

“I can’t believe I am actually here,” he says.

“I’ve finally made it.”

The Lanigan family’s trip across the globe to visit retired priest Fr Bill Kennedy has been a lifetime in the making.

Both John and Fr Bill are descendants of siblings of Bishop William Lanigan—the first Bishop to take possession of the Diocese of Goulburn in 1867—and both share a deep fascination with their family history.

While Fr Bill visited the Lanigan’s home in Ireland in 1998 – the very house in which Bishop Lanigan was born – John and his wife Mary had never been to Australia.

Fr Bill Kennedy and John Lanigan share a strong passion for their shared family history.

Sitting side by side on the couch, the two men trade memories as though they have never spent a day apart, much less 20 years.

“The Bishop said that when he came to Goulburn, he was taking over an area one and one-third times the size of Ireland,” Fr Bill said.

“He had four priests working with him, and they travelled that whole area on horseback.”

“He was responsible for a lot of building and establishing that community,” John added.

“He brought a lot of Irish families here. He travelled extensively to establish and open churches and bless them. He was forming little communities.”

When two of Bishop Lanigan’s sisters married two brothers in the Kennedy line, the families became firmly entwined.

Now, at Lanigan House – named after the Bishop at the suggestion of Fr Bill – family members from both sides embrace, share stories and look over memorabilia including the Bishop’s 124-year-old ring and cross, which John brought to Australia with him.

John Lanigan, with daughter Ellen and wife Mary, visited Bishop Lanigan’s tomb in the crypt at the Old Cathedral in Goulburn.

“My husband thought he would never see this day,” Mary said.

“He has been talking about it for as long as I can remember. This is the pinnacle of our trip – a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

The group, spanning multiple generations, visited St Peter’s and Paul’s Old Cathedral in Goulburn, where a special Mass was held for all the Lanigan relatives.

“We are also going down into the crypt where Bishop Lanigan is buried, and I can put my hand right on the stone,” John said.

“This is really special to me.”

Bishop Lanigan laid the stone for the Old Cathedral nave in 1871.

“It’s unusual in the sense it was built from the foundation to the tower during the reign of one bishop, William Lanigan,” John said.

“He was there for the start of it. He laid the foundation stone, and they built the first part of it. And he was there on the top of the tower for the final stone that was laid.”