A funeral Mass will be celebrated April 10, 11 a.m., at Mary Star of the Sea Church in San Pedro for Msgr. Patrick Gallagher, pastor, who died April 4 following a brief illness.

Msgr. Gallagher, 66, had recently completed 24 years as pastor of Mary Star of the Sea and, just last September, had celebrated the opening of a new parish high school after overseeing the development of the construction project over 13 years from conception to completion.

Born in 1941 in County Sligo, Ireland, he spent his early years of education in local schools and entered All Hallows Seminary in Dublin in 1960. Following his ordination on June 19, 1966, he arrived in the U.S. a month later, starting as an associate pastor at Visitation Church in Los Angeles.

From 1969 to the early '80s, he served as an associate at several parishes, including St. Angela Merici in Brea, St. Martin of Tours in L.A., St. Anthony in Oxnard, and St. John Chrysostom in Inglewood. During this time, Father Gallagher was a member of the archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal as well as the Ventura County representative on the Senate of Priests.

On March 16, 1984, Father Gallagher was appointed pastor of Mary Star of the Sea Church. This assignment was accompanied by the position of Chaplain to the Port of Los Angeles and Director of the Apostleship of the Sea for Los Angeles. His pastoral talents were recognized when he received the title of Monsignor (Chaplain to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II and Prelate of Honor.) In 1994, Msgr. Gallagher became a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

During his nearly quarter-century as pastor of Mary Star of the Sea, he initiated numerous ministries which engaged the support, help and encouragement of clergy, staff and volunteers. The 52-year-old church was refurbished and, under Msgr. Gallagher's direction, a Perpetual Adoration Chapel was established and organized.

"He really worked hard to keep that [Perpetual Chapel] going," said St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Eileen Connors, who came to Mary Star of the Sea to serve in parish ministry at Msgr. Gallagher's invitation when he was named pastor. "Everything we have in ministry, such as RCIA, he started. He was a ministry enabler, builder, educator and lover of the poor."

His final contribution to the parish, noted Sister Connors, was the instigation, development and construction of a new parish high school which was dedicated in September, 2007, on a nearby property. In a Tidings article last December, Msgr. Gallagher summed up the 13-year construction project this way: "Yeah, there were lots of challenges. We just faced them and went on. I never, never doubted the high school would be built. That's not my personality to give up."

Msgr. Gallagher is survived by his brother, John and sister-in-law Kitty; his sisters Anne (Michael) Keane and Religious Sister of Charity Francis (Eileen) Gallagher as well as numerous nieces and nephews in Ireland and England. Memorial donations may be made to the Msgr. Patrick Gallagher Scholarship Fund, 870 W. 8th St., San Pedro, CA 90731.