Twenty-six years old, fresh out of seminary and in a new country with plans to make a permanent home here, Father P.J. Curley had some adapting to do. 

Born and raised in rural Ireland, Curley arrived in Mississippi in August 1970 with the expectation he would be spending the remainder of his life living in Mississippi and serving the people of the Diocese of Jackson as a Catholic priest.

But first, he had to learn what to eat and how to deal with the oppressive summer heat he had suddenly found himself immersed in.

“I came in August and the average temperature in Ireland is 65 degrees,” Curley said. “The average temperature in Mississippi in August is probably 95 degrees. That was really, really hot. I think what I had the hardest time with was food. In my home, spice was pepper and salt. There was no such thing as any exotic spices or any exotic foods.”

The transition didn’t take long, and by the end of his first year he said he had fallen in love with the state.

“I remember thinking between the heat and the food that if I made it to Christmas I would be OK, but it didn’t take me that long to adjust,” Curley said. “When you assume that this and this and this is going to happen in your life, you kind of take control and you kind of accept it. When I was in seminary and I chose to come to Mississippi, my coming to Mississippi in August of 1970 I had been prepared. In my mind, I knew that I was going to be spending the rest of my life in Mississippi.”

The two other priests at his church were Irish as well and at the time “when I came to Mississippi, 75 to 80 percent of the priests were Irish. That grew probably to 85 percent of us were ordained in the same seminary,” Curley said.

His first assignment was as an associate pastor in Biloxi and it was there he first learned to be a priest, adjusted to the differences between Irish and American Catholicism, and found his place in a new country.

“When you are young you know everything and you know you know everything,” he said. “I came to Mississippi with my little chest out. My first Saturday evening after mass, one of the members, I didn’t know anybody, came to me and he said, ‘Father Curley, I just love the way you speak.’ My little chest sticks out again. I am just so excited. Then immediately his next words were ‘I didn’t understand a word you were saying, but I love the way you speak.’ It was then that I realized that I was new and I was in a different place.”

In rural Ireland where the population was 100 percent Catholic and the average family had at least seven children, there were “a lot of priests and religious,” Curley said. The abundance of priests created a missionary spirit amongst Irish priests and their journeys took them throughout the world including Australia, India, Africa and New Guinea.

Called to the priesthood, Curley entered the seminary knowing he planned to enter the missionary service.

“They sent priests and sisters all over the world including Mississippi,” Curley said. “So I chose to come to Mississippi. In saying choosing, yeah it was my choice to come to Mississippi, but the more I look back on things, when you are in the middle of something all kinds of coincidences happen, but now that I look back I see the hand of God in my coming to Mississippi.”

He was ordained a priest for what was at the time known as the Diocese of Natchez/Jackson and came to Biloxi in 1970 to begin his ministry.

“I came straight out of the seminary,” Curley said. “That was the custom. You were ordained and you took a few weeks’ vacation and you came straight to Mississippi and were immediately assigned a parish. My first parish as an associate I stayed for four years.”

His journey would take him from Biloxi through Jackson, Woodville, Shelby, Belzoni, Yazoo City and eventually to Vicksburg in 2003. Knowing he would spend his life in Mississippi, Curley made the choice in 1978 to fully embrace his new country and become an American citizen.

“I was living in the United States and my first experience of a presidential election up close and personal,” Curley said. “We knew about them from Ireland, but in Mississippi everyone was talking about it. I remember thinking I can’t vote. Then I remember thinking if I am going to live in Mississippi and I am going to be able to feel comfortable about saying something about politics or whatever it is I ought to be able to vote and I ought to be a citizen.”

In June 2017, he retired from pastoral duties after 14 years as the pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Vicksburg and 47 years as a priest in Mississippi.

“Now that I look back, time has moved so quickly I have been here for 47 years,” Curley said. “When we came to Mississippi, there was never a thought or going back. You were ordained for the Diocese of Natchez/Jackson at the time. You were expected to spend the rest of your life in that missionary work. There was never a question or a thought of my leaving Mississippi.”

He has made his permanent home in Vicksburg and said, “when I retired there wasn’t even a question of where I was going to live. I was going to live and die and be buried in Vicksburg, Mississippi.”

Vicksburg was his longest assignment and as it was his final parish as pastor he chose to stay.

“It was my last assignment,” Curley said. “If Yazoo City were my last assignment I would retire in Yazoo City. It was my last assignment and as it happened I have lived in Vicksburg longer than any of the other parishes.”

His arrival in Vicksburg wasn’t by chance. When it was time for him to leave Yazoo City and he saw that Vicksburg was coming available, he requested the assignment at St. Michael.

“When we are being reassigned the Bishop sends us a letter telling us what parishes are becoming available,” he said. “Vicksburg was becoming available and it was time for me to leave Yazoo City. I wrote to the council and told them I was interested in Vicksburg and I told them part of the reason was there is a school there and I like being at the school. So I got assigned to Vicksburg.”

Even now that he is retired from his daily duties as a pastor the Vicksburg Catholic School that attracted him to the city remain a major part of his daily life, along with the necessary rounds of golf that he now has more time to enjoy.

“I go to the school every day and I help out. Some weekends, when other priests need a substitute they will call someone like me and I’ll be able to help out,” Curley said. “I go to mass every morning and I ramble by the school every day and I’m playing a little more golf than I had. I’m not on a schedule … I am just retired like anybody who is retired.

“That (going to the school) I love. I just so enjoy being around the kids and being around the school and the faculty are just so welcoming. I just love the children.”

On Sundays he isn’t needed around the state filling in at various parishes, he can be found in a pew at St. Michael taking in the mass along with the rest of the congregation and embracing the community that has become his home.

“It (sitting in the congregation) is fun,” Curley said. “It is fun sitting beside different people and it is fun not having anything to do and it is fun watching the priest up there. It is probably more weird for the congregation than it is for me.”

Now 47 years a Mississippian, Curley is fully adjusted to the weather and the food and ready to see what the rest of his life has in store in his adopted home.

“I’ve loved every minute of it,” Curley said of his time in Vicksburg. “It has really been a blessing.”