Fr. Kevin Kavanagh, Pastor, Our Lady of Peace Church for 2 years, Priest in the Columbus Diocese for 25 years, a Volunteer at the 2002 Olympics, Serving not as a Chaplain, but as a Cowboy Ambassador …

Fr. Kavanagh had the privilege of volunteering at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002. His brother Bill was employed to provide entertainment in Olympic Square so he recruited Fr. Kavanagh and other friends to assist him.

Fr. Kavanagh had applied to be a chaplain to the Olympic athletes, but too many had applied, so they assigned him to be an ambassador. There were 24 ambassadors and he was the only priest. Most of the others were members of the church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) who lived in the Salt Lake City area.

“It wasn’t what I thought I would be doing as a priest. I spent my time there as an ambassador singing and dancing in an authentic cowboy outfit,” said Fr. Kavanagh. “And this was the real thing: duster, hats, gloves, and scarf. People from other countries loved seeing Americans in cowboy outfits.”

Most of the ambassadors had learned the choreography and music beforehand because they were in the Salt Lake City area for rehearsals. Fr. Kavanagh learned from videotapes.

“When I got there I had to rehearse everyday and I thought I was going to drop down dead because I was so out of shape. I had no dance training, but I had fun and it was a great group of people to work with,” said Fr. Kavanagh.

They performed shows every day, in shifts, during the 2 ½ week period of the Olympics. “They had us entertain people while they were waiting to go through Security. The foreign press loved us. We were interviewed by the Korean and South American press,” said Fr. Kavanagh.

“It was great to be involved in something that brought the world together. All the different races, cultures, and languages,” said Fr. Kavanagh. “Everyone was so excited to be there and it was such a positive experience.”

Occasionally one of the ambassadors or other entertainers would discover that he was a Catholic priest. Many of the Latter Day Saints had never met a Catholic priest and they had many questions for him about Catholicism.

“The Olympics in Salt Lake City would not have been a success without the hard work, commitment, and generosity of the Latter Day Saint community,” said Fr. Kavanagh.

Clips of Fr. Kavanagh and another cowboy entertaining the crowd appeared on the David Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell shows.

Fr. Kavanagh shared a very small apartment with seven other friends of his brother’s who were also volunteering at the Olympics. “That was an experience, but we worked it out,” he said.

Was there time to evangelize? “Yes, and under the oddest circumstances. For example, I ended up talking about Catholicism at length with a costumed entertainer with a white wig and a giant teacup on her head,” said Fr. Kavanagh.

Fr. Kavanagh in the Diocese of Columbus …

Currently, Fr. Kavanagh is pastor at Our Lady of Peace and he recently began teaching Liturgy, Sacraments of Initiation, to 2nd year theology students at the Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus.

“Teaching is a lot of work, but I really enjoy it. I especially like the sense of humor of the seminarians,” said Fr. Kavanagh.

Fr. Kavanagh studied Liturgy at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy in Rome for three years shortly after his ordination to the priesthood in 1983. He was Director of Liturgy for the Diocese of Columbus for six years and was Pastor at St. Mary’s, Delaware for 12 years.

Fr. Kavanagh has this advice for seminarians: “Realize that you will use every class you take in college and in seminary. When I was in seminary, I wondered how some of the classes applied, but now when I look back I think I used every bit of it. Take all the classes you can while you are there.”