It’s a wonderful Irish American life

May 1, 2007 Donegal Town, Ireland - Hibernian Peter Cullen from Portland OR at the unveiling of the Cross of the Scriptures at Brendan McGloin's studio.Available at the Portland Hibernian Society website.

A sad note this first morning of March 2026. Longtime Hibernian, devoted family man, native of County Cork, former priest, financial manager, able athlete and dear friend Peter Cullen passed away on Thursday, February 26 in Southwest Portland. 

From Peter’s wife Sheila.

 Our dear Peter passed away peacefully Thursday morning.  Our older daughter Brigid and I had gone to visit him, and Bridgie was holding his hand when he took his last breaths.  We are very grateful for the peaceful end of his life.  His funeral is planned for March 7 at St. Clare's, 11 a.m. Thank you for the many wonderful years Peter spent with our local Irish community. Thank you Hibernians. That Irish contact meant so much to him, and now he will be buried at the foot of the beloved Celtic cross in Mt. Calvary cemetery.  Our family is very grateful. 

Sheila Cullen   

The family-approved obituary hasn’t been published yet, so I can’t tell you the names of all his close relatives. Nor his exact age. (This will be updated in Thursday’s PDX Hibernian Independent.) Peter had multitudes of friends wherever he went. His financial skills were essential for raising the funds to build the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial and Hibernian High Cross at Mt. Calvary Cemetery. His people sklls helped keep Hibernianism alive in Greater Portland in this century. 

Peter Culen, second from left, was Treasurer of the E.H. Deery Div. of the AOH in Portland when it was formed in 1998.

Life after the priesthood

Though we knew Peter well, we learned a lot about his life when we opened Willamette Week in July 2002. 

"I left the priesthood because I decided to get married," Peter Cullen says matter-of-factly. "My reason is so simple. Life was too lonely. I dreaded the thought of being an old, lonely priest." 

Here are some sections of the article dealing with Peter’s experiences. You can read the entire article here. 

 Willamette Week July 16, 2002 – Written by Amy Roe 

Growing up in Cork, Ireland, Peter Cullen had his life's work laid out for him. "The greatest expectation for a male was to be a priest," he says. "And I always wanted to be the best." 

Cullen achieved his dream. Ordained as a Franciscan(Ed. Note - I believe he joined the Caouchin Order)

in 1958, he came to America a year later and worked for the church, leading weekend retreats in Delaware and visiting parish schools. He recalls those days with fondness. He delighted children with his soccer skills, visited them in their homes and dined with their families. At the end of the evening Father Peter would go home alone to an empty rectory. To fill the silence, he'd flip on the TV. At 11 o'clock, he went to bed. 

When he returned to Ireland in 1966 to visit his siblings and their children, he felt a pang of longing. A year later, he made the most difficult decision of his life. 

"I left the priesthood because I decided to get married," Cullen says matter-of-factly. "My reason is so simple. Life was too lonely. I dreaded the thought of being an old, lonely priest." 

"My experience with priests who marry is a desire for honesty," says Richard Sipe, a former priest and author of Sex, Priests and Power. "They can't or won't lead a double life. They sacrifice the security of the priesthood, their employment, their livelihood, status--all of that."  

Their sacrifices can be significant. Like many priests who left the priesthood, Cullen was at a loss when he walked away from his vocation in 1967. "In those days, if you left, you had no resources," he says. "I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do. The day I left, I didn't even know where I was going to stay." 

At first he worked with a government-sponsored program called Community Action, which was part of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty. He networked with other priests in similar situations, founding a support group that exists to this day. "The biggest job was trying to convert my priest work into a résumé." 

When a fellow married priest told him about his job at Merrill Lynch, Cullen teased him about taking up such a seemingly unpriestly profession. However, with a new wife and plans for a family, Cullen changed his mind and enrolled in Merrill Lynch's training program. "I was lucky to find a place that would train me," he says. "I'm forever grateful to Merrill Lynch. They gave me a whole career."  

His ease with people made him a skillful manager. "My focus as a manager was to help people grow, and that's what a priest does." Cullen's job took him around the country and finally to Portland, where he retired as a senior vice president of First Interstate Bank. 

Cullen's return to secular life shocked his family back in Ireland, particularly a brother who had also joined the priesthood. "They wondered whether the devil had gotten me. I arrived at the airport in a business suit. They were so stunned to see that I was the old Peter they always loved and knew." 

Some never fully make the transition. "There's guys who left the priesthood, felt guilty, and went back," says Cullen. Unable to assimilate into society, yet alienated from the church, a few were devastated by their decision, he says.

Peter Cullen (center) in April 2016 at the Centennial of the 1916 Rising in Dublin.

This article will be updated for the next edition of the PDX Hibernian Independent on March 5. 

There will be a funeral servce for Peter Cullen Saturday March 7, 2026 at 11 A.M. at Saint Clare Church in SW Portland.