Maureen Catherine (Griffin) Sweeney

Maureen Catherine Sweeney (nee Griffin) was born to Brendan and Nancy Griffin in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, Ireland on January 15, 1943 and raised with her five siblings in Mullingar, Ireland. The Griffins were a family of deep Catholic faith with particular devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and love of Our Lady. After a happy childhood, Maureen followed a call to become a bride of Christ and entered the Sisters of Mercy in Sligo, Ireland at the age of eighteen. The Sisters of Mercy sent her at age twenty to become a teacher in San Bernadino, California where she taught Second Grade for three years.

After a period of prayerful discernment, Maureen determined that the Lord was calling her to a life outside of the convent so she moved to New York City to live with family and took a job at Morgan Guaranty & Trust. On an evening after work with her sister and friends at the Green Derby Restaurant she met the love of her life, John Martin Sweeney – her dear Jack – to whom  she was married for fifty-seven years. They were devoted to each other and joyfully welcomed and raised four children and were rewarded with ten grandchildren. They built three homes together - first in Simsbury, Connecticut, next Salisbury, Maryland, and finally in Laurel Ridge in East Hampton, Connecticut where they spent her last twenty years. Maureen loved being a wife and mother and doted on her family. She unselfishly gave her children roots and wings and was always there for them with all the ups and downs of life. She was known to spend the whole day in adoration when her husband or children had a big intention. The Lord was her strength and stay and she laid all her problems at His feet with tremendous faith forged through trusting in Him always. She loved the Eucharist and her favorite prayers were the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Maureen’s life was defined by her devout Catholic faith and love for the Lord Jesus and His Blessed Mother. When Maureen was not serving her family, she was serving at church, helping those in need, or being a great friend. At various parishes over the years she served as a sacristan, laundress of sacred linens, catechist, and retreat team leader. She also fulfilled her dream of making pilgrimages to some of her favorite holy sites including Rome, Medjugorje, Lourdes, Krakow, and Quebec City to name a few. As her kids grew up, Maureen began working as a companion to the elderly which became a form of ministry to the sick and dying. She was devoted to her clients and often went above and beyond the job to help them, visit them, and attend their funerals after they passed.

It is fitting that the Lord took Maureen home in a week that began with the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and ended with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe because she loved Our Lady very much and strove to be a humble and joyful handmaiden of the Lord like her. 

She is survived by her husband, Jack, her children, Kelly (Jerry), Doug (Sheila), Colleen (Tim), and Mary Beth, her 10 grandchildren, Brendan, Regan, Kiera, Conor, Owen, Claire, Darcy, Ryan, Kylie, and Sean, her five siblings, Veronica, Eileen, Gerald, Brendan, and Declan, siste- in-law, Joan, and brother-in-law, Bob, and many friends.

Please join us in praying for Maureen’s eternal soul at her funeral mass on Saturday, December 20, 2025 at 10 a.m. at St. John Fisher Catholic Church, 30 Jones Hollow Rd, Marlborough, CT 06447. The mass will be preceded by a visitation in the church beginning at 9 a.m. Private burial will occur immediately after the mass at New St. Francis Cemetery, 863 S. Main St., Torrington, CT 06790. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Eden Hill, Stockbridge, Massachusetts 01263.

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