Br Kevin Crowley is an Irish Capuchin Friar who has spent his life devoted to ensuring that the poor are not forgotten.

In his early years as a Capuchin friar, Br. Kevin, who is originally from Enniskeane, Co. Cork, was stationed in Dublin and worked in a Co-operative Clothing Guild for unemployed persons and families (particularly those with disabilities).  The Guild was a Capuchin initiative and operated out of small offices located on the west-side of the Church Street Friary garden fronting onto Bow street.  

The Guild gave employment in making mainly rudimentary leather goods.  This Guild was founded by the late Fr. Leonard Coughlan OFM Cap. in the 1950s.  The Capuchin Clothing Guilds (there was also one set up in Holy Trinity Friary, Cork) ensured that families were helped with clothes, footwear, furniture, toys etc. – anything that made the life of the poor somewhat more endurable.  The Clothing Guild on Church Street depended on voluntary workers with a Capuchin friar coordinating their combined effort.  The voluntary workers acted as social care givers in assessing and providing for each family’s needs.  There was also co-operation with other charitable organisations in Dublin and Cork such as St. Vincent de Paul, the Sick Poor Society and the Rehabilitation Society.

In Church Street, the Co-operative Guild performed some excellent work in providing employment (and thereby money) for disabled individuals who otherwise would have been unable to find work. Br. Kevin realised that among the Guild’s users there were 150 homeless men who were walking the streets of the city from the early morning, sleeping in churches and in other public spaces.  Br. Kevin suggested that dayroom facilities for these homeless men was required.  

In 1969 Br. Kevin had the small Guild offices fronting onto Bow Street reconstructed for the specific use as a Day Centre for homeless and unemployed men initially providing a very basis service of soup and bread.  The founding principle of the centre is “to relieve the hardship endured by homeless people.”

As the demand for the service grew, particularly with growth in unemployment and poor housing conditions from the mid 1970’s and into the 1980’s, the Day Centre began to provide full meals with greater nutritional value by utilising the beef and butter supplied by the Department of Agriculture under the EU scheme.  People also began to make donation of food directly to the Day Centre to support Br. Kevin’s work.

In 1983 the much-reduced activities of the Clothing Guild were transferred to Father Mathew Hall and the site on Bow Street was given over exclusively to Br. Kevin and his Day Centre.  In 1985, in response to the growing number of women and children presenting for support, the Day Centre was extended to incorporate more of the Church Street Friary garden facing towards the dwelling houses on Bow Street.  The Day Centre also began providing not only onsite meals but also food parcels to cater for the nutritional requirements of families who could not survive on welfare payments alone.

By 1995, the Day Centre was providing between 200 and 300 meals per day and Br. Kevin realised that it was no longer possible to cope with the level of demand in the old building.  The age profile of those presenting to the Day Centre for support was reducing and there was a visible increase in child poverty.  A new building was constructed on the same site opening in 1996 with a dramatic improvement in quality and hygiene standards and levels of service delivery and service have been provided from this facility since then.  By 2008 the number of meals being provided at the Day Centre has increased to approximately 600 per day in line with increasing demand, year on year.

Although Br. Kevin is now retired, the central role of the Capuchin friars in the work of the Day Centre continues unabated with Capuchin priest Fr. Kevin Kiernan now holding the role of Capuchin Director working alongside the executive team in the Centre.

Since its founding by Br. Kevin in 1969, the Centre has continued to develop in response to the needs of the homeless population and now offers not just two hot meals per day, but also food parcels, clothing, showers, as well as a growing range of family services, medical and dental services, and an informal advice and information service.  In 2025 the Day Centre was providing over 1,000 meals each day and demand for its services continues to increase.

Statement of the Capuchin Day Centre on the death of our founder, Brother Kevin Crowley OFM Cap

The Board, staff, volunteers, supporters, donors, friends and clients of The Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People express their deepest sympathies to the Capuchin Friars in Ireland on the death of their brother, Kevin Crowley OFM Cap.

Brother Kevin founded the Capuchin Day Centre in 1969 in response to seeing homeless men eating from rubbish bins.  His commitment to people who were poor, homeless or in need in any way was a hallmark of the man who felt compelled to express his Capuchin Franciscan values through concrete actions.

Brother Kevin founded the Capuchin Day Centre on the principle of relieving the hardship endured by homeless people and over the course of the Centre’s more than 55 year history, he oversaw much of its development in response to the needs of homeless people. Today the Capuchin Day Centre offers not just two hot meals per day, Monday to Saturday, but also food parcels, clothing, showering facilities, family services, medical interventions, optician, chiropody and dental services, as well as an informal advice and an information service.

Core to Brother Kevin’s vision and The Capuchin Day Centre’s mission is the unconditionality of access irrespective of age, race, gender, nationality and religious or political beliefs.  Those who come to the Capuchin Day Centre are not asked for any personal information, or about their reasons for accessing services.  This unique openness, fostered by Brother Kevin, led to the Capuchin Day Centre becoming a bedrock of homeless services in Dublin and a reliable safety net for the most vulnerable in society.  When Brother Kevin founded the Centre in 1969, around 50 people accessed the centre regularly.  Today that number has grown to over 1000 hot breakfasts and dinners served each day.

Brother Kevin was enormously grateful that the contribution of the Capuchin Day Centre was recognised by a visit from His Holiness Pope Francis in August 2018. He was also grateful for the award of the Freedom of the City of Dublin awarded to him in 2015.  He saw both of these honours as a recognition of the dignity of the people who come to the Centre on an ongoing basis.

Brother Kevin was also very proud of his Capuchin identity and the Centre has always existed as an expression of the values of the Capuchin Friars in Ireland.  This continued to be the case following Brother Kevin’s retirement in 2022 and the Capuchin Friars continue to play a central role in the life and work of the Centre today which remains steadfastly committed to the work that Brother Kevin began in 1969.  That work is needed today more than ever.

We are grateful for Brother Kevin’s vision and dedication over so many years and are committed, with the Capuchin Friars, to realising the mission of the Centre today and in the years to come. 

May Brother Kevin rest in peace.

Father Kevin Kiernan OFM Cap – Capuchin Director

Statement of the Irish Capuchin Province on the death of their confrere Br Kevin Crowley OFM Cap.

By Br Martin2 July 2025

With great sadness we announce the death of our Capuchin confrere, Brother Kevin Crowley OFM Cap. Brother Kevin died early this morning (02 July 2025) in the wonderful care of Mount Desert Nursing Home in Cork. He was known throughout the country and beyond as a Brother to the poor, particularly through his work in the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People which he founded on Bow Street, Dublin in 1969. Through his ministry and life as a Capuchin Friar, Brother Kevin opened his heart and his hands to serve those most in need.

The funeral arrangements for Br Kevin Crowley:

Thursday, 3rd July 2025: Arrival to St Mary of the Angel’s, Church Street Dublin at 5pm.

Friday, 4th July: Reposing in Church St all day Friday with solemn evening prayer at 6pm.

Saturday, 5th July: Requiem Mass on at 11am with burial afterwards in Dardistown. Livestream: www.memoriallane.ie/livestream

Obituary for Br Kevin Crowley OFM Cap

Br Kevin was born at Kilcoleman, Enniskeane, Co. Cork on February 24th, 1935. His parents, William and Catherina (O’Donovan), had him baptised William at the parish church. He attended school in the local National School and Bandon Vocational School. William entered the Capuchin Postulancy in Kilkenny on Easter Monday, April 7th, 1958, and on October 9th of the same year, he was admitted to the Novitiate in Rochestown, Co. Cork, where he received the name Kevin; there he made temporary profession on November 22nd the following year. He made his perpetual profession at St Bonaventure’s friary, Cork City, on November 22nd 1962. Over his first five years, he served as cook in St Bonaventure’s, Church Street and Raheny. His kitchen apostolate was interrupted between 1964 and 1967 when he was appointed Brother Master of Novices in Rochestown. He also served as Quester in Ards friary, Co. Donegal, for some months in 1967/68. In 1968, he was asked to take charge of the Clothing Guild in Church Street. He quickly realised that much more was required than a clothing distribution unit, so he set up the St Felix soup kitchen and Day Centre, which initially catered for up to sixty persons daily. Then, between 1988 and 2001 he served for three years as Guardian in Holy Trinity friary in Cork, followed by a further three years in the same role in Raheny, culminating with a stint of seven years as Guardian in Ards friary in Donegal. At the Provincial Chapter of 1991, Br Kevin was elected to the Provincial Council and was transferred to Church Street, where he was appointed Director of the Father Mathew Hall. He continued in that role up to 1994, while also serving as Vicar in Halston Street. On August 20th, 2001, he returned as Director of the St Felix Day Centre and went to live in Church Street. Since he had last worked in the Day Centre in 1988, it had been ably managed by Brs Luke Hickey and Des McNaboe, but for Br Kevin it was his homecoming to ‘The House of Bread’. The high light of his labours there for the following quarter of a century came on Saturday, August 25th 2018, when the Holy Father, Pope Francis, visited the Day Centre. Later that same year addressing the Capuchins from around the world gathered for their General Chapter in Rome, Pope Francis, departing from his prepared speech in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican, spoke to them from his heart about his visit to the Day Centre in Dublin, he said: “Recently in Ireland, I saw your work with the most discarded and I was moved. It is a beautiful thing that … the elderly founder told me, “Here we do not ask where you come from, who you are: you are a child of God”. This is one of your traits. To really understand the persons, by ‘smell’, unconditionally. Come in, then we will see. As Capuchins, closeness is your charism. Preserve it.”In 2022, Br Kevin, tired and unwell, reluctantly departed the Day Centre and his army of faithful volunteers and helpers and above all the needy in whom he daily met Christ, whom he had served over a lifetime and returned to his native Cork. May the good Lord now welcome him home and reward him for his faithful service.When the poor man called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. Psalm 34All people, clap your hands. Cry to God with shouts of joy! Psalm 47