THE son of a Mayo native has been ordained Bishop in Chicago. Bishop Frank Kane is son of Kathleen Kane, who emigrated from Dalton, near Kiltimagh, in 1929.
Kathleen (now 94) married Francis Joseph Kane, whose grandfather, from Limerick, fought the famous Chicago fire of 1871.
Nephew John Groarke still runs the family farm in Dalton. Jackie O’Kane, a cousin of Bishop Frank, runs the Kane Family farm at Knockainney, Co Limerick. The “O” was dropped in Chicago and became plain Kane.
Bishop Frank was born Oct. 30, 1942, the first of five children. The nurses told his mother that since he was born when the Angelus bells were ringing that he would be a priest. She always believed it and was as proud when he was ordained a priest on May 14th, 1969.
Bishop Frank has visited Mayo several times and last year officiated at a cousin’s wedding in Ballintubber Abbey. He said afterwards that it was awesome to say Mass in such a holy and important place – for the Christian faith throughout the world.  
Knock, too, where he concelebrated a family reunion Mass with another cousin, Fr Tommy Groarke, has always had a special place in his upbringing.
“We prayed the family rosary each night and my mother would tell us wonderful stories about Co Mayo and would often ask Our Lady of Knock for us to do well in some aspect of our lives. She’s still asking and we’re still doing well.”
Bishop Frank’s early childhood memories include growing up in the South Side of Chicago among cousins and uncles in the predominantly Irish area.
Frank went to Our Lady of Peace Elementary School at Seventy-Ninth and Jeffery in Chicago, afterwards he entered Quigley which is the seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago. After four years there, he went to St. Mary of the Lake Seminary-Niles in Niles Illinois, major seminary (suburb of Chicago) which he attended for two years.
Then he attended St. Mary of the Lake Seminary Mundelein, Illinois for six years. 
St. John Fisher, a parish on the city’s south side, was his first assignment. He also served at St. Nicholas of Tolentine on the southwest side and Mount Carmel on the near north side. He worked in several administrative posts including the Office of Peace and Justice and the centre for pastoral Ministry. He worked closely with Cardinal Bernadine before his death (a much loved Cardinal of Chicago who was falsely accused of abusing a young man … the man recanted and the Cardinal visited him privately when the man was dying to forgive him). His last assignment before named a bishop was St. Joseph’s in Wilmette (suburb of Chicago) where he has served since 1993 At St. Joseph’s he revitalized the parish and among other achievements opened the school which had been closed for years.
Bishop Frank is an avid fan of the White Sox Baseball team and in school played tennis, hockey, baseball and football. He has now graduated to golf and has played at Carne Belmullet.