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Archives From Ireland to Ogdensburg and back again

Nov. 5, 2014

By Colleen Miner
Staff writer

Saranac Lake - Father Patrick O’Reilly was born near the center of Ireland, fifth in a family of nine children. When he retires after more than four decades of service as a priest of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, he plans to return to his homeland.

Father O’Reilly grew up in a small town 17 miles north of Dublin, five miles from the Irish Sea. To this day, his siblings all live in Ireland (except one brother who has died) about an hour from each other.

The priest, who now resides at St. Bernard’s rectory, said he always wanted to retire back to Ireland because there’s so much family there. He’s delighted how everything fit into place.

“When you’re working you have tunnel vision, you concentrate on work and not on everything around you,” he said. “With retirement that tunnel is gone and you can see the big picture. I feel young again; it’s a whole new beginning.”

Early years in Ireland
During Father O’Reilly’s childhood, it was customary for the boys to go to a religious boarding high school and the girls, the convent.

The young man was placed in a Salesian boarding school which was ‘delightful with a beautiful spirit,” he said.
“I wanted to be a priest when I was young,” he said. “My mother encouraged me but wanted me to make my own decision.”

Father O’Reilly described his father, who died when Patrick was 15, as a “wonderful, gentle, good-humored example of faith.” He joined in the family rosary each evening, often remaining afterward to pray by himself.
“Later on at the end of high school, I wrote in a letter home, that I was thinking of leaving over summer break and not return so I could work with my hands,” Father O’Reilly said. “Then I had an interview where I was told by Father Lyne of Kerry that if I continued as a Salesian, I’d always have a pair of boots on my feet...My mother was very happy that I went on to become a priest.”

Becoming a priest
The Salesians are a teaching order and he didn’t feel called to that ministry, so after attending school in England and at a seminary for late vocations, Father OReilly was ordained June 6, 1965 at the age of 27 in Ireland.

“Back then, there were many priests in Ireland that were loaned to England and Scotland,” he said. “Yes, we had a great supply of vocations.”

“Population was growing in America, dioceses were dividing and bishops came over to seminaries in Ireland, pleading, almost crying for vocations,” he said.

The president of the seminary allowed the new priests to pick a place for consideration. Father O’Reilly was “keen on Australia,” but the president of the seminary said “no,” then he chose, Florida but there were too many priests already going there. He thought of the missions in South America but the president said it was “too rough going” so Father O’Reilly was given a choice:  England or America.

“The president recommended Paterson, N.J., because my uncle worked for the Wall Street Journal,” he said.
So, from 1965 to 1973, Father O’Reilly served as a priest in Paterson, where he said he was “homesick all the time - it was fast paced, metropolitan.”

“Then one week during the parish retreat, I had to vacate my room to give to the preacher and thought of my friend in Ogdensburg, Father Liam O’Dougherty,” Father O’Reilly said.

Coming to Ogdensburg
Father O’Dougherty told him there was a great shortage of priests in Ogdensburg. “I thought it would be a good challenge for me, to make me work and Ogdensburg blended with Ireland,” he said. “It wasn’t as much of a wrench.”

Father O’Reilly’s first assignment in the Diocese of Ogdensburg was in June 1973 at St. John’s in Plattsburgh with Msgr. Farmer and Father Mundy.

For the next 41 years, Father O’Reilly served in the North Country Church, as assistant pastor or parochial vicar for St. John's, Madrid; St. Mary's, Ticonderoga; Our Lady of Victory, Plattsburgh; St. Joseph's Malone; St. Augustine, Peru; St. Mary’s, Champlain Holy Family, Watertown; St. Agnes, Lake Placid; Catholic Community of Keeseville, and  St. John’s Plattsburgh. He also served as administrator at St. John’s in LaFargeville

Incardinated into the diocese in 1977, (officially becoming a priest of the diocese,) Father Reilly also served as a chaplain Good Samaritan Hospital Uihlein Mercy Center in Lake Placid.

Favorite part of life as a priest
Father O’Reilly’s favorite part of life as a priest is offering Mass.

“It’s always amazing at Sunday Mass, people are truly happy when they come to Mass,” he said. “It’s a joyful celebration and brings great peace to people...there is an afterglow of Holy Communion.”

He recalls after offering Mass in a nursing home, he felt especially happy and wondered how this could be since the residents were wheelchair bound, losing their sight & hearing, suffering with pain.

His housekeeper said “They give us more than we give them.”

Father O’Reilly enjoys visiting nursing homes because the residents “have given up their clout and reach out to affirm us, to love us and wish us the very best in spite of them giving up everything.”

Father O’Reilly offered Mass for 20 years at the Uhlein Mercy Care Center in Lake Placid.

Complete life of faith
The priest said his greatest frustration is the ‘fall off in Mass attendance.”

“It’s like a faucet was cut off,” he said. “People just stopped going to Mass.”

He believes this happened “as a trend in society - they didn’t want anything traditional. I was certain that faith was a different thing but it’s amazing the impact society has had on faith.”

When asked what advice he would give to those discerning the priesthood he shared the wisdom of his K-2 teacher: “Pay a visit to chapel on the way home. Just stop in and say Jesus, (your name) is here.” and realize that “God can’t be outdone in generosity.” Being a priest, he said, is “a complete life of faith.”

To reach Fr. O’Reilly
Bishop LaValley was the main celebrant for Father O’Reilly’s retirement Mass Nov. 2 at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake. On Nov. 17, he will celebrate his 77th birthday. Birthday and retirement congratulations can be sent to: Father Patrick O’Reilly, 1 Woodview, Bellewstown, Drogheda, County Meath, Ireland.

Orielly

Photo by Colleen Miner
Father Patrick O’Reilly, a native of Ireland, offered priestly ministry in the Diocese of Ogdensburg for the past 41 years. After a retirement celebration at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake on Sunday, he plans to return to his home country this month.

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