St. Peter-in-Chains - Doncaster at Chequer Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN1 2AA UK - About Father Augustine Christopher O'Reilly

Born in Tuam, the Ecclesiastical Capital of the Western Province of Ireland in the County of Galway, Fr Gus is one of eight children (six surviving) born to Joseph (d) and Bridle O'Reilly. He has two brothers and three sisters, all of whom are married and have made him uncle twenty-two times .... so lots of visitors! He attended the local Christian Brothers School where he says he was "dazzlingly average" but had good manners and a nice smile! Due to his aggressively charming nature he was incarcerated, for a time, in Mount Melleray Boarding, School in the wilds of the Knockmealdown Mountains in Co. Wexford in the tender care of the Cistercian Monks. Yorkshire folk will understand what it means when this place of carefree erudition is described as...moor-ish. "You have no idea what it was like to be a Heathcliffe (real or imagined) without a Cathy", he says. "But the place had its compensation. It was because of the Bees, you see. Melleray from the Latin word "mel", honey. The Mountain of Honey. There is a beautiful depiction of a beehive on the door of the Tabernacle in the Abbey Church. "The monks were really kind", says Fr Gus, "They tried to cheer us up whenever they could by allowing us to attend funerals; these were big affairs and brightened-up many a dull day". After leaving Mount Melleray. Augustine O'Reilly took the Official Secrets Act and joined the Civil Service, working in Liverpool for a time. "But God is a terrible Joker", he says. "He kept sending the Holy Spirit with thoughts that disturbed the young Augustine, thoughts about caring for other people and giving them messages of hope and reassuring them that they each were really special and that they were deeply loved; did you ever hear the likes of it?" The odd thing about this is that Augustine really did care for people and had an increasing desire to do more for others and the Civil Service became increasingly unsatisfactory and he became steadily uneasy with his life as it was. "So the next time the Holy Spirit turned up there was a real tête-à-tête", he says, "but you know, you can't fight City Hall". There was a love that existed between God and Augustine and it was struggling to manifest itself and it was a shock to both of them when it finally did. As Augustine steamed out of the Albert Dock he saw his Civil Service pension disappear in the wake of the ferry as it headed into the Mersey. How come he ended-up back in Waterford? Well, friends he had made in Melleray were training at St John's Seminary and he phoned to see if there were any vacancies. - "God be with the days....waiting lists to enter the Sem."! "Yes, yes, come on down", was the reply; sounds familiar don't you think? And there he remained for six years growing in knowledge and wisdom. The Seminary was next door to another institution called St Otterans which was the County Asylum for the Insane (that language would not be used nowadays). Apparently some people found it difficult to spot the difference between the two! Ordination took place on 3rd June 1973 in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Waterford and Fr Gus's First Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral of the Assumption in his home town of Tuam. In the meantime he had been recruited for the Diocese of Leeds by Fr Gerry Spellman, the Vocations Director. "In those days he was really a Vocations Shopper going around the Seminaries in Ireland to collect whoever he could", says Fr Gus. "This was a common practice, used by American Diocese too. The poor man was sacked after three years because he only bagged one...me"! Fr Gus as he likes to be known has served in Sheffield, Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley. Doncaster is new territory to him. He is a keen photographer, having thousands of slides from at least three continents and is willing to give slide shows. He is also a keen cyclist and would appreciate meeting-up with any such like in the Parish .... so watch out for the flash of Lycra! He looks forward to working with the Parish and with other Faith Groups and those with an interest in building-up Community relationships. He hopes to be as happy in Doncaster as he was in Worsbrough.

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