Tree planted and stone erected to remember former parish priest in Offaly

THE parish of Lusmagh remembered former parish Father Philip Hearty fondly at his Month's Mind Mass in Lusmagh recently.

A tree was planted in the church grounds and a stone erected beside the tree to remember Fr Phil, who served in Lusmagh parish for 14 years, 2000-2014.

Fr Philip Hearty C.Ss.R. (August 2nd 1933-September 6th 2023) was born in Liverpool where his father worked at the time. The family returned to Dundalk in 1946 and Philip quickly adapted to his new surroundings. He became proficient in the Irish language and remained so all his life. He also had sporting interests and played for Louth minor footballers in 1951.

He went to the Redemptorist novitiate in Esker in 1952 and made his first vows on September 24th 1953 – thus he died just eighteen days before completing seventy years as a Redemptorist. Following studies in UCG and Cluain Mhuire (Redemptorist House of Studies in Galway) he was ordained to the priesthood on September 25th 1960.

In 1962 he was assigned to the newly established mission of the Irish Redemptorists in Brazil and there he worked until 1999.

His first assignment in Brazil was in a town then called Paraiso do Norte (nowadays it is called Paraiso do Tocantins). It is situated about 800km north of Brasilia, the federal capital. At that time the roads were not asphalted. Paraiso was a new town, with migrants from both the north east and south of Brazil. With colleagues he set up the new parish and also a secondary school.

He later worked in the parish of Pedro Afonso, which is about 200km north of Paraiso.

In the mid seventies he moved to the northeast of Brazil where he worked in the parish of Our Lady of Fatima in Parnaiba which is situated on the northern coastline of the state of Piaui. Around 1980 he returned to Pedro Afonso parish.

He spent the period 1984-1999 in Fortaleza, until 1990 working in the Redemptorist College and then in the parish of St Raymond.

Most of his time in Brazil was spent in parish ministry. Alongside the normal parish activities he took a particularly keen interest in youth ministry.

He always took a great interest in vocation ministry, i.e., promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

While in Brazil he showed great empathy for poor people, visiting them in their homes and doing what he could to help them.

On returning to Ireland in 1999 he was assigned to Esker and worked in the diocese of Clonfert for fifteen years, nearly all of that time in the parish of Lusmagh, Co. Offaly. On retiring from parish ministry in 2014 he was appointed to St Joseph’s, Dundalk. During the renovations in St Joseph’s he moved to Esker and returned to Dundalk last year.

Throughout his life he had a keen interest in keeping a chronicle of Redemptorist mission activity, particularly in Brazil. He compiled a significant amount of documentation about that mission.

In recent years he experienced some health issues and spent the last ten months in Blackrock Abbey Nursing Home, near Dundalk, where he died on Wednesday September 6th. Ar dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam dílis.