Martin O'BrienMartin O’Brien meets one of the most prominent and influential Catholic families in the North
When I first heard of Malachy Bernard McGrady, Downpatrick chartered accountant, selfless public servant and prominent Catholic layman, just over a generation ago, I was most struck by his dignity and forbearance.
A reserved self-made man who always shunned publicity, he found himself thrust into the media spotlight because of the actions and prejudice of others and he responded with maximum restraint, declining to do interviews and not permitting himself to become embittered by a great injustice visited on him.
That was in 1982 and before and since McGrady, a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St Gregory the Great – granted in recognition of his public service – lived happily in the shadow of his better known brother Eddie, the distinguished SDLP politician and patriot who died last year.
Unlike Eddie, he was never drawn to party politics.
In July 1982, 15 years after the birth of the civil rights movement and after almost 20 years of devoted voluntary public service in the North’s health sector, McGrady found himself unfairly passed over for one of the key posts, chairman of the then Eastern Health and Social Services Board.
As editor of The Irish News, I broke the story that Mr McGrady had, as an Irish Catholic, somehow been deemed ineligible for the top job even though he had served as vice-chairman for four years and had been asked by the Direct Rule administration whether he would be willing to serve as chairman.
Interestingly, after the Eastern Board rebuff, he went on to serve for 10 years as the only lay member of the General Medical Council in London.
An Irish News editorial demanded answers from the government and none was forthcoming, but nobody credibly denied that the reason for his non-appointment was his faith.
Even prominent figures from the unionist community, including an Official Unionist councillor and member of the Eastern Board, were baffled, pointing to McGrady’s ability and integrity and publicly demanded an explanation, to no avail.
McGrady’s treatment was cited by nationalists as being one of many factors contributing to the deep sense of alienation among the northern Catholic population at the time.
Circumstances
Neither McGrady nor his family want to dwell on the circumstances in which he was suddenly found to be an unacceptable person to lead the Eastern Board, a body since restructured as the HSCB.
And to over-focus on it would be unfair in that it would not convey the breadth and depth of his contribution and that of Colette (née Connolly), his wife of 60 years and mother of their six children.
Their contribution was also acknowledged by the appointment of Mr McGrady as a Knight Commander with Star of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and Mrs McGrady as a Dame Commander with Star of the order.
Clearly, McGrady would not have been human if he had not felt deeply disappointed and even angry at the time. Pressed on the matter he will only confide “I was a Catholic and that was the main block”, and is anxious to let bygones be bygones.
Both McGrady and his wife stress the fulfilment and satisfaction that comes from voluntary public service and from forging friendships and relationships across all traditions and denominations.
Colette says: “Malachy got tremendous satisfaction from giving help and advice to people right across the community who came to our house down the years.”
The McGrady family is one of the most prominent and influential in the region.
Malachy’s and the late Eddie’s uncle, Big Ned – the original ‘EK McGrady’ – was, for many years, nationalist chairman of Downpatrick Urban District Council in the 50s and commanded respect right across the community divide, as Br David Jardine SSF of the Church of Ireland recalled to me in another Irish Catholic interview.
The McGradys could also be described as a Levitical family. A son of McGrady, Fr Feargal is parish priest of St Anne’s in Belfast, and Malachy’s late brother, Fr Sylvester, was also a priest of Down and Connor diocese, as was Fr Sylvester’s uncle, Fr Jim McGrady.
Fr Colm McGrady, late parish priest of Strangford & Kilclief and a nephew of Malachy’s, died in August.
In the mid-90s, not long after his retirement from MB McGrady & Co., the chartered accountancy firm he founded in 1951, the first such Catholic practice in Downpatrick, Malachy suffered a minor stroke.
This did not prevent him at the age of 78 indulging his love for all things Irish by studying for a diploma in Irish language at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and securing a commendation, the only one in the class.
Pioneer
He wears a Pioneer pin inside his Fáinne and is proud of his Irish identity and aspiration to a unified Ireland.
Both Malachy and Colette are lifelong Pioneers, as are three of their six children.
Asked if they were ever tempted to renege on their pledge, Colette says that Malachy may have been tempted but that the secret of adhering to total abstinence over a lifetime is to say the famous prayer beginning “For thy greater glory and consolation, O most Sacred Heart of Jesus…” every day of your life.
The effects of the stroke have become more pronounced in recent years making speech more difficult than before, but he retains a good memory, particularly of things that have happened earlier in his life.
The eighth of 11 children of a merchant tailor and a nurse, he remembers standing on Gallows Hill in Downpatrick and seeing the flames of the 1941 Blitz in Belfast, and his family taking in refugees who escaped the inferno.
He attended St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick, known locally as “the Red High”, founded by the De La Salle order, and goes out of his way to praise a former principal, Br Cornelius, for inspiring numerous pupils like him to take their place in the professions and in public life.
McGrady trained to be a chartered accountant in a practice in central Belfast.
He answers questions succinctly, even directly, albeit in a necessarily laboured way.
One can observe the accountant’s precision that made him excel as chairman of the Downe Hospitals Committee – that oversaw the running of three local hospitals – and additionally as chairman of the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency and one time vice-chairman of the old NI Hospitals Authority.
One senses that a key to understanding the values that have driven Malachy McGrady is to appreciate the critical role that faith and good deeds together [Jas 2:14-26] have played in his life.
He describes the practice of his faith in a God “who is all powerful and good” as always being “very important” to him.
Questioned about his willingness to serve on public bodies, he says it comes down to “wanting to help the community”.
His son, Fr Feargal, recalls his father avidly reading papal encyclicals and other Church teaching documents stressing the importance of the lay apostolate spelt out in Vatican II, and remarks that his father took his obligations as a Catholic in this area very seriously.
Business
The accountancy practice and insurance business that he founded – allied to the law firm founded by his daughter Fionnuala – employ around 65 people, 10 of them in Belfast, making a significant contribution to the local economy.
Spanning the decades from the 50s to the 90s, Malachy, aided by his wife, played a key role across society in the district of St Patrick’s burial place, including assisting the parish in the building of the transept of St Patrick’s church in 1993, the establishment of Down Museum, the foundation of the Russell GAA Youth Club, serving as a Down and Connor marriage guidance counsellor, in the Lecale and Downe Historical Society and serving as chairman of the first Downpatrick Pastoral Council.
The Russell Gaelic Union Football Club – where he once played – has a picture of a 23-year-old Malachy McGrady welcoming Seán MacBride, Minister for External Affairs, to an Aeridheacht in 1950.
When Malachy McGrady and his family shortly celebrate his 88th birthday, his family and friends will also be mindful of his inspiring contribution at so many levels down the years.