Colm Fitzpatrick
Brendan O'Reilly KC*HS Personal Profile
Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with Irish catechist Brendan O’Reilly
With an inspiring vocation spanning decades, making the Faith accessible to all is still on the agenda for one Irish man.
Now living in Co. Meath’s Ashbourne, Brendan O’Reilly has had an illustrious career ranging from teaching, to catechetics and Irish translation. He originally began his career as a primary school teacher, and has since worked as a Dublin diocesan adviser, a co-ordinator of the well-known Alive-O primary school programme, and even initiated and oversaw the writing of the first ever Irish Catechism for adults.
His interest in religion began when he was very young, especially because he attended Mass with his family, and his father was in the parish choir.
“When I was growing up Faith in my life was very big, and whenever anybody asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to be the Pope. I was an altar boy and practiced my religion. I went to devotions and benedictions and sang in the choir and things like this. It was always very, very important to me,” Brendan explains.
Always drawn
He adds that although many people were forced to attend Mass “whether they wanted to go or not”, he was always personally drawn to the Church especially the music and the art, which affected him “emotionally”.
Now in his 70s, he says that throughout his life his Faith has grown and developed but notes that Faith has various manifestations.
“There’s an intellectual approach to Faith – that’s the amount of stuff you believe. Then there’s a certain amount of Faith that I always say is connected to the heart and it is the way that you pray and take part in liturgy and so on. And then your Faith manifests itself in the way that you live, in what you actually do,” he stresses.
The insights he has gained from studying for his Bachelors of Divinity and Masters in Catechetics, alongside praying every day and living out the Gospel has allowed his Faith to grow in various ways, although he remains cognisant of humanness.
“Having said that I still have got the insight that various other people who have walked the Faith journey have had in their lives and that is that I’m still very conscious of my faults, my failings and my sins. That, I think, realisation of just how human and frail one is, and how we’re in need of God’s mercy and compassion all the time. That has grown with me over the years too.”
One of the most enjoyable ways Brendan lives out his Faith is through his involvement in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) which introduces prospective converts to aspects of Catholic beliefs and practices. He explains that although this is extra work for him, he couldn’t turn away people who had a desire for God or to be Catholic, and that those searching for the divine are “beautiful”.
“It’s humbling work in ways that you get to know people on a very intimate and personal level and you will be amazed by just the beauty and the goodness and the desire and the hunger that are in some people for God,” he says.
Complementing this evangelical work, Brendan is busy translating a primary religious education school programme called ‘Grow in Love’ into Irish. This is a colourful and fun way for children and families to learn about Faith, both in school and at home.
His zeal for the national language came from his experience, in particular, with the Christian brothers, which meant that he was stationed in Irish speaking monasteries.
Difficult
Although it can be difficult to translate from English to Irish, Brendan says because Irish was “widespread in the country from the time of St Patrick to the famine, the terminology used for various theological concepts was always there in Irish”. This means there are a variety of religious phrases in Irish which differ from their English counterpart, such as ‘Holy Thursday’ which in Irish is ‘Thursday of the Communion’.
“I do try my best to research and try to find out what the Irish language called these terms and so one of the pleasures I get out of translating the ‘Grow in Love’ programme into Irish is that little by little as I go along I’m learning these terms myself that were always there and I’m putting them into the Irish language programme in the hope that future generations will see that this is the proper term and it will come back into use,” he explains.
At the moment, he enjoys waking up in the morning, knowing that he has a focus for the day in translating pages, which when complete gives him great happiness. But despite the momentous work he has done for the Faith in Ireland, Brendan believes there is still much more to be done.
“I suppose in general what I find particularly challenging, I would dearly love it if there was more enthusiasm in spreading the Gospel and if there was more practical effort and practical support given to any sort of endeavour that tries to preach the Gospel.”