Oblate News

Fr Francis Gormley OMI

1942 – 2020

Fr Francis Gormley OMI

Born on 25 September 1942, at Garvahullion, Drumquin, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Frank was the eldest of a family of one girl and five boys. The family moved to Harold’s Cross, Dublin when he was very young. He remembered his early years as a time of working hard, helping his father with daily milk rounds and later bread rounds, and looking after the family shop. When he entered the Oblate novitiate in September 1966, Frank had already worked for some years as a barman in Morrisseys of Cork Street, and completed his secondary education with the Jesuits at Apostolic School, Mungret College, Co. Limerick, where he also studied philosophy.

So, he was able to proceed directly from the novitiate to studies in theology at the Obate Scholasticate, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, where he made his profession as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1970. He was ordained priest at St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny on 13 June 1971.

Frank devoted his life to pastoral work in Britain and Ireland. He was utterly committed to his work, preparing carefully, keeping himself up to date through daily reading and study. Prayer was central to his life as a human being and priest. He was aware of his own vulnerability to life’s pressures and losses, but he understood with St Paul, that through God’s power at work in him, his vulnerability, his wounds, could also become his strength as a sensitive and committed pastor.

Fellow Oblates who worked with Frank describe him as ‘a hard worker, a conscientious pastor who was gentle and perceptive with people, and always totally attentive to the person in real need’; ‘he was a details person who, for example, worked meticulously to get to know each person whose Funeral Mass he would be celebrating, in order to celebrate it as well as possible’.

All who knew him will know the care that Frank took in his pastoral work in parishes and schools. A deeply serious man with regard to ministry, he was also courteous, sociable, good company, and surprisingly well informed about English soccer. He had been a vigorous footballer in his early days, described by some as ‘hard as nails’, and was an enthusiastic supporter of Manchester United.

As his health began to fail, he accepted gracefully and calmly the limitations of failing memory. Those beautiful gifts of courtesy, sensitivity, gratitude and simplicity that marked his life came to the fore in illness and retirement. It was always a pleasure to sit and chat with him over a cup of tea, and help him recall and relive the past as his short-term memory grew weak.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.