Biography:
Irish background
Fr Tom Moore was one of the many Irish priests who answered God’s call to be a missionary and came to Australia in 1935. Thomas Moore was born in Kilmorna, Co Kerry on January 28, 1907. He was educated at St Michael’s College, Listowel, Co. Kerry.
His theological studies in preparation for the priesthood were at St Patrick’s College, Carlow. He was ordained there on December 22, 1934. He came to Australia a few months later.
Appointments
After short-term appointments at St Patrick’s at West Terrace, and Largs Bay Orphanage he was sent to Mount Gambier. From there he went to Pinnaroo.
During his next appointment to Parkside parish he went to Ireland for a holiday in 1946 – this was the only holiday he had until he retired and returned to Ireland 40 years later.
His next appointments were to Kilburn, then Birdwood and later Balaklava. On January 31, 1967 he was appointed Parish Priest of Kapunda where he remained for nearly 20 years until his retirement on July 1, 1986.
On retirement he went to live at Francis Murphy Villa, where he found it hard to settle. Soon after, he went to Ireland for a holiday – but he never returned to Adelaide.
He settled in Kilkenny, Ireland, where his sister lived and from then on had very little contact with South Australia – except for a few people from Kapunda who visited him in Ireland. He died there on April 12, 2002, aged 95 years.
Like many of the early Irish priests he made great sacrifices in coming to Australia – leaving home, family etc. to come to the other side of the world, particularly when there were such poor communications by today’s standards.
Many of us who grew up in those times owe such much to those Irish priests and religious who came to Australia. Those who knew Fr Tom saw him as a quiet, reserved and shy man. He never had a high profile in the diocese and had very few friends, except for a few fellow Irish priests. He found great difficulty in mixing with lay people and even more in having any kind of collaborative ministry with the laity.
Like many priests of his time he found great difficulty in adjusting to the transition following Vatican II.
News of his death did not reach Adelaide for some weeks after his death. A Memorial Mass was celebrated in St Rose’s Church Kapunda on Monday June 10, 2002. During the Mass it was acknowledged that Fr Tom had been a priest for 67 years, with more than 50 in South Australia,
Fr Tom would have had (in the words of Romans) “a great influence on others”. He was certainly not a ‘man of the world' and lived his life for the Lord. He answered God’s call to serve Christ and the Church, and he did this faithfully.
May he rest in the peace of Christ. |
