Fr Thomas M O'Rourke

Early Life

Thomas Michael O’Rourke was born in Boher Moor near Caherconlish, County Limerick in Ireland on December 7, 1906.

He was educated at Christian Brothers College in Limerick. His studies for the priesthood were undertaken at St Patrick’s College, Thurles – the seminary that produced many priests for the Archdiocese of Adelaide.  Fr Tom O’Rourke was ordained in the Cathedral at Thurles on June 10, 1934. He came to Australia later that year, arriving in Adelaide on November 14.

Appointments

On arrival he was appointed Assistant Priest in the Cathedral parish, but soon after on February 1, 1935 he was appointed Assistant Priest at Glenelg where he joined fellow Irishmen Fr Richard Denny PP and Fr Henry Skehan, where the threesome were known as ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’.

While in the Diocese for just over three years, on April 1, 1938 he was appointed Locum Tenens in Manoora parish while Fr Dom Sparkes was on leave, and then on July 1 he was again appointed Locum Tenens for Fr Eddie Smyth in the Pinnaroo Parish. The following year he was appointed Parish Priest of Morgan on the Murray, which at that time was in the Archdiocese of Adelaide.

Two years later, on June 7, 1941 Fr Tom began a more significant appointment as Parish Priest of Walkerville, where Archbishop Beovich gave him the opportunity of really making his mark in the diocese. This was the first parish created by Archbishop Beovich and Fr O’Rourke was it's first parish priest. He worked in this parish for more than 20 years and really built it into a thriving parish.

The new parish was quite extensive reaching north to Salisbury and east to the Birdwood parish. When the presbytery was bought 10 years later, the parish included four public hospitals, the Gepps Cross migrant hostel, and the new Enfield cemetery. Church buildings were opened at Enfield and Clearview in 1953 and then separated the following year to become new parishes. Hillcrest and Northfield Church halls were opened in 1955, followed by Greenacres in 1958.

In 1952 Fr Sutherland came as the first Assistant Priest, followed by Fr Joe Grealy in 1954.

Fr O’Rourke was noted as a ‘man who had an eye to the future’ particularly in the way he planned for the growth of this new and far flung parish. Building during the 1940s was very difficult given the shortage of suitable materials. On one occasion a building extension at Walkerville used the galvanised iron from the school fence as roofing material, given the shortage of iron at the time.

At the opening of the new Church hall at Greenacres on December 14 1958 Archbishop Beovich paid a striking tribute to Fr O’Rourke. He said that during his years at Walkerville the population had increased enormously but the expanse was nowhere greater than in Fr O’Rourke’s parish. Since the beginning of the parish in 1941 three new parishes had been formed by taking off portions of Walkerville.

“Fr O’Rourke was a zealous and apostolic priest who had shouldered tremendous responsibilities and had done invaluable work” he said. And he announced that Greenacres would become a new parish with Fr Andrew Killian as Parish Priest. Fr O’Rourke was a man of incredible foresight in the way he purchased so many blocks of land in various parts of the parish and commenced so many new buildings, and many of them were opened debt free!

Leave

In March 1962 Fr Tom took extended leave to Ireland, visiting family and friends. On his return in October the following year he was appointed Parish Priest of Kapunda with the title of RI (Rector Irremovable). But despite that title he only stayed at Kapunda for 15 months before being appointed Parish Priest of Victor Harbor on January 27 1965. In March 1969 he took leave again for nine months to Ireland.

On January 27, 1972 Fr Tom was appointed Parish Priest of Goodwood – a position he held for the next 10 years. In May 1977 he again took leave for four months when he made another visit to Ireland.

In January 1982 Fr O’Rourke was appointed Pastor Emeritus, but he did not retire entirely, he took up a position as Assistant Priest in the parish of Glenelg where he continued to exercise some pastoral ministry. But a year later he retired completely and went to reside at Murphy Villa.

Fr O’Rourke is remembered for many things, including his ministry to the sick and their loved ones, particularly during the poliomyelitis epidemic at the Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and also for his regular visitation to the newly arrived migrants temporarily housed in the Nissen Huts at Gepps Cross Migrant Hostel.

After 54 years of priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of Adelaide, Fr O’Rourke died at Lourdes Valley on January 6, 1988. His funeral Mass was celebrated in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral and his burial was at the Centennial Park Cemetery.

May he rest in peace.