Fr Denis O'Connell

Irish beginnings

Denis O’Connell was born in Ballinacurra, County Limerick, Ireland, or if you prefer “Eire”, on the October 8, 1894. He studied at St John’s College Waterford and All Hallows, Dublin. He was ordained a priest at All Hallows on the June 19, 1921. In the same year, on October 18, he came to South Australia to serve in the Archdiocese of Adelaide.

Appointments

His first appointment as assistant priest was in the Cathedral Parish of Adelaide, then Glenelg in 1925 and on February 1, 1928 he was transferred to Mount Gambier. By 1929 he was parish priest of Yorketown, working later at Millicent and Naracoorte before going to Murray Bridge in March 1938.

The Builder

At the age of 65, when most would be thinking of retirement or at least slowing down, Fr Denis O’Connell became the second parish priest to Dulwich (later known as Dulwich-Burnside Parish) on August 29, 1957. Not long after taking over, on the October 22, 1957, to be exact, he wrote to Archbishop Beovich to renew the building application of Monsignor Gatzemeyer, his predecessor and the first parish priest of Dulwich-Burnside parish. This time, though it was to build not only one church, but two, one at Burnside, the other at Dulwich.

The site for the new Church at Dulwich had been established in 1937, when the Rasheed property at 8 Stuart Road had been purchased.  The site for the new church at Burnside had not yet been finalised, but was determined eventually by the legacy of the McNeil family, as the land on Glynburn Road, adjacent to the First Creek, flowing down Waterfall Gully.

Financing the building of the two churches had been made possible by the careful husbanding of the building fund, by two substantial legacies, the sale (once the building of the new church of St John Vianney was finished) of the blocks of land on Glynburn Road and the Rivoli Hall property.

So Fr O’Connell had the finance to start building the two Churches, plus a new presbytery, and more than enough land on which to build them. It was the planning of them and the final permissions to build them that took a little longer.

After a lot of “turmoil” with Bishop Gleeson, (Vicar General), the Sites and Architecture Committee, Mgr H.B. Skehan and Archbishop Beovich himself, Fr O’Connell’s plans were finally approved. (Those interested in a fuller account of the “turmoil”, which reveals so much of the character of Fr O’Connell, are referred to the History of the Dulwich-Burnside Parish, “The Rays of the Crucifix”).

Once the Burnside site was determined and permissions granted Fr O’Connell (Bishop Gleeson now called him “the bulldozer”) moved ahead with great speed, using the plans produced by the architect Mr C.W. Peters for a beautiful church on the ample site by the creek.

The Church was constructed by R.V.D. Butler and Sons. Its foundation stone was laid by Archbishop Beovich on November 26, 1961 and it was opened and blessed in June 1962. The Church was solemnly consecrated on the July 25, 1963 by Archbishop Beovich.

With the completion of the new Church at Burnside behind him, Fr O’Connell briskly set about building the second church and presbytery at Dulwich. The architect Mr Peters had produced plans for a modern church that anticipated even more closely than St John Vianney’s the ideas that were to be encouraged by the Vatican Council II. Peters anticipated very successfully what was to become the more general church design of the next decades.

The successful tender for the building were Messrs W.H. Blunden Ltd. and work commenced in November 1963. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop James Gleeson, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, on December 22, 1963.

Weekly site-meetings between Fr O’Connell, the architect and the builder ensured a high standard of work and a satisfactory rate of progress. The new church of St Peter Claver was consecrated on Friday July 10, 1964 by Archbishop Beovich.

Sudden death

Father Denis O’Connell collapsed and died in the city of Adelaide from a heart attack on Friday February 10, 1967.  The immediate cause was thought to be his exertions and worry some days previously when a mysterious leaking pipe had flooded the Church of St John Vianney. Aged 72, on that day he had spent some time digging for the pipe and cleaning out the church.

His death came as a great shock to the parishioners who were used to the inexhaustible energy of “the Bulldozer”. He was a big man with a strong Irish brogue and a gruff manner that hid a kindly nature. He was most at home with children. They loved him. Parishioners who knew him well remembered him as a strong and rugged individual, a humble man, never caring about himself, very casually dressed but always concerned about the Church and his churches, and especially concerned about the poor and the needy. He was a handyman of sorts and an indefatigable labourer. No task was too menial for him, including the one that possibly caused his death.

Probably because of his gruffness he was sometimes misunderstood. This puzzled him immensely. At other times he appeared to misunderstand others. There was no misunderstanding about the tributes to this self-effacing priest at the time of his death. Following a crowded Requiem Mass on the Sunday evening his Church of St Peter Claver was packed again for the concelebrated funeral Mass offered the next day, Monday February 13 for the happy repose of his soul.

Archbishop Gleeson, the Principal Celebrant, spoke with great affection of Fr O’Connell’s work as a devoted and self-effacing servant of the Church and her people, his loyalty and his willingness to serve God wherever he was sent.

Father Denis O’Connell’s body was buried at Centennial Park Cemetery.

May he rest in peace.