Fr Sean Francis McGearty

Early Life

Sean McGearty was born in Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland on January 15, 1934. He was the youngest son of Pat and May McGearty. There were eight children in the family and education was to play an important part of their lives. At the age of five Sean was diagnosed with hole in the heart, with further health complications a year later. Sean's father then died after a minor operation on Easter Sunday, March 25, 1951. The family were devastated and left very poor.

He was educated at the Ballivor National School and then St Finian's College, Mullingar. In 1952 Sean began his ecclesiastical studies at St Kieran's College, in Kilkenny. During the course of his studies he volunteered to undertake missionary work in Australia, in the Archdiocese of Adelaide.

He was ordained priest in St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny on June 8, 1958.
 
Appointments
 
Fr McGearty arrived in Adelaide on December 2, 1958. As he disembarked from his ship at Outer Harbour he was met by the future Archbishop Len Faulkner, who at the time was Administrator of the Cathedral. They remained good friends throughout life. Fr Sean spent the first few weeks as assistant priest in the Murray Bridge parish. At the beginning of January 1959 he assisted at Goodwood for two months before being appointed assistant priest at Brighton. He remained at Brighton for five years before spending one year at Mount Gambier.

In January 1965 he was appointed assistant priest at Woodville. Two years later at the beginning of 1967 Fr Sean was granted nine months leave when he returned to visit family in Ireland. On his return in October that year he was appointed assistant priest at Colonel Light Gardens parish.

In August 1970 he was again granted leave to visit Ireland for six weeks.

Soon after he returned, on January 29, 1971 Fr Sean was appointed as the third Parish Priest of Christies Beach, (now Noarlunga Parish) which was established in 1963.
Here he was very much a "hands on PP" helping to build classrooms for the local school. Unfortunately he injured his hips in the process. While at Christies Beach Fr Sean took leave to visit Ireland September 1975, December 1976 and March 1978.

In December 1979 he received word that his mother was seriously ill and not expected to live more than 24 hours. Within four hours he was on the plane to Ireland. However his mother did not die until some years later. When leaving he was told he could stay in Ireland until his mother died.

During the 1980's he assisted in the local parish of Tullamore, and was the foundation member of the Irish Families Genealogical Society. He had 16 young people working with him updating parish Registers. While there he was visited by Archbishop Gleeson, and Frs Robert Egar, Bob Wilkinson and Brian Angus.

Fr Sean never lost his love for Ireland and his family. His frequent visits to the homeland were always filled with joy.

Following the death of his mother he returned to Adelaide on February 15, 1990 and was appointed as supply priest in Aberfoyle Park during the illness of the Parish Priest.

In June 1990 he was appointed Parish Priest of Naracoorte where he remained until October 1998 when he offered his resignation and asked Archbishop Faulkner if he could undertake a different ministry, namely as supply priest for country parishes where the parish priest was on annual or study leave or sick leave. This work he continued until his health failed completely.

When Fr Sean arrived in Adelaide in 1958 it had been several years since the last Irish priest arrived, so no doubt Sean experienced a sense of loneliness not being of the same age group as other Irish priests and taking some time to know the local Australian priests. Undoubtedly that was one reason why he reached out in friendship and support to many of the newer missionary priests from Vietnam and Africa.

In his latter years he received great support from his distant cousin Gen Traynor who served as his driver and carer. Her devotion no doubt helped Sean to live a long life and continue so long his service and ministry.

Fr Sean died peacefully on December 20, 2019, aged 85 years. Requiem Mass was celebrated in St Joseph's Church Brighton on January 7, 2020, attended by many fellow priests, former parishioners and a large number from the local Irish community.

A fitting tribute was given by Fr Maurice Shinnick, who reminded us that Fr Sean "always celebrated the Eucharist with reverence, with homilies that were thoughtful and short. Fr Sean nurtured faith in others, with special reverence for children whose faith was just awakening. With his quiet voice, his good sense of humour – often at his own expense – his peaceful approach to complex situations, his love for his fellow priests, his respect for others at all times, Fr Sean endeared himself to so many people".

Fr Sean was repatriated to Ballivor for the celebration of the Funeral Mass and burial on January 22, 2020. Fr Kevin Taylor, his executor, travelled with Fr Sean’s carer and distant cousin Gen Traynor to Ireland for the funeral celebrations. At the ceremony to receive Fr Sean’s body at the Ballivor Church, Fr Kevin spoke on behalf of the Archdiocese of Adelaide. He said: “I would like to begin by thanking Fr Sean’s family for the nurturing of his vocation to the priesthood, the love of his family was always present in his life, the spirituality of family life was always present. I would also like to acknowledge and thank his family for the sacrifice they made in letting Fr Sean leave his beloved homeland of Ireland and go to Australia to bring the Gospel message ‘to the ends of the earth’. Finally, I would like to thank the Bishops and Priests of the Diocese of Meath for giving the Church in Adelaide a wonderful missionary, a man of prayer, a man of the Gospel and for me personally a kind and generous friend. It is with a heavy heart at Sean’s passing but with deep gratitude to all the family, clergy and people of God in Meath, that we return to you Fr Sean. There will always be a link between the Archdiocese of Adelaide and the Diocese of Meath because of the life and ministry of this good and generous minister of the Gospel.”

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam. (May his soul be on the right side of God.)

May he rest in peace.