Gundagai, Boorowa, Queanbeyan, HMAS Harman, Bungendore, Cootamundra, Jugiong, Laggan, Narrabundah, Bombala, Koorawatha, Holder, NSW and ACT

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Guestbook, Moyvane - The Middle Plain, https://moyvane.com/guestbook/comment-page-15/, accessed 3 September 2026:

July 22, 2011 at 10:10 pm, Sean O'Connell in Guestbook

Fr John Joseph O'Connor landed in Sydney from his native Ireland in January 1953, a young man of 26 with memories and a huge suitcase. He grew to love his adopted land and, in the words, of Fr Paul Bateman in the homily at his funeral Mass, "we sensed the sacrifice he made even to forgoing his final rest in a Kilmorna grave".

More than 650 past and current parishioners, family and friends attended the Vigil and Requiem Mass at St Jude's Church, Holder, which three decades earlier he had helped to build.

The principal celebrant was Archbishop Mark Coleridge, assisted by Archbishop Francis Carroll, a former classmate Bishop David Cremin, and more than 40 priests and deacons.

John Joseph O'Connor was born to John O'Connor and Margaret Dillon on 23 May, 1927, at Rathoran, Kilmorna, County Kerry. The youngest of 10 children, he was ordained at All Hallows College, Dublin, on 22 June, 1952.

He arrived in Goulburn on 21 January, 1953, and within days was sent to Gundagai as assistant priest. Over the years he also served at Boorowa, Queanbeyan, HMAS Harman, Bungendore, Cootamundra, Jugiong, Laggan, Narrabundah and Bombala before his first appointment as parish priest to Koorawatha. In February, 1972, he was asked by Archbishop Cahill to found the new Canberra parish of Holder.

Mr Kevin Croker, who gave a reflection at the Mass, said Fr O’Connor would tell the story of the ladies of Koorawatha parish sending him off to his new parish with the car loaded with practical items such as brooms, a mop, bucket and cooking utensils.

Fr Bateman said Fr O’Connor started at Holder with nothing, but "he won the ready support of his new parish family in building the fine church dedicated to St Jude. He was held in high esteem by all and was loved by all."

It was only failing health that caused him to lay aside the pastoral care of his beloved people at the age of 68, after more than 42 years of labours in the diocese. In retirement, he remained in constant touch with many and often filled a gap in other parishes, as well as caring for Mother Teresa’s Sisters at Queanbeyan.

Fr Bateman described him as a fine priest, a speaker who was clear and to the point, a man of vast knowledge in many spheres, a grand host, excellent cook and connoisseur of fine wines. He had a quick and ready sense of humour. A keen fisherman, he loved to be among the salmon in his times in Oreland in the stream below his sister’s house where his mother spent her final years. Mr Croker said Fr O’Connor “loved people and was a warm and welcoming host. The men will remember the days of grilled cabanossi on the barbeque after art union pay-in nights. He was a great supporter of the ladies of the parish in the days of St Jude’s Ladies Group and later the CWL. He was generous with his time and was always willing to be part of any social activity organised by the parish or school. We all remember the parish Christmas party – the barbeque held in the back garden of his house in Mulley Street. His cheeky nature was not only well known in Eire but also very much in this neck of the woods. "Fr O’Connor had a marvellous rapport and love of the children of St Jude’s School; knew all their names, their birthdates and where they fitted into the family structure. In later years he would marry the children he had baptised and then in turn would baptise their children." Fr O’Connor is buried with his brother the late Fr Morgan O’Connor, a former Yarralumla parish priest, at Woden cemetery.