Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
O'Mara, Richard

Pastor; born Adelaide, South Australia, 29 June 1884; died Sydney, 7 November 1977, aged 93.

For many years, Dick O'Mara was probably one of the best-known figures in North Sydney. He spent 45 years there and walked its streets daily. He was a large figure, always well turned out in the old tradition of the urbane parish priest, with walking cane, mixing dignity with friendly affability.

For twenty years he was superior and parish priest, and for most of the rest of his life he was minister. For the remaining years of his priestly career, he was minister at St Aloysius' College or St Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, both of them within the North Sydney parish.

He was responsible for the re-building of St Mary's Church, the residences for sisters and brothers and the large Manresa Hall. These buildings were financed largely by bingo and boxing, which his sympathy stemmed from his character and background.

Dick O'Mara was one of two brothers who entered the Society, his brother Tom dying at Burke Hall in 1933. They were born in Adelaide into a family closely associated with horse racing and their early years were spent around the stables. O'Mara was as close lipped as a trainer and as shrewd as a bookmaker, with a bonhomie that would have been an enviable asset for either.

Members of his community who wished to know more about parish finances or projects were driven nearer and nearer to nervous breakdown according to the degree of their curiosity. His parishioners were not much the wiser as to where the money went.

He had a quaint sense of humour. He would engage in lively discussions on profound theological questions, but the problems always remained unsolved because he would extricate himself from all arguments by saying, 'we live in a world of mystery'.

O'Mara was possibly Australia's greatest exponent of the illogical. He had a great reputation for instructing converts. His instructions would make a theologian weep and drive a logician to self-destruction. If any man was a living proof of the fact that people are not converted by human argument but by the action of the Spirit, it was O'Mara. Yet many families would praise him for the re-discovery of their faith.

O'Mara was a man, reared in affluence and with wealth assured, who left behind the riches of this world, leading a life completely dedicated to his priestly and religious vocation and in kindly service to those committed to his care. His appearance of simplicity may have concealed shrewdness far above the ordinary, but his constant smile of kindliness was a true indication of his nature and was verified in all his works.

His life was orderly and methodical and his pastoral care followed the same pattern. There was nothing haphazard or whimsical in his care of the sick or his pastoral visitation; and these, carried on for nearly half a century, are themselves marks of priestly virtue. Never seeming to be in a hurry he had time for everyone and everything seemed to get done in time. He served all with unflagging zeal.

When, at the age of 89, he was clearly too old to remain in the two storeyed presbytery, the archdiocese offered him a place at the Little Sisters of the Poor home reserved for sick and aged diocesan priests. There Cardinal Gilroy was his companion and F X O'Brien, who had been at times his companion in the ministry.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)