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

Pastor, teacher; born Ashgrove, Queensland, 19 January 1944; died Melbourne, 12 August 2015, aged 71.

Contemporaries remember William Joseph O'Mara for the Queensland drawl in his speech and for the gifts of mimicry and wit that brought laughter into the lives of others. Brendan Kelly has described him as 'a real modern-day, Chaucerian character with Falstaffian largesse'. He had no time for the pompous and pretentious.

The eldest of his family, he was educated by the Marist Brothers at Ashgrove, and the Christian Brothers at Townsville, Queensland. In his youth he enjoyed reading serious literature and books on the lives of the saints, as well as historical works on the reformation. This led to serious thoughts about the Jesuit Order that he eventually joined on 1 February 1962 at Loyola College, Watsonia, with twenty-one other novices. During his formation years his acting ability and strident voice peaked when he played Mr. Bumble in the musical 'Oliver Twist'. His commanding presence also showed itself as a cricket umpire during matches with other seminarians. His firm decisions were never challenged.

O'Mara's life changed when he was involved in a road accident at Werribee in December 1966, which resulted in a very bad compound fracture of his left leg that required a series of operations. This meant that he had to defer his university studies, and so spent the following year teaching at Burke Hall in Melbourne. University studies followed at the Australian National University, Canberra, where he studied for the Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in English. With other Jesuits, he lived at the Dominican Priory, Blackfriars, enjoying the ambiance of university life.

Regency at Riverview followed, 1971-1972, where full reign was given to his intellectual gifts, and gift of friendship. He made life-long friends during these years, especially with boys that he coached in sporting teams.

He did not enjoy his time at the Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, 1973-1976, describing it as 'half way between the zoo and the cemetery'. It was after ordination in the parish of Toowong in 1975 that his 'sensitive pastoral antennae', as Christopher Gleeson noted, was finely attuned. He worked at Kostka Hall, Brighton, 1976-78, then at Riverview, 1979-1982, teaching religion and English, as well as being a boarding prefect and sports' coach.

After tertianship at Pymble in 1983, he was sent to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, until 1986, with teaching commitments as at Riverview. Parish ministry in Hawthorn, Melbourne, followed, 1987-1990, where, apart from sacramental duties, he enjoyed directing the lively Manresa Youth Club, which flourished during those years.

O'Mara frequently claimed that the happiest years of his priestly ministry were spent as teacher, chaplain and boarding prefect at the Vanimo Provincial High School, New Guinea during the years 1991-1992. This gave him an outlet for his missionary zeal, and he enjoyed his interaction with the local people.

His next assignment as parish priest at Sevenhill, South Australia, 1993-2000, was also joyful. Work in a rural setting reminded him of his earlier life in Queensland. It was here that the first signs of cancer were discovered in 1998. During a candlelight ceremony at a Clare Relay for Life in October 2005, O'Mara gave a moving address 'On surviving cancer'. He spoke of the light that shone amid the darkness for cancer patients and their loved ones. He recalled the loving support of the community when he first experienced cancer: 'the experience was one of being loved into life'. He felt that the community overwhelmed him by 'putting my health as an expression of their hearts'. This helped him understand 'that the things that made me who I am are important, not just to me but to all of us'. He experienced that the special love that he received as a cancer patient was for him like being 'loved so much into life through the affliction with the disease had made me a better, and, I hope, more living person'. He found solace in praying the gospel passage on the Agony in the Garden. His spiritual insight was that 'when we are alone with all that corrodes our being, [God] is with us as his own friends could not be with him, and as we cannot be with those whose lives we share. He was for me – is for me, even if the worst of pain, of ignominy, of horror overwhelms me. He loves me into life, and what's more, He loves me through death into the fullness of life. And his love is in the love of all who love me. How rich I am!'

This eloquence in word was another great gift of O'Mara's, especially when he wished to communicate his love and respect for others. In this volume O'Mara contributed to the obituary of Arthur Francis Burke who had lived at Sevenhill with him. It was an eloquent tribute from a friend to another whose work for many years in the district was highly appreciated.

As he enjoyed working in South Australia and was under care from his medical advisors, he was sent as chaplain to Adelaide University and Aquinas College, where he resided, 2001-2004, the last Jesuit to live in the college. Living in the Norwood parish followed as his sickness increased. However, some pastoral ministry continued that included prison chaplaincy, and assistant chaplain to the Khmer community, to the degree that his health permitted. Having a 'well-tuned radar for people in need, [he] walked with them without their having to ask'.

Unable to mange his health any longer, he went to Melbourne in 2014, and resided in Mary MacKillop Aged Care Residence, Hawthorn East, where he pleased all around him with his charm, wit, deep serenity and calmness as he lived the last months of his life.

Christopher Gleeson believed that O'Mara 'taught us much about being human, about good shepherding; he has cared for and loved us a great deal, he has been a life enlarger with a big heart'.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)