20th Mar 1916 – 27th Feb 2009
Carmelite priest, Anthony Kelliher died at Ozanam Villa in Redcliffe at the age of 92. A funeral Mass for Fr Kelliher was celebrated at the Mt Carmel Retreat Centre at Varroville in NSW on March 5 and he was buried at the Carmelite cemetery in Sydney. A memorial Mass for Fr Kelliher was celebrated at the Carmelite Monastery, Ormiston, on March 20 (which would have been his 93rd birthday).
Fr Kelliher was born Francis Kelliher in Castlegregory, County Kerry, in the west of Ireland on March 20, 1916.
After his secondary schooling he joined the Discalced Carmelites in Loughrea, County Galway, at the age of 20. A year later he made his religious profession on October 8, 1937. He was ordained a priest on July 11, 1943.
His first ministry was at the Carmelite Preparatory College, Castlemartyr, County Cork. After only a year, however, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and went to a sanitorium for some time to heal. He later became the editor of Carmel, the popular Irish spirituality magazine for the time. He then ministered in the Carmelite parish of Gerrards Cross outside London.
However his longest and most significant ministries were in Australia. St Teresa’s Carmelite Priory, at Gregory Terrace in Brisbane, became his home and place of ministry.
In 1960 he became the Superior of the Brisbane house and the Superior of the Friars and Nuns in Australia. He built a new retreat centre at Gregory Terrace which was opened in 1967. In 1969 he was moved to Varroville – where as a novice, I first met him. I recall a memorable address he gave to the community on a chapter of our interim constitutions. He quoted a commentary on Dei Verbum of Vatican II by a young German theologian who, he said, had a funny name but who he considered sound and whom he predicted great things – Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
In 1972 Anthony returned to Gregory Terrace and the ministry and people he loved. He remained a member of the community until it was closed on February 17, 1996. He had suffered a number of health problems before this and convalesced with the devoted care of Shirle Dancer.
Anthony, retired and in frail health, remained in Brisbane as the last of the Carmelite Friars until his peaceful death in Ozanam Villa Nursing Home, Redcliffe.
He had a true inner life, he was constant in prayer. His devotional life was traditional and he was always steadfastly loyal to the Church and the Archbishops of Brisbane. He loved Brisbane and its people. He was dearly loved and admired by many of the people he had helped over more than 50 years. His presence in the nursing home during his last years was deeply appreciated by the other residents and he will be greatly missed.
Eulogy by Greg Burke OCD
