The selfless, yet comprehensive, nature of the late Fr Oliver Crilly was recalled at his funeral mass.

The selfless, yet comprehensive, nature of the late Fr Oliver Crilly was recalled at his funeral mass.

Fr Crilly died on Saturday last, just eight days after he celebrated his 60th anniversary in the priesthood. Mourners in attendance at his Church of Saint Oliver Plunkett, Greenlough, Co Derry, heard of how “very proud” of the church he served from 2007 and 2015.

A native of Lavey, Fr Crilly is best remembered as a regular on BBC Radio Ulster and from being a teacher at St Patrick’s College, Maghera.

Fr Michael Doherty was Fr Crilly’s Curate in Melmount Parish, Strabane, and led the homily, saying “ it would take a week to explain all he has done for others over the years.”

“It would take more than a few days to recall all Oliver’s achievements,” Fr Doherty said. “In fact, if we had invited people who were involved in all his different activities, we would have been asked to bring sandwiches along with you today. He was involved in so much during the years.

“His achievements, his talents, his interests, it is hard to know where to start. Oliver the man, Oliver the brother, Oliver the priest, the scholar, the publisher, the author, the linguist, the broadcaster, the historian, the educationalist, the humanist, the cartoonist, and the caricaturist and in more reason years his interest in cutting stone. There are probably many more.” 

Fr Doherty went on to reflect on his time with Fr Crilly in Melmount in 1989, where the Troubles were “very much still there” and how the priest played his part in an attempt to find a solution to the Hunger Strikes in 1981. 

The highly-regarded cleric was a cousin of Francis Hughes and Thomas McElwee, who came from the neighbouring parish of Bellaghy.

“The Hunger Strikes took a toll on him as a relative and a priest,” Fr Doherty added, “His was a world at that time that took in troubled times. Especially in his adopted town of Strabane. Oliver laboured with the Irish Commission for justice and peace. 

“To try and achieve those ideals. He worked with Presbyterian leaders and the Parades Commission to try and find a solution to contentious parades.

Not only did Fr Crilly play a huge role at home internationally he travelled to Uganda with Trocaire. 

Fr Doherty said: “He travelled there after their atrocious civil war and after the massacres that took place there. He wanted to see what Trocaire could do to help. What he saw had a great impact on him. Oliver was never a strong man physically but he still managed a fundraising cycle to Knock. 

“He let nothing stop him from trying to achieve while managing one of the largest parishes in this diocese for 10 years.”

Parishioners also heard how he got his deep faith from his family, in particular his grandmother. 

Fr Doherty concluded the homily saying a quote that Fr Crilly often himself used at funerals. “He fulfilled his baptism.” 

He said: “That is very true of Oliver, a full life, a life lived for God, and for others. A Christian life and a Christian death. That is the legacy Fr Oliver Crilly has left for his family and to all who knew him.” 

Fr Pat O’Hagan led the prayers, in both Irish and English, which Fr Crilly had said throughout his 60 years of priesthood.  A final farewell was said by Archbishop Eamon Martin, who gave thanks for Fr Crilly’s life. 

“We are gathered here on the feast day of St Oliver Plunkett to give Oliver the final commendation,” Archbishop Eamon Martin said. “It is good to remember the saintly Archbishop Oliver Plunkett, who was such a witness to the faith.  He was also a reconciler and a peacemaker. I think it is very fitting indeed that we gather here on this feast day to say our final farewell to Father Oliver. 

“I would like to express my sympathy not just on my behalf, but all archbishops and to give thanks for his ministry not just as a priest in the Diocese of Derry but indeed throughout the country. For his work, we are truly grateful.”

Fr Crilly was laid to rest in the cemetery of St.  Mary's Church Lavey along with his parents.