A COMMUNITY Mass will be held this afternoon in St. Mary’s Church, Castlefin for much-loved Diocese of Derry Priest Fr. Oliver Crilly who passed away at Letterkenny University Hospital on Saturday afternoon.

Fr. Crilly spent the last ten years of what should have been his retirement actively serving as Priest in Residence in the Parish of Urney and Castlefin which covers the Border Parish region of Castlefin, Doneyloop in Donegal and the Tyrone village of Clady.

He retired as Parish Priest of Greenlough in Derry at the mandatory retirement age of 75 but continued to minister here.

Just last week Fr. Crilly was due to celebrate his Diamond Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a parish celebration but it had to be postponed due to his hospitalisation.

Fr. Oliver, born July 5, 1940 from the Parish of Lavey in Co. Derry, was ordained at St. Patrick’s College of Maynooth on June 20,1965.

He was one of eight men from Lavey Parish, in Co Derry, who studied for the priesthood at the same time more than six decades ago.

Fr. Crilly has been described as a most kind, intelligent man, extremely witty with a hearty laugh and smile and was a great lover of the Irish Language and local history.

He helped translate Scripture into Irish and wrote several books.

He spent several years of his early Priesthood in Dublin as Catholic Communications Director and worked with Veritas Publications.

He then spent 17 years Ministering in Strabane before moving to Ardmore Parish on the outskirts of Derry City before his final Parish Priest appointment in Greenlough in Derry.

He was a cousin of Francis Hughes and Thomas McElwee, who came from the neighbouring parish of Bellaghy. Both men were among ten republicans who died during the 1981 hunger strike as part of a prison protest for political status.

During that tumultuous period, Fr Crilly was involved with the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic church-linked group that held H-Block meetings with the hunger strikers in a bid to find a resolution.

Fr. Crilly’s remains returned to St. Mary’s Church, Castlefin last night at 7pm and such was the high esteem he was held in, parishioners kept an all night vigil at the church.

Parish Administrator Fr. Ciarán Hegarty said that initially the plan was to close the church at 10pm, then it was midnight but the people loved Fr. Crilly so much that they requested that the church remain open all night. They volunteered to sit and pray at Fr. Crilly’s open coffin in the presence of the Lord in the Tabernacle.

A farewell Mass will be held this afternoon at 4pm before his remains go to the Church of St. Oliver Plunkett, Greenlough to repose overnight for Requiem Mass tomorrow, Tuesday at 12 noon.

Fr. Crilly will be laid to rest with his late parents afterwards at St. Mary’s Churchyard, Lavey, Derry.

Appointments

1965 – 1969 Saint Patrick’s High School, Maghera

1969 – 1977 Catholic Communications Institute Dublin

1977 – 1982 Director of the Catholic Communications Institute

1982 – 1989 CC Strabane (Camus)

1989 – 1999 PP Mourne (Melmount)

1999 – 2007 PP Ardmore

2007 – 2015 PP Greenlough (Tamlaght O’Crilly)

2015 – 2025 P. Em Doneyloop (Urney and Castlefin)