REDEMPTORIST Fr Gerry Reynolds was a “radical saint” who was passionate about peace, an ecumenical celebration at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast heard on Wednesday night.
The much-loved Co Limerick-born priest, who celebrated his 80th birthday in March of this year, died in hospital on Monday following a short illness.
Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor, Bishop Anthony Farquhar and SDLP assembly member Alex Attwood were among those who attended last night’s service at Clonard’s Church of the Most Holy Redeemer.
The event was held ahead of a Requiem Mass for Fr Reynolds today.
On Wednesday night his close friend, Presbyterian minister Ken Newell, told a packed audience about Fr Reynolds’ tireless work for peace.
For decades, the pair were members of the cross-community Clonard-Fitzroy group in Belfast, which was set up to encourage peace in the north.
He said Fr Reynolds, whom he described as a “radical saint”, was so committed to his work that he had visited more Protestant churches than any other Catholic priest in Ireland.
In an emotional speech about the man he had known for 30 years, Rev Newell said he and his wife Val recently had dinner with Fr Reynolds.
“He’s rarely been from my mind, even in the early hours of the morning, since the announcement of his death,” he said.
“I would have loved to have gone with him for a final walk along the Lagan and I would have loved to have said goodbye but I don’t think either he or I could have coped with that.
"I think that any people cycling past along the river might have raised their eyebrows at the sight of two old men weeping like children.”
“There’s an old Irish proverb that says those who we love don’t pass on, they pass in”.
Rev Newell was one of several Protestant clerics who paid tribute to Fr Reynolds at the service.
Rev Lesley Carroll said she first met Fr Reynolds in 1990 when he invited her to take part in regular meetings with Sinn Féin representatives.
“He urged us, passionately urged us, to consider peace and reconciliation,” she said.
Methodist minister Rev Sam Burch said he met Fr Reynolds in 1986 when the priest rang and asked if they would both visit the family of a UDR man Denis Taggart (33) who had been shot dead outside his home on Battenberg Street in west Belfast in front of his 13-year-old son.
“Gerry was so full of compassion and love for the family,” he said.
Rev Burch said Mr Taggart’s mother and Fr Reynolds cried when he presented her with a carving of a weeping Jesus.
He said for years, the pair worked with people across the community and spoke to the political representatives of paramilitary groups.
“We were just buddies on a mission together to take a walk for peace,” he said.
Other people who took part in Wednesday night’s service included Rev Paul Jack from the Church of Ireland, Billy Gallagher from the Tres Dias Community and Sr Marie Dolores from the Adoration Convent on the Falls Road in west Belfast.
Requiem Mass for Fr Reynolds will be held in Clonard at noon on Thursday followed by burial in the Redemptorist plot at Milltown cemetery.
