A PRIEST who survived being shot in South Africa is to take up a post at Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne.
Fr Kieran Creagh is expected to move back to his native north Belfast at the end of this month.
It comes after current Holy Cross rector Fr Gary Donegan revealed he is to move to Tobar Mhuire retreat in Crossgar, Co Down as part of a recent clerical reshuffle.
He will be replaced by his current deputy, Fr Eugene McCarthy, whose role of assistant superior and bursar will be filled by Fr Creagh.
Ordained a Passionist priest in 1993, the Ardoyne native was shot twice and seriously wounded by two robbers at a hospice he set up to help people with Aids in South Africa in 2007.
He had worked with Aids patients in poverty-stricken areas for a decade before opening the Leratong hospice in 2004.
The popular priest was the first person in Africa to be injected with a trial HIV vaccine and was named Irish International Personality of the Year in 2004.
After being shot Fr Creagh spent several months in Ireland recuperating before returning to South Africa to complete the building of a church, crèche and health clinic on a site adjacent to the hospice.
The men who shot him later received lengthy prison sentences.
He suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and returned to Ireland where he has been living on Tory Island off the coast of Donegal.
Outgoing rector Fr Gary Donegan yesterday wished his successor well.
“I wish Fr Eugene every best wish and good health in assuming the role of rector,” he said.
He also welcomed Fr Creagh back to the city.
“He is a native of Ardoyne and he is coming home as it were and I wish him every happiness and if he gets only a modicum of the joy and fulfilment I got working in Ardoyne he will be a lucky guy."
Fr Donegan heaped praise on his clerical colleague.
“He is a very strong character and not short of courage and will not be a guy that will shy away from responsibility and he is a hard worker,” he said.
The outgoing rector added that he intends to maintain his links with Ardoyne and hopes to continue his peace and reconciliation work by retaining an office in the area.
Dozens of people from the Ardoyne area were killed by loyalists during the Troubles and it has been the scene of several high-profile gun attacks by republicans in recent years.
The district also suffers from deprivation and other social problems, with the issue of suicide a particular concern.
Fr Donegan and his predecessor, Fr Aidan Troy, came to international prominence in 2001 during the Holy Cross primary school dispute which saw loyalists picket the all-girls school.
Police in riot gear backed up by British soldiers provided an escort for the girls, their parents and the two priests as they tried to make their way to classes.
