Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Thursday 1 May 1913, page 8


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ADELAIDE. THURSDAY.

MAY" 9. 1913

A POPULAR ECCLESIASTic

To-day the Archbishop of Adelaide, Dr. O'Reily. will complete a quarter of a century of arduous and successful work as a prelate. Although he -was born, educated, and admitted to the priesthood in Ireland, his Grace has spent nearly fifty years in Australia, and he has grown to love the Commonwealth with an affection second only to that he cherishes for the land of his birth. Indeed, his abounding patriotism is one of the leading features of his citizenship. The son of a military officer and born in the precincts of the barracks, the Archbishop has always a warm place in her heart for the army, and he has frequently displayed an intimate knowledge of the modern campaigns of the British forces, added to a t keen appreciation of the skill and strategy of its most prominent commanders. No one could be more loyal to the flag than he is or more enthusiastic in his desire that Britain's greatness may not fail through craven fear of being great" With all his acknowledged admiration for the pomp and circumstance of glorious war he has said that he can conceive of no more magnificent sight than a great army in review order-the Archbishop is essentially a man of peace. His talents and his service both lie in that direction. When he came to Australia he had spent a score of years in accumulating learning, and was a scholar of repute both on the mathematical and classical sides. He entered on the duties of a parish priest in a remote Western Australian district with the utmost cheerfulness

and energy. His heart was in his work, and the geniality of his nature made him universally popular, as it has done ever since not only with the members of his own flock, but with those outside the pale of his church. There is a radiant good humor and a transparent sincerity about Dr. O'Reily which ensure him a hearty welcome wherever he goes. He carries his responsibilities lightly, and until illhealth in late years restricted his activities he could be confidently classed among those to whom the hardest work was never too hard, nor the longest day too long.

Although Dr. O'Reily performed his allotted task modestly and without thought of preferment his- merits early became known to his superiors. He was working in -a pioneer parish of a far-away Scale and would have been' content to continue in that sphere of labor. Of him it might then have been written, as Goldsmith wrote of his father, ""Remote from towns, he ran his godly race, nor ever had changed or wished to change his place." But the Church had its eye on him and before he was 40 years of age, when the Port Augusta diocese was- established, he was chosen as its first bishop. The dignity and the power thus thrust upon him were not altogether congenial to him, but he promptly obeyed the mandate and came t0 South Australia, and here he has remained ever since. From the charge of. a parish he was promoted at one step to the oversight of an episcopate such an area of 378,000 square miles, carrying a sparse and widely scattered population. The distances he had to travel were enormous, and the exertion- entailed was extremely arduous, while there was the added embarrassment of a heavy diocesan debt. The northern areas in those days were far less populous, and the people were considerably less prosperous, than they are to-day, but the new Bishop had a healthy detestation of debt, and he coursee-saw entered on the Herculean task of removing the incubus. In this endeavor he was wonderfully successful, and he was reading in the prospect of a more comfortable and less strenuous, time WELL, on the death of Archbishop Reynolds, he was translated to Adelaide, and had to begin his work all over again.

The -son. of the manner in which Dr. O'Reily undertook and accompli Allied the depressing business of decreasing the imintense interest burdens and of liquidating the colossal debt of the archdiocese is well known, the brought to bear on the problem the ability of a consummate master of finance with faith, industry, and vigor such as few men possess, While the liabilities were being paid off the current activities of the Chieh had to be remembered, and the-triumph won in both directions will always redound to the honor of the Archbishop.

' Dr. O'Reily is a many-sided man He is a capable musician, a skilled engineer, a mathematician of distinction, a leathery classical scholar, an experienced journalist. a master of English literature, a keen man of business, and a born administrator. Withal he is as modest and unassuming as in the days of his parish priesthood, and he is probably happier in his beautiful garden or among his books than in the fierce light which plays upon him when he is called upon to conduct some great public service. A eon«x:ientrt_-3 churchman, Dr. O'Reily has- always displayed an admirable catholicity of spirit. He has proved "himself a good citizen, and he has supported with equal zeal and ear neat-ness all public movements of a patriotic nature. He has taken a deep interest in the cause of religious education, and' he has invariably been ready to help those in trouble or distress. One of the institutions in which he takes the shape loving interest is the Fullarton Refuge, tie doors of which are open to everyone in need of its help, altogether irrespective of race or creed. The excellent relation-ship which exists between The two great divisions of the Christian Church in the state is due to a large extent to the Archbishop's broadness of mind and to his quiet determination to avoid unnecessary controversy. Because of this, fact all classes of the community jean heartily in eongrufci_-ating Dr. O'Reily on the attainment of his episcopal jubilee, and in the sincere desire that he may long be spared to fill the position which he has so long and so signally adorned