Fr Brian Gallagher
8 December 1926 – 5 November 2014
Fr Brian A. Gallagher died on November 5 in Crestwood Nursing Home, Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, having suffered declining health for several months.
Downings [Wikipedia]
Father Brian was born 8 December 1926, at Derryhassen,
Downings, County Donegal, Ireland, in the Diocese of Raphoe, to Patrick and Fanny Gallagher. Educated at St Enda’s College, Galway, 1941-43, and St. Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, 1943-46, he then entered St Columban’s College, Dalgan Park, Navan, the Colubman seminary in Ireland, in 1946. He was ordained on December 21, 1952.
St Eunan’s College [Wikipedia]
He arrived in Japan, December 25, 1953 and attended the Franciscan Language School. He served in Ryujin, in the Osaka Diocese; St Columban’s, Chiba City, in the Tokyo Archdiocese; in four parishes of Kumamoto. He and Fr James Norris started youth clubs with great success. In Shimasaki, in the Fukuoka Diocese, he was responsible for the building of a unique church shaped like a chalice and dedicated to St Thérèse.
St Thérèse Church, Shimasaki [Daughters of St Paul]
In March 1973 he was assigned to the US Region for promotion work in Milton, MA. Soon after he was appointed superior of the Milton house. He continued with promotion/mission education work in Chicago in 1978 and also in Los Angeles in 1983.
Starting 1 September 1989 he served as Superior at the Edgemont House, near Philadelphia. There he also became chaplain of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (emblem above) in Philadelphia. In 1993, when the Edgemont House was closed, Father Brian moved to St Philomena’s parish where he helped out and continued with his Columban commitments to mission education and promotion.
He retired in July 1994 and initially went back to Ireland, but in March of 1995 he moved to the Bristol Retirement Home in RI. A priest of dedicated commitment to Columban Mission, he was also known and appreciated for his cooking of sukiyaki and loved to entertain people by playing the accordion.
Not Father Brian, but another Donegal man, John McArrigle
Father Brian’s funeral will take place at the Columban retirement home in Bristol on Monday, 10 November 10. Burial will take place immediately afterwards in the cemetery attached to St Mary’s Church, Bristol. May he rest in peace.
. St Columban’s, Bristol, RI, USA