Bishop Bernard O'Grady

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BISHOP BISHOP BERNARD O'GRADY OP

 

Bishop Bernard was born in Adelaide and educated there by the Dominican Sisters and the Christian Brothers. In 1950 he entered the Dominican Order and studied in Melbourne and Wahroonga, Sydney before being ordained in Adelaide on December 1st 1956. Following one year of further study in Wahroonga he was appointed in 1958 to the newly opened Dominican Mission in the then Western Solomons.

 

He worked in various parishes and was also Catholic Education Director for the Gizo Diocese which had been formally established in 1964. During this time many new schools were opened and he was awarded an MBE for educational service as well as development work within the Western Solomons.

 

In 1981 he was elected at Prior (Superior) of the Dominican Novitiate and Retreat House at Blackfriars in Canberra where he spent six years engaged in giving Retreats and Spiritual Direction.

 

Following another two years back in the Solomons, in 1989 he was appointed to the Dominican College part of the Holy Spirit National Seminary in Bomana Papua New Guinea. There he was engaged in priestly and religious formation and lecturing at the Seminary.

 

The first part 1994 was spent working in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia at the Cross-Cultural Retreat Centreat Mirilinki (Turkey Creek). The later part of the year he joined a Domincan Parish Preaching Renewal Team for three months.

 

In May 1955 he was ordained Bishop of Gizo where he spent the next 12 years. During his time as Bishop he oversaw the dicoesan renewal program “We are Church” conducted with the assistance of the Movement for a Better World.

 

The major earthquake and tsunami that hit Gizo on Monday of Holy Week last year caused a great deal of damage within the Diocese and as Director of Caritas Solomon Islands Bishop Bernard was able to assist with the rehabilitation work that still continues and which has received generous support from Pittwater Parish.

 

While in Rome in June last year to attend the Caritas Intenationalis Meeting, Bishop Bernard's resignation was accepted and his successor Bishop Luciano Capelli SDB was appointed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Capelli was ordained as Bishop of Gizo on October 21st. Bishop Bernard then returned to Australia and is now at Avalon, NSW.

bernard_cyril.jpg (82.1kb)

Bishop Bernard relaxed after a Sunday Liturgy

 

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