Fr Oliver Leavy, RIP; author of ‘Knowing the Catholic Faith’

The death took place on Tuesday last, March 3, of Fr Oliver Leavy, a man who spent more than 30 years of his priestly life on missionary work abroad, and who was author of what he termed a “handbook” for Catholics.

Fr Oliver, who was a member of the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan, County Wicklow, a native of Ballyhaw, Killucan, spent time working in the West Indies, in the diocese of St George, Grenada and also in Nigeria, where he worked in the dioceses of Port Harcourt and Bauchi.

Fr Oliver’s early childhood was spent in Killucan, but sadly, his father, James died in 1952, when he and his siblings, Dermot, Aideen and Imelda were young, following which his mother, Elizabeth, moved the family to Kinnegad.

After attending primary school in Rathwire, Fr Oliver went to St Finian’s College, opting then to join the St Patrick’s Missionary Society (also known as the Kiltegan Fathers), and he was ordained in 1965.

For the first 10 years of his career in the priesthood, Fr Oliver was in formation work, teaching seminarians in Ireland and Scotland. He was then appointed to Grenada, in the West Indies, a place he deeply loved. After 20 years in Grenada, Fr Oliver returned to Ireland and spent six years working with his order in this country before being appointed to Nigeria, where he was again engaged in formation work.

In an interview with this paper in 2021, Fr Oliver admitted he loved Grenada: “I would have been much happier to stay in Grenada, but then again, you are playing in a team and when the captain tells you to come back into goals, or to play full forward, you have to do it!” he observed.

It was while living in Grenada that the realisation came to Fr Oliver that there was a need for a text setting out what the Catholic faith is about, and in 1990, he wrote ‘Knowing and living the Catholic faith - a handbook’. The book was used in Grenada and also Nigeria, and in 2020, back in this country, Fr Leavy worked on a revision of the book, contending that a lot of Catholics had lost their understanding of what their religion is about.

“The problem I see is that most people don’t know their faith,” he said. “They know a little bit of it and all the things that were discovered and taught over the last 50 years, many of them have never caught up with.”

Fr Oliver, who was predeceased by his parents and by his sisters Imelda (Murphy) as well as by his sister-in-law Florian Leavy and brother-in-law Conrad Murphy, is survived by his sister, Aideen and his brother Dermot, as well as by his nephews, nieces and their families, as well as by his Society family.

Fr Oliver’s funeral Mass took place in St Patrick’s Chapel, Kiltegan, on Thursday last, March 5, followed by burial in the Society Cemetery.