Famous Newry-born Dominican priest remembered

The event will be held on Thursday, August 21 in the Bank Bar and restaurant at 8.30pm with the night marking his pastoral years in which he served the Dominican churches in Newry and Tralee.

Fr John was the youngest ever prior in Newry and the only one who served for three terms. He later served in Holy Cross, Tralee from 1991 until his death a year ago.

A team of clergy is coming up from Tralee and taking a table at the quiz while representatives from the Newry community will also be present at this rare event.

Fr O’Rourke is still warmly remembered by Newry parishioners for his pastoral attention particularly during the Troubles. In fact he attended the members of the Miami Showband massacre in all its horror and trauma, and remained friendly afterwards with the survivors especially Stephen Travers who made the celebrated statement that “Mr Blundell saved my life, and Fr O’Rourke saved my soul”.

He is the brother of well known former Abbey Grammar teacher Aiden O’Rourke, the creator of the celebrated fundraising quiz which has raised in excess of a million pounds for Newry and Mourne charities over 17 years. His son Vincent and John Paul O’Hare assisted him in setting it up at the very beginning and it grew into a major Newry institution.

This quiz also led to the formation of the world famous Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, providing financial assistance and guidance to families seeking to repatriate the remains of loved ones back to their home land. Kevin, from The Glen, was killed untimely in New York in June 2013 and the quiz which was held to raise funds in order to bring him home generated an unprecedented £45,000.

The remainder was utilised by his parents Colin and Eithne Bell to create the unique Trust which, 12 years later, is still relentlessly busy.

Fr O’Rourke is also very much remembered for the 10am Sunday folk mass held in his time in Newry, totally packing the church and containing many singers who are now very well known, such as Kiaran Goss, Cormac and the late Allison Goss, Paul Murphy from The Four of Us, Declan McAllister, Fr Colm Wright, Gary Price, Brenda Rankin, Paul Fitzsimmons, Paul Murphy and Declan Murphy.

During the coming quiz night there will be a special auction for two Man Utd tickets and wo Liverpool tickets, the latter for executive and hospitality tickets for either an FA Cup game, a league game or a champions league game.

The main organisers, Richie Kehoe, Ryan Dineen and Michael McKeown are confident that Thursday’s event will prove to be a nostalgic occasion, recalling the warmth and respect the Dominicans such as Fr John O’Rourke retain in the affections of the local people and his equally outstanding 30 years pastoral ministry in Tralee.