Fr Patrick (Paddy) Gleeson

Irish background
Patrick Gleeson in Ballyheigue, Co Kerry, Ireland on May 20, 1916. He was educated at Christian Brothers College in Tralee and undertook his ecclesiastical Studies at St Peter’s College, Wexford. He was ordained priest at St Peter’s College on June 8, 1941. Five years later he was invited to come to Australia and he arrived in Adelaide on December 25, 1946.

Early appointments
His first appointment at the beginning of 1947 was as assistant priest at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral where he remained for 18 months. In June 1948 he was next appointed assistant priest in the Thebarton parish where he remained for four years.

On February 1, 1952 he was appointed parish priest at Naracoorte, and for the rest of his life, except for nearly two years at Manoora, he was to serve at various parishes in the South East of SA. After two years at Naracoorte he moved to Bordertown where he stayed for two years. On April 1, 1956 he took extended leave to Ireland returning at the end of January 1957. And in May 1957 he moved to Penola where he stayed for 17 years.

Time at Penola
He really loved his time at Penola and became part of the local community. He was a very keen golfer and regularly played in the local competitions. At that time there were seven priests in the South East and a number of them regularly played golf on Mondays, varying the location from Penola to Mt Gambier, to Casterton across the border in Victoria and occasionally at Naracoorte or Millicent. Paddy, as he was better known, had an unusual style – while he played a right hand stroke he had a left hand grip, which looked most awkward to other players.

While at Penola he helped to build up the community at Nangwarry, a forest and milling town, where a new church was built and also a school, staffed by the Sisters of St Joseph. He built a new presbytery at Penola, which was later demolished to make way for the MacKillop Visitors Centre. Paddy was rather firm in his belief that Mary MacKillop would never be canonised because she had been excommunicated. Of course he was proved to be wrong, which would not have pleased him.

In January 1964 Paddy suffered a heart attack and spent several weeks in the Penola hospital. However, he recovered quite well and was able to continue at Penola.

Paddy always retained a strong Irish accent, to the extent that many found him hard to understand until they became familiar with his speech. And he always retained a strong love for Ireland and for his family there. In May 1966 he again took some extended leave to Ireland.

In January 1974 he was appointed parish priest of Manoora, but he stayed for less than two years before he returned to the South East as parish priest of Tailem Bend. He stayed there for 18 months and then again went on four months leave to Ireland. On his return at the end of January 1980 he was appointed parish priest at Kingston, which had been re-opened as a parish. (The parish had been closed since 1975.) While at Kingston he also spent quite a bit of time at a property just north of Penola which had been left to him by a deceased parishioner. In June 1983 he went on leave to Ireland for nearly three months.

On April 15, 1986 he died suddenly while at Kingston. His funeral Mass was celebrated at St Joseph’s Church Penola on April 18 and he was buried at the local Penola cemetery.

May he rest in peace.