The burial of Fr Donal O’Mahony, founder of the housing organisation Threshold, will take place in Cork tomorrow.
Fr O’Mahony, a member of the Capuchin Franciscan order founded Threshold in 1978 after the Archbishop of Dublin appointed him chaplain to Dublin’s flat-dwellers.
Chairperson of Threshold Aideen Hayden said “a huge number of flat-dwellers at the time were returned immigrants who had fallen through the cracks of Irish society.”
Ms Hayden said that Fr O’Mahony’s work “touched some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society.” She said “he saw housing as a basic dignity. He understood that people didn’t just need a roof over their heads, they needed a home.”
Fr O’Mahony, who was a native of Blackrock in Cork joined the Capuchin order in 1958. Working in inner city parishes in Dublin sparked his interest in social justice and he founded Threshold in 1978 an organisation with which he continued to work in an advisory capacity throughout his life.
Over the course of his career, he served as a mediator in a number of
high profile international kidnapping cases. He also worked in Northern Ireland during the 1980s, engaging with paramilitaries on both sides to promote dialogue as an alternative to violence.
In later years he spent time in Rome as secretary general for Justice, Peace and Ecology and also worked at Berkeley University in California.
He returned to Holy Trinity Capuchin friary in Cork for a short time before moving to Pretoria in South Africa in 2003 where he taught Capuchin students.
His interest in peace issues led him to found the Damietta Peace Initiative, an organisation that promotes peace and a culture of non-violence throughout the African continent. In 2008, his contribution to peacemaking was marked with a Peace Award from the Interfaith Foundation of South Africa.
Country co-ordinator for the Damietta Initiative, Lance Thomas described how Fr O’Mahony continued to return to Africa while being treated in Ireland for his illness: “he remained passionate about peace in Africa right until his death. He will be greatly missed by everyone here and we hope he now finds the peace which he so much wanted for Africa.”
A representative at the Capuchin Friary in Cork said that Fr O’Mahony loved Africa and had returned there recent weeks. A statement from the order described him as “a true gentleman.” He passed away in Cork on Saturday after what they described as “a characteristically brave fight.”
Requiem mass for Fr O’Mahony will be concelebrated at the Holy Trinity church, Cork at 12 noon tomorrow, with the burial afterwards to the Capuchin cemetery, Rochestown.
