Death of Fr. Alec Reid, Redemptorist, Peace-Maker.

The death has occurred today, November 22nd, of Fr. Alec Reid, an Irish Redemptorist, who played a major role over many years in working for peace and reconciliation in the North of Ireland. Fr. Alec was 82 years of age. May he rest in peace.

His role was usually in the back-ground, but in March 1988 he was photographed kneeling beside the body of a british soldier who had just been shot dead. This image went all over the world a day or two later when the photographer reluctantly allowed it to be published. It has become one of the iconic images from that time in Ireland.

The story was told in a special BBC programme in March 2013, 25 years after the events, entitled ’14 Days’.  ”Watching 14 Days on BBC Northern Ireland last night was the most powerful sermon on following Jesus I have experienced in a long, long time”, wrote one person from Fitzroy Presbyterian community. As Rev Ken Newell, the now-retired minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian, says

“I saw in the photograph Alec himself looking straight into the camera, and I just saw a man of compassion, a man of prayer, a man of faith. It’s an astonishing picture because one of the soldiers was lying semi-naked in the shape of a cross, and his body was blood-splattered. And in that I saw an amazing link with the crucifixion of Christ.”

Fr. Alec was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary in 1931. We understand that he played hurling with the Tipperary Minors before leaving home to  join the Redemptorist Congregation in August 1949.  He was professed as a Redemptorist in 1950 here in Esker, Athenry,  and was ordained priest seven years later in Cluain Mhuire, Galway. He ministered for most of his life in Belfast, and for a period in Dundalk. He passed away peacefully in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on November 22nd, 2013.

Funeral arrangements

Remains will be reposing at Marianella Chapel, Orwell Rd, Rathgar, Dublin 6 this Saturday 23rd,  from 2pm to 8pm and Sunday 24th, from 1pm to 8pm.

Monday 25th, Mass in Marianella Chapel at 11am

Following this Mass Fr. Reid will be taken to the Redemptorist Clonard Church, Falls Rd, Belfast BT13 2RL

Fr. Reid’s remains will be reposing at Clonard  Church as follows:

Monday 25th from 4pm to 9pm and Tuesday, 26th from 9am to 9pm.

7:30pm Ecumenical Service of Gratitude for Fr. Reid’s life and ministry

Wednesday, 27th Funeral Mass at 12 Noon in Clonard Church, Belfast.

Special Ecumenical Service of Remembrance for Fr. Alex Reid, C.Ss.R., from Clonard Monastery, at 7.30pm this Tuesday evening.  Funeral Mass at 12 Noon on Wednesday Morning.  It should be possible to participate through Clonard’s Webcam at http://www.clonard.com/webcam.html or at http://churchservices.tv/clonard

Click here to see an RTE programme about Fr. Alec Reid, entitled ‘The Secret Peacemaker’.

Rev. Harold Good (left) and Fr. Alec Reid (Right) after receiving the “René Cassin” Human Rights Award from the Basque government.

Check out BBC for their programme ’14 Days’, shown in March 2013.

Ar  dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.   (May his faithful soul be on the right hand of God!)