KIERAN O’MAHONY OSA 

Kieran O’Mahony osa died this morning in the Hospice, at Harold’s Cross, Dublin. Kieran was 75 and a very energetic young man! He was very healthy and his bike took him on many a long trip. There is almost a sense of abandonment in his going. I incline always to say – some resentment that he has gone. He had so much to give and gave so much. He fitted the oft-used phrase: A Renaissance man. He seemed to have all the gifts. He was a Scripture Scholar. He was immersed in History; in Liturgy; in Music; in Archeology. He could also cook rather well! He was an excellent lecturer who spoke with clarify, and with an ability to make connections with life; with politics; with current affairs. He gave a context to everything.

A real Scripture scholar is not someone who knows the Scriptural background but rather one who can remove the layers and let the Word speak. Much of what many of us do is too simplistic. Myth and Metaphor. Parable and prophetic gesture. The world of the past came alive through Kieran. There is was nothing fundamentalist in his approach. He wasn’t ever intimidated by the Bible. He had the languages. He had read ‘everything’ and ‘everyone.’ He made sense of it all and then his applied theology burst forth. He was such a blessing. We (as ministers) are supposedly people who apply theology and let the Word become Flesh. 

He came out here to Finglas on a regular basis. He took us through whatever was our chosen topic. John. Paul. Acts. The Prophets. The psalms. Isaiah. Or the Gospels for that year. Or the Readings for the weekends. Whatever and whichever we wanted. He spoke. We were mesmerized. The Word came alive. He was asked questions. Many of those questions came from people who wouldn’t be overfamiliar with the Bible. He treated every question with respect, and entered into the world of Finglas and of the person. It was very special. On one occasion, I told John Byrne osa (who worked with Kieran out of Orlagh) how good Kieran was here among us. I told him of the ease which everyone felt in listening and learning and asking questions. John replied: “Kieran learned so much from the people of Finglas.” That was a delightful surprise to hear. I had felt sometimes that Kieran was so learned that our rather simple questions might irritate the ‘Professor’! 

The example that whirls around in my head comes from The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith. The lines/comments on the village schoolmaster: “And still their wonder grew, that one small head could carry all he knew.” This was so true. My wonder grew too, that some of us had spent so much time in education, and had emerged (almost unlearned) with rather less ability to make FAITH take root in the everyday and the ordinary. Kieran could and did.  

Kieran too was very searching and restless in his questions on how Liturgy could be and might be celebrated. He was a critical observer too of what was being given in many a Church! He felt so often that Scripture was misused and misunderstood. He was very strong too on the reasoning in Church thinking in regards to Priesthood. He could find no basis in Scripture for not ordaining women as Deacons and Priests.  

We so much needed Kieran to stay with us. But our ways are not God’s ways. He lived well. He died well. He inspired us. He was a great gift among us. He reached out across the world with his Scripture journeys; with his lectures online; with his presence in the Archdiocese of Dublin. In fact, I was always sad when that role ended a few years ago. Kieran had more to do and more to teach all of us. Bless him and Thanks be to God for him. His dying too was an inspiration. His leaving of us challenges us in some little way, to take on the baton in the relay race of faith. May he rest in peace. 

Seamus Ahearne osa

18 August 2026.