[img]1732|exact|Father Richard Gleason||no_popup[/img]
Father Richard Gleason, whose funeral will be Thursday morning at 11 at St. Augustine Catholic Church, occupied a special section of Mehaul O’Leary’s heart, and for that reason the City Councilman will be among speakers at the service.
“I met him when I first became a parishioner,” Mr. O’Leary said this afternoon.
Their bonding inevitably was bound to go deeper because they had so much in common.
“When I was planning on getting married (seven years ago), Father Richard became the go-to guy at the church,” the Councilman said.
“Susan and I had to be interviewed by Father Richard, and we got to know him pretty well.”
The O’Learys-to-be couldn’t just waltz into the rectory, enjoy a succinct hand-shaking sit-down and then detour across the parking lot to the sanctuary for a wedding.
“There is a long process to getting married in the Catholic Church,” Mr. O’Leary said. “You have to go through classes, and other requirements that I don’t remember the terminology.
“The church needs to know if you are compatible, and so they do faith-related marriage counseling. Father Richard did not lead the classes, but he was the man who was going to sign off on everything.”
The relationship between the emerging politician/pub owner and the priest blossomed over the ensuing years.
Besides their common faith, Father Richard, who was 71 years old when he died, unexpectedly, a week ago today, and Mr. O’Leary shared overpowering magnets that drew them together:
Both men had emigrated from Ireland, and they were fierce sports fans.
“Besides that, we had a mutual love for Notre Dame,” said Mr. O’Leary. Our Irish connection was very strong. “And we talked a lot about our literary greats (Joyce, Shaw, Beckett) since Father Richard was an avid reader.”
About 20 years separated the two Irishmen in age, and so personal comparisons were unavoidable.
“I like to think that we were friends,” said Mr. O’Leary.
“He was more of a father figure. He would always make sure I was going in the right direction – the father-away-from-home type.”
