Few Americans have ever had the experience of walking to Sunday Mass with the fear that someone might attack them along the way.

Paul O’Reilly and his wife Margaret are members of Legatus’ Santa Barbara Chapter

But for Paul O’Reilly — a member of Legatus’ Santa Barbara Chapter — this was a common experience growing up in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s. He was raised in Belfast with the constant unease of being a target.

Serious troubles

“The Troubles,” as they were called, began in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland with both Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups committing acts of terrorism until 1998.

For Paul, the second of eight children, these Troubles coincided with troubles that brewed at home.

“My mom and dad were separated after their eighth child was born,” he explained. “We had two uncles, my mom’s brothers, who helped us out after this.”

Kevin O’Reilly, Paul’s cousin and a member of Legatus’ Vancouver Chapter, remembers it well. “After they separated, the kids rarely saw their dad again. He became almost completely disconnected,” he said.

In Belfast, neighborhoods were segregated into Catholic areas and Protestant areas.

“The Catholic neighborhoods were less nice, so my mom finally moved us to a Protestant area,” Paul recalled. “When The Troubles started, things began to get really difficult for us. There was constant intimidation. Rocks were thrown at our house. A bomb was once thrown in through our window. A bomb squad had to be called in before it was determined to be a hoax.”

Paul’s sister Carmel was assaulted when she was nine.

“She was very delicate and pretty,” recalled Kevin. “A band of Protestant kids about her age smashed a bottle and carved up her face with it. She ended up having to have surgery. It tells you something about the ugliness of the culture at the time.”

Another time, Paul’s 16-year-old brother Stephen was abducted. A group of boys grabbed him, put him in a car and started beating him.

“Paul, who was 15 at the time, stopped a police car in the middle of the road. He told them about it. One policeman wanted to help. The other one didn’t,” said Kevin. “Finally, one of the policemen went to find Stephen. Had they not arrived in time, Stephen could have gotten killed.”

The final straw came when Paul’s uncles Tony and Myles — who had been helping out the family financially after the parents’ separation — were murdered.

Further tragedy

Paul O’Reilly and his family formed a logging company, Stella Maris Resources, in British Columbia in the late 1980s

The tragedy sparked Paul’s mother to make a radical change.

“It’s often the case that, during persecution, you hold onto your Catholic faith,” Paul explained. “My mom was very worried about me because I was very resentful about all the things that were going on. She worried about what could happen to us if we stayed.”

In 1977, Paul’s mother moved with her eight children to New Brunswick, Canada, sponsored by her brother. Paul was 15 years old and his youngest sibling was three. They rented a modest house next door to his Uncle Ed, Aunt Dorothy and their four children — including his cousin Kevin.

“They owned a small business — a donut shop — where my mom worked,” said Paul.

Then, only seven months after the O’Reillys landed in Canada, the unthinkable happened. Paul’s mother was killed by a drunk driver while she was walking home from work in the snow.

“I had just turned 16. It was a very difficult time,” Paul recalled. “The next day, we had to tell my younger brothers and sisters that mom had died. When they opened their Christmas presents, we all found my mom’s writing, because she had wrapped all the presents the day before.”

Paul did not turn his back on his Catholic faith during this incredibly difficult time.

“You find that evil and setbacks can either crush you or make you stronger,” he said. “God uses these things as an instrument of grace. I reflected on my mom’s life and her faith, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.”

Paul’s Uncle Ed and Aunt Dorothy adopted him and his seven siblings after his mother’s death

After his mother’s death, Paul’s uncle and aunt did something astonishing: They adopted all eight O’Reilly children. Several relatives had reached out to take in one or two children, but Ed and Dorothy would not hear of separating the siblings.

“Adding eight children to their own family was a heroic decision,” said Paul. “They did everything to help us adjust and provide us with support. We grew up calling them Mom and Dad.”

Kevin remembers that era with fondness.

“My aunt’s death was a shock for everyone, but there was a grace,” he said. “We accepted suddenly having eight more children in our house. We were fond of everyone. I remember going from having my own room to suddenly sleeping with two cousins in my bedroom.”

Everyone in the combined families found themselves propelled into a deeper spiritual life.

“We said the rosary every night, all of us together,” Kevin said. “This was instrumental for our unity. Through this event, we found our faith. It changed everything. The seemingly impossible task of melding two families under one roof was only possible because of the rosary and an abundance of grace.”

Going back

Paul and Kevin O’Reilly in Paul’s old neighborhood this past August

Paul O’Reilly went on to study at Thomas Aquinas College and to discover his love for philosophy. He met and married his wife Margaret, and they had 12 children. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy and has been teaching ever since. He has been working at TAC since 1989 and is now its vice president for development.

Just last August, Paul’s life came full circle when he returned to Northern Ireland for the first time since he was 15. He traveled with his wife Margaret, his cousin (now brother) Kevin, and his wife Lise.

“Going back to Belfast was surreal,” said Paul. “My town used to be surrounded by a 12-foot fence. All of it had been taken down. The neighborhoods were not intimidating. There were no worries that you didn’t belong. It was a relief to see how things had progressed.”

The journey brought a sense of closure that the troubles in Paul’s early life had truly ended.

SABRINA ARENA FERRISI is Legatus magazine’s senior staff writer.

Former British radical meets Paul O’Reilly

Joseph Pearce, a former radical political activist and skinhead in England during the 1970s and ’80s, is now writer-in-residence at Aquinas College in Nashville. The convert to Catholicism spoke to Legatus magazine’s senior staff writer Sabrina Arena Ferrisi.

Joseph Pearce

“At the end of the 1960s, over 60% of Northern Ireland was Protestant and loyal to the UK. They were called Loyalists. The remainder were Catholic, called Nationalists or Republicans.

Catholics were largely discriminated against and civil unrest resulted because of this. Groups began to form which were violent, and they committed acts of terrorism. On the Catholic side, there was the IRA and INLA. On the Protestant side, there was the UDA and UVF. This was tribalism and had nothing to do with religion.

“I’m an Englishman. My dad was anti-Irish and my anger towards Irish Catholics was inflamed when the IRA began bombing activities in London in the 1970s. They bombed the underground railroads [subways] and pubs. I ended up getting involved for seven years with the UDA and UVF, though I never personally killed anyone.

“I met Paul O’Reilly at the Legatus Summit earlier this year. We realized that we had had a parallel journey on opposite sides of the fence. He remembers many of the same things I did. I had two friends killed by the IRA, so I was affected. I have no anger towards any individual. I still think that the IRA was pernicious, but so was the organization I was involved in.”

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