June 2: Atlanta's Irish Hero

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is June 2nd, and our story is Atlanta's Irish Hero. Father Thomas O'Reilly came to Atlanta, Georgia from Ireland in 1857. War came four years later. In the American Civil War's first years, Father O'Reilly prayed for peace and comforted the grieving parishioners of Immaculate Conception Church, Atlanta's first, and at the time, only, Catholic parish. Then, when the fighting moved closer, he went to the battlefields to tend to the bodies and souls of the wounded.

Soon known to officers on both sides of the conflict, O'Reilly moved freely across the lines, administering the sacraments to Union and Confederate soldiers alike. For that reason, in 1864, when Union General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered all noncombatants out of Atlanta, he asked O'Reilly to stay. The priest was too important to both Army soldiers for Sherman to allow him to leave. Sherman, however, hadn't accounted for O'Reilly's reaction to the Northern Army's plans to burn Atlanta. When the priest discovered what Sherman had in store for his city, he went to one of the Union commanders he'd befriended, General Henry Slocum, and demanded that Sherman spare the city's churches, as well as the courthouse and the city hall.

O'Reilly also threatened to excommunicate any soldiers who participated in the burning of his church. Slocum conveyed the message to Sherman, along with his belief that the general would see mass defections from his army if he ordered them to go against the priest's will. Sherman conceded. When Atlantic Catholics returned to their burned-out city, their parish, civic buildings, numerous churches, and the surrounding neighborhoods still stood. After the war, Immaculate Conception was intact but badly damaged.

Father O'Reilly lived long enough to begin building a new church in 1869, but not long enough to see the church completed in 1873. Following a major restoration, the church was rededicated on June 2, 1954, as the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. On the lower level of the refurbished church, next to Father O'Reilly's tomb, a small museum was created to honor the priest who helped his adopted city rise again.

O'Reilly's actions remind us that advocacy rooted in moral conviction can preserve what is most valuable, life, dignity, and community, while leaving a lasting legacy that inspires future generations. Today, pray for courage to protect what is sacred in your own community.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, June 3rd, for another story of faith and courage in America.