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June 20, 2024By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
Prayer and care surrounded Bishop Reilly before and after his death Tuesday at Shrewsbury Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
“He was amazing,” said Sister Mary Ann Bartell, who was with him when he died. A Carmelite Sister of the Eucharist, she is responsible for ministry to retired priests of the diocese.
“He was a very strong man,” she continued. “Never complained. Always grateful. For all his strength, he went out like a lamb.”
She told The Catholic Free Press about the bishop’s last day after attending Wednesday morning Mass at Southgate at Shrewsbury. He concelebrated Masses there when well enough, even after moving from Southgate to the nursing center on its campus.
Father David B. Galonek, a Southgate resident who is sacristan for liturgical celebrations there, said he saw Bishop Reilly at Mass June 9.
That day, “I said to him, ‘Bishop, do you remember what you did 28 years ago? … You ordained me,’” (on June 8, 1996), recalled Father Galonek.
“Isn’t that marvelous!” responded Bishop Reilly, in characteristic fashion.
Sister Mary Ann said that on Tuesday she got breakfast for the bishop, who faced various health concerns, and had some breathing problems that morning, but then seemed strong.
Later “I said to him that he seemed to be struggling more,” she said.
“Do you think God’s going to call you home?” she asked him. “Guess who you’ll see second [after meeting the Lord]?”
“He said, ‘My mother,’” she recalled.
In a 1994 interview with The Catholic Free Press, Bishop Reilly called his mother his “hero.”
He stated, “The hero of my life was my mother because she raised nine kids by herself. My father died when I was small. I think she somehow or other, in the plan of God, she must have merited his graces. ... So I would say that she had the heart and soul of a priest, to pass it on to one of her sons. She really had it and you only realize that as you get older.”
The bishop’s death Tuesday surprised Sister Mary Ann and others.
He was not aware when anointed that afternoon by Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, who had been his secretary years ago, Sister Mary Ann said.
Father Galonek said he called Sister Mary Ann about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, thinking she was home, and discovered she was still with Bishop Reilly.
“He’s starting to fail,” she informed Father Galonek, who offered to come to his room. But, upon learning the bishop had already been anointed, Father Galonek stayed in his own apartment and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet for him instead.
A few minutes later, Sister Mary Ann called and told him the bishop had died, he said.
“He died with dignity” at 8:10 p.m., Sister Mary Ann said. “He had … statues around him,” and pictures of memorable times in his life, a life he called “the life of Reilly.”
Father Galonek said that Wednesday morning he called Rose Talbot, a Southgate resident who leads the rosary there before Mass, and asked that the people offer that morning’s rosary for Bishop Reilly.
Then he celebrated the Mass for Bishop Reilly. The day’s first reading was about Elijah being taken to heaven (2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14). The response for Psalm 31 was, “Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.”
Father Galonek preached about the importance of having a private prayer life and looking forward to heaven because of having union with God on earth.
Msgr. Sullivan included Bishop Reilly in the rosary and Mass at Christ the King Wednesday morning. He used special Scripture readings about the souls of the just being in God’s hands, the Lord being our shepherd and Martha having faith in Jesus after her brother Lazarus died.
In his homily he expressed hope for the resurrection of Bishop Reilly and Frances J. Carrigan, for whom the Mass was offered.
