49th anniversary of Fr McGrath’s death

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priest, Fr Edward (Ted) McGrath was born in Bungeet West in northeast Victoria on 11 April 1881.

From the age of 16, Fr McGrath worked as a porter and clerk with Victorian Railways. He believed that he had a vocation, so he received Latin lessons from a friendly priest but, due to his lack of schooling or the financial means to support himself through the seminary, this seemed to be an insurmountable barrier.

He read an advertisement placed by the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) welcoming late vocations. Keen to fill the recently opened seminary at Kensington, Provincial Rev. Peter Treand was unperturbed by Ted McGrath’s age and basic education. On 29 October 1901, aged 20, he arrived at the MSC’s seminary at Kensington, NSW. And was ordained on 30 November 1909.

Fr McGrath met Eileen O’Connor through his duties as priest-in-charge of St Brigid’s Parish, Coogee, NSW. He became convinced of her saintliness during his frequent visits to the family home. Both shared a deep devotion to Our Lady and the desire to establish a ministry of compassionate service to the sick poor in their own homes in her honour.

The plight of the sick poor was especially close to Eileen, likewise, Fr McGrath had a deep empathy for those who were experiencing the same difficulties as his own disadvantaged background.

Fr McGrath was ordered to end his involvement with Eileen O’Connor and Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor under threat of expulsion from his order.  In 1915, he successfully appealed his case in the Vatican Congregation for Religious and was reinstated by his society. However, he was effectively prevented from returning to Australia for many years.

He joined the British Army and served as a military chaplain for the duration of the Great War. He had the distinction of being awarded the Military Cross and recommended for the Victoria Cross for repeated acts of gallantry under enemy fire.

After the war, Fr McGrath served as a priest in France, England and the USA for more than 25 years.

Fr McGrath finally returned to Australia in 1941 and continued his fruitful vocation as a MSC priest in Melbourne.  In 1969, he returned to Our Lady’s Home at Coogee, where he spent the remaining years of his life being cared for by the Sisters. He died on 17 May 1977, aged 96 years.