Father Kevin P. O’Reilly, a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for 41 years who retired earlier this year, died June 5 at his home in Viera, Florida. He was 66.
His final assignment before retirement was as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish and Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Barnesville, Maryland, where he served for 17 years.
Liz Smith, the volunteer director of religious education at St. Mary’s, said Father O’Reilly was an “outstanding pastor” who helped the parish thrive.
“He worked hard for the parish. He worked hard for the people. And the testament is that our church is full. There are many young families packing the church,” she said.
Father O’Reilly loved the rural parish, where he raised chickens, handed out free eggs, planted flowers and kept fresh altar arrangements, Smith said. He also personally baked more than 120 cakes for the parish’s July chicken dinner and about 70 more for the November dinner each year. She said he was a good cook and host who enjoyed “putting a pot of coffee on” for weekly Bible studies.
Smith added that Father O’Reilly “really loved the children.” He started St. Mary’s youth group and encouraged youth volunteers at Sunday Masses, and “never said no” to parishioner-led ideas and programs, she said.
“He met kids where they were,” she said, recalling how an altar server called him from a baseball tournament once to ask, “Who is the patron saint of baseball?”
Susan Jamison, a St. Mary’s parishioner and co-director of St. Mary’s Brides for Haiti – a parish project that sells wedding gowns to raise funds for its twin parish, St. Joseph’s in Carcasse, Haiti – said Father O’Reilly “stands out for his great love of children as well as people young and old with Down syndrome. He made it a point to greet them and lovingly accept their embraces at Sunday Masses.”
Becky Chmelik, a St. Mary’s parishioner, said Father O’Reilly’s “gentleness and spiritual direction guided us in parenting our 11 children through the ups and downs of life. We will miss him terribly.”
Jack Reid, St. Mary’s Haiti twinning and projects coordinator who traveled to Haiti with Father O’Reilly on a mission trip, said Father O’Reilly “wholeheartedly” supported the parish twinning project that raises funds for St. Joseph’s.
Reid added that Father Verdieu Joassaint, pastor of St. Joseph’s, and the “entire Carcasse community” mourn the loss of Father O’Reilly, whom he considered a close friend.
Brenda Murtha, who ran St. Mary’s vacation Bible school for many years, said, “Father Kevin came to St. Mary’s as our priest and left this world as my friend.”
Born April 25, 1959, in Evanston, Illinois, Father O’Reilly was raised by devout Catholic parents, and his grandparents helped build the German Catholic church in the town where he was born. He attended St. Jude School in Rockville, Maryland, and Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, Maryland. For seminary, Father Kevin attended St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton, Pennsylvania, and Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, New York. He was ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington on Dec. 14, 1984, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C.
In a 2009 interview with the Catholic Standard, when Father O’Reilly was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his ordination, he said, “I was naturally drawn [to the priesthood], and I have been rewarded ever since.”
Father O’Reilly served as parochial vicar at St. Peter’s Parish in Waldorf, Maryland, from 1984 to 1990, and at St. Mary of the Mills in Laurel, Maryland, from 1990 to 1999. In 1999, he became pastor of Holy Face Parish in Great Mills, Maryland, serving there until 2004. From 2004 to 2005, he served as parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Parish in Rockville, Maryland. He was pastor of St. Bernardine of Siena Parish in Suitland, Maryland from 2005 to 2008. Father O’Reilly then served as the pastor of St. Mary’s Parish and Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Barnesville from 2008 until his retirement in 2025.
A Vigil for Father O’Reilly will be held Thursday, June 19, at St. Mary’s Church in Barnesville from 3 to 7 p.m., with a Vigil Mass at 7 p.m. On Friday, June 20, Father Joseph Elston, a seminary friend of Father O’Reilly, will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary’s at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Barnesville.
