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Norman Grady was the second of the sons
of Mary and Timothy Grady to become a priest.
His brother, Fr John Grady, was ordained priest at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, in 1942.
And in the same year, Mary and Timothy offered Norman, their
second son, as a candidate for the priesthood and sent him to the minor seminary at St Columba’s College, Spring-wood, to complete his high school studies under the Marist Brothers and to commence his studies in
philosophy.
The Grady family, with two daughters in the convent and two of their sons in the seminary, felt the full brunt and worry of the war when their third son, Tom, was shot down over Germany.
Tom (he twice parachuted to live to tell the tale), Sheila (Sr Clare) and Eileen are the surviving members of the family.
Norm Grady (pictured), the second youngest of eight children, spent his early life at
Stanmore.
He received his primary schooling at St Michael’s School at Stanmore, then advanced to the Intermediate certificate at Christian Brothers High School at Lewisham. He was one of six students from
that school who began their seminary studies in fourth year at Springwood in 1942.
Fr Norman was himself ordained on July 22, 1950. He spent a great deal of his early priestly life in western Sydney.
Seven of those years were at Blacktown, where he was known as ‘Norman the Builder’. He organised the building of a hall with voluntary labour to accommodate the fast growing school population and for use as a
function centre.
In 1963 he was appointed to St Patrick’s College, Manly, where he was bursar. As his pastoral duties were diminished he had scope to exercise his managerial skills.
He spent eight
years in Manly before he became parish priest of the newly established Collaroy Pla-teau parish, where he set about his work with great zeal.
After nine years there, he opted for Rooty Hill, to which he
moved in 1980. He was changing dioceses, but he would be near his great role model, his older brother John, who was parish priest of Penrith.
Wherever he went as pastor he tried to build or refurbish.
He built a new church at Rooty Hill.
Fr Norm’s concern was always for his people.
He hit the headlines when he led the fight at Rooty Hill against plans for a big mill to be established by BHP. He saw
the ravages such a construction could cause in the streets.
He moved closer to the city in 1991 when he moved back into the Archdiocese of Sydney as parish priest of Lidcombe.
Once again he took up a
challenge and walked with the nurses and members of the local citizenry in their unsuccessful campaign to retain Lidcombe Hospital.
He extended the school, refurbished the church and supervised the building
of the Lidcombe Catholic Centre.
Fr Norm always had a great interest in sport, having represented his school at both cricket and football, and a prodigious memory for statistics. He could quote results and
scores from years gone by.
He enjoyed lively debate; sometimes bettered, but never really beaten.
Norm Grady’s great ideal was the priesthood of Jesus Christ; his priestly duties and his celebration of
Mass always came first in his life. He celebrated his Golden Jubilee of priesthood in July 2000. It was the highlight of his life.
People from his former parishes, from Collaroy Plateau to Rooty Hill and
Lidcombe, rallied around to celebrate with him.
Fr Norman died on March 13, but he had lived to celebrate not just his own Golden Jubilee but those of his classmates from 1950.
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