Shot priest back to South Africa

By Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC Radio Ulster

Father Kieran Creagh is to return to South Africa

A Belfast priest who survived a gun attack while working in South Africa says he is ready to go back and forgive the men who shot him.

Father Kieran Creagh, who is from the Crumlin Road, has since been recovering at home with his family.

On Thursday he is due to return to the hospice he helped build in Pretoria and continue - for at least a while - his work with Aids victims.

He said that he will meet three of the men who shot him, who are now in jail.

While he admits his faith was shaken by the attack he believes God didn't abandon him, as he let him live.

On a clear, bright and frosty morning, Father Creagh and I travelled up the Hightown Road in the north of the city and prepared to climb Cave Hill.

I was slightly nervous about the trip.

It was the first time I had met Fr Creagh and coupled with not being the fittest - in more ways than one - it was going to be a difficult mountain to climb. But how wrong I was.

Within minutes of meeting him, I was told to "drop the father bit - Kieran would do just fine".

'Shaken faith'

And from the moment we left the car park the conversation jogged along nicely as we chatted about his life as a priest, working with Aids victims and how his faith was shaken after gunmen almost took his life.

Sitting on a park bench overlooking Belfast Lough, Fr Creagh described how this spot was a favourite place for him to come to pray, to find peace with God and to be at one with nature.

And for the past six months he has had plenty of time on his hands to do all three.

In February this year, the Belfast-born priest returned home to his parents to recover after being shot three times by robbers.

He had been locking up the hospice he helped build and run near Pretoria when up to nine gunmen forced their way in and shot him three times.

Surgeons said it was a miracle he had survived.

They stole money, televisions and his mobile phone. But, perhaps most seriously, he says, the incident shook his faith.

"Of course it did. I did feel let down by God - but then I often remembered the footprints poem - and during those times when I felt particularly depressed and could only see one set of footprints - I knew then God was carrying me."

Urging me to walk a little further towards Napoleon's Nose, Kieran, who has one of those faces that always seems to be smiling, chatted about his imminent return to the country.

On Thursday, he is due to travel back with his brother Liam.

"The ticket is open-ended - who knows I may even return with Liam in nine days time," he said.

"But I miss my friends and my work at the hospice.

"I want to see the project finished and perhaps say goodbye properly.

"With technology I can follow the progress in the hospice from afar - even from Ireland."

When he returns to South Africa, Father Creagh plans to meet the men who shot him.

I want to ask them why they did it and why they were so brutal to me

Three of them are now in prison, but, he says, he forgives them and wants to ask them face to face why they attacked him.

"I don't have anything against them, I just wish they hadn't shot me.

"I want to ask them why they did it and why they were so brutal to me.

"I can understand the crime in South Africa - there is terrible poverty there.

Panic attacks

"There are people who have absolutely nothing and then there are those just kilometres away who have houses worth £7m."

So has he been able to erase the incident from his mind?

"I do still have panic attacks - in fact the other day I was passing by St Patrick's chapel in town and I popped in to say my prayers.

"I usually have a lot of people to pray for - but this time I prayed just for me.

"I said please God help me - I need your help".

As we made our way down the side of the Cave Hill I asked him if he was ready to come back to live in this country.

The answer was a resounding yes.

"There is a lot of work to be done here," he said.

"People need to shake up their faith - we need to liven it up more in the churches.

"I am from the Passionist Order and we believe people should express their faith, we are lively in the pubs - but not so much in church.

"I would love to work back in Ireland - the country is beautiful and the people are great."

As we passed the park bench where we'd first sat at the start of our trip, Kieran smiled over at it broadly.

Perhaps he was thinking that in the not so distant future, he might be a regular visitor sitting there admiring the view.