Br. Gerald Fogarty made a great contribution to Lasallian Family
The Funeral Mass of Br. Gerald Fogarty took place in St Helens on Tuesday May 7th. Br. Gerald, whose religious name was Gregory Illtyd, was born in Glasgow in 1947, had a variety of roles in the District and most recently was Director of the Oxford Community before moving to the St Helens Community in 2023.
At the service, Br. John Deeney delivered the following eulogy.
Paddington Bear turned up at the London station wearing a tied-on luggage label saying ‘Look after this bear’. If we were to imagine Gerald in that suitable setting, we could expect a few labels – ‘From Glasgow by train’. ‘Cricket coach’. ‘Community MasterChef’, ‘Eats cheese’, to read just a few of these.
Gerald, like Paddington Bear, also had, later on in life certainly, a distinctive visual presence that wouldn’t have been out of place trudging along a platform, – short, a bit stooped, a flapping jacket, backpack draped from one shoulder and a steady, rather plodding gait. At other times, in social mode, parked in an armchair, he would readily contribute to conversations and show his enjoyment of exchanges with chuckles or chortles, again very typical of him and a way in which many of us will remember him.
While born in Scotland, his native accent was in adulthood not easily discernible and the local vocabulary was also largely left behind, though dreech, canny, wee and dram would be used when appropriate. He was born on the western side of Glasgow in the Partick area and his father, if I recall correctly, was linked with the docks, which in the 1940s and 50s were big employers.
They had family in Ireland and he travelled there when young. He went to a local Catholic primary school and had a grandmother living nearby who often cropped up in his reminiscences. His father died when Gerald was relatively young. His mother died while he was still a student Brother and he had a brother who predeceased him.
At some stage the family moved out to a developing area in the east of the city. By 1963 he had been in contact with the Director of Vocations for the Brothers and in that September he travelled down to Kintbury to join the Junior Novitiate. Quite a change to move from urban Scotland to the wide green fields of Berkshire, from the quick-fire speech of Glasgow to the polite and precise elocution of southern England. Aidan Kilty was in his year and remembers him thus:
In St Cassian’s, as the only “foreigner” in a group that was quite close-knit and clearly established, Gerald, as the only Junior from a non-Lasallian school, had the resilience and self-confidence to integrate himself relatively easily into Juniorate life once the “natives” learned to decipher his accent which was a foreign language to most of them! He was a good student and liked sport, particularly cricket, for which he maintained a life-long interest. His skill was in spin rather than speed and he was a fine slow, right arm bowler. Cricket, its strategy and MCC selection policies etc. was one of a number of topics on which Gerald maintained quite pronounced opinions throughout his life!
The year of training in prayer and academic matters was obviously congenial to him as he chose to join the novitiate a year later. In 1965, as the formation programme of the two districts merged, he transferred to Dogmersfield to continue his studies. It was there that a formative event opened a path in his life. It wasn’t a great revelation, I’m afraid, just a critical ding-dong with George, the chef, who was serving food sprinkled with cigarette ash, and maybe lumpy porridge as well. The chef resigned on the spot and David Mary, the Director, told Gerald that he would have to run the kitchen instead. So he began to organise the meals and draft work schedules for the other scholastics, learning some of the less subtle arts of preparing large quantities of basic foods along the way. That provided him with skills and with a lifelong interest in cooking which benefitted all his subsequent communities and many people who attended meetings or celebrations with the Brothers. (Hear,hear!) Emma from Kintbury has this to say: Gerald's culinary skills were very much appreciated by whichever team was visiting - his sticky sausages and chicken drumsticks were often the talk of the journey home!
Gerald became something of an artist in the kitchen. He had an extensive collection of cook books and recipes and these provided him with some of his recreational reading. He was ambitious in the dishes he tackled and took great care in their preparation. His dedication was obvious, in that he created very tasty deserts that he did not eat, cheese being his favourite end to a meal.
Br. Aidan has more to say about his early years as a Brother:
As a student teacher at Hopwood, he developed his great interest in Scripture and theology which he was to later deepen with further studies at Heythrop. During this Scholasticate period, he was a hard-working student and a friendly and jovial member of the Student Brother communities. During the holiday periods, he was assigned to the Gartmore community in the Trossachs. He enjoyed the work with the young people there and the fraternal support of a very welcoming community led initially by his former Novice Master, Amedy Hayes, and later by Alphonsus Mitchell.
It was there, too, thanks to the invitation and support of Br Livinus that he was occasionally able to go and watch his beloved Celtic play at Parkhead, usually through the “free” clergy entrance. He would occasionally share his experience of being one among the 140,000 spectators present at Hampden Park for a European Cup game against Leeds United. And to show his ecumenical spirit, he once stood in the Rangers’ end of Ibrox Park (with Aidan) to watch a Rangers v Celtic game; Celtic won 3-1 and it took great self-control and prudence for him not to celebrate appropriately when Celtic scored, otherwise his life as a football supporter could have been adversely affected. .
He taught early on in Blackheath and Hartlebury but the majority of his school teaching years were spent at St Aloysius, Highgate, from 1973 to 1987. The centenary booklet had this to say in 1979: “Cricket was recently resurrected by Bro Gerald, and a great deal of success has been achieved. The Junior teams have won the Islington leagues and several senior boys have represented (and captained) London and South East Counties.” He confided to Br Sean quite recently that he was very proud of what he had achieved in cricket in those years. He coached teams in school and outside and umpired very competitive matches. He also enjoyed the research which any good coach has to undertake – trips to Lords, the Oval and many other regional grounds. John Southworth was a frequent companion on these days out. They both met and chatted with many well-known people while taking a break in the bar from the heat of the day or the slowness of the match.
In 1988 he was transferred to a position in formation. Br Aidan writes:
My direct contact with Gerald in Lasallian ministry was in Dublin when we both worked in the Novitiate in Kilmacud. He was an excellent loyal companion and a great support in our work with the Novices both in delivering scripture and theological content to them or accompanying them to the regular intercongregational formation programmes. It was on the strength of that experience that he accepted the invitation to present a scriptural programme to the Postulants of the District of Sri Lanka, in Mutwal, in 1989, a formation and cultural experience which he greatly enjoyed even if the heat was a real challenge for him and he never really took to curry.
In the 1990s his work was varied; Director of Postulants, Director at Half Moon Lane, teacher of religion in Pendleton College, teacher in Eccles with the Elanico community. In the new century he was again in Half Moon Lane, then Southsea before moving to Oxford as Director in 2014. In these later years he maintained his previous interests and added a taste for Saturday outings where he scanned train and bus timetables to plan journeys to interesting places such as heritage railways, steamboats, dockyards, and even cathedral cities.
Not all his journeys went to plan and when a very rural bus connection failed to turn up, he was left at a desolate crossroads surrounded by fields and desperately trying to hitch hike home before dark. On another occasion he was investigating the steam trains parked in the sidings at Chinnor, only to find that the gates had been locked, the train was departing without him along with the key to the gates and there was no one on hand to let him out. Eventually he managed to attract attention and a few rules were broken to set him free. His cheery smile then got him a cup of tea and a lift by car to the terminus at the other end of the line.
Gerald’s physical deterioration coincided with the Covid years but the eventual move to St Helens in 2022 initially had a very positive impact on his then health. The nearly two years Gerald spent at St John’s House, were quieter and far less eventful than previous times. He was, for the most part, confined to the house, apart from excursions for medical appointments. Unable to recover, his health he gradually declined to a point where possible medical interventions could not be implemented.
His last weeks in the community, under the ever-watchful care and devotion of the Manager, Maureen, and the staff, were peaceful to the end. We could add, finally, a couple more valuable labels that would apply to most of his life: ‘Religious Educator’, ‘Guaranteed, Genuine Brother’. We will miss out now on receiving his tuneful e-cards - but our interactive prayers can continue and he will remain vivid in our memories.
Br John Deeney, 2024 April
