Charles (Charlie) Meagher was born in Killarney, Co Kerry on 1st October 1935. He was educated at Presentation Convent, Presentation Brothers, and St Brendan’s College, Killarney.
He came to Dalgan Park in September 1954 and was ordained a priest on 21st December 1960.
Assigned to the Philippines in 1961, his first appointment was to Gingoog City and after a year to St Michael’s Parish, Iligan City, until 1967.
From 1968 to 1972 he served as parish priest of Ozamis City where he pioneered Pre-Marriage and Marriage Enrichment Programmes.
In 1973 he participated in the Richmond Fellowship Course in London, and following this he was assigned for a year to the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) in London.
Part of his task at the CIIR was to explain to different deanery meetings the situations being confronted by missionaries in Third World countries.
At the request of Bishop Casey, he followed this with a year working for Trócaire in Ireland.
Returning to the Philippines in 1976, Charlie was assigned back to St Michael’s Parish, Iligan City, where he served until 1981.
When Mindanao was divided into two Districts, Charlie was elected District Superior of Cagayan de Oro from 1981-1985.
Subsequently he was appointed Vice-Director of the Region (1986-1990) and Director (1990-1994). Central Administration then appointed him Formation Coordinator for the Society (1996-2000).
Due to the precarious health of his sisters and some health problems of his own Charlie asked for an appointment to Ireland where he managed the Society website for some years. He liked to keep up to date with technology, had wide fields of interest and was a keen golfer.
In recent years as his health deteriorated he moved to the Dalgan Nursing Home and died in Our Lady’s Hospital Navan on 12th October 2022.
May he rest in peace.
The Funeral Mass of Fr Charlie Meagher can be seen here:
