Sussex priest dies aged 82 but his detailed funeral plans are put on hold due to coronavirus restrictions

Father David Rea was ordained in 1961 and retired in September, having been parish priest for East Preston with Angmering for 23 years.

He remained at Our Lady Star of the Sea but handed the bulk of the work over to Deacon Allan Veness.

Fr David died at Worthing Hospital on March 17 and the funeral mass was celebrated by Bishop Richard Moth last Tuesday, at St Mary of the Angels Church in Worthing.

Mr Veness said: “It was a great sadness for our parish that due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions we were unable to be together for Fr David’s funeral. He had planned the farewell service in great detail and we wanted it to be a much-deserved recognition of his long service as the parish priest.

“Later in the year, we hope to celebrate and give thanks for his 23 years in our midst, together with family members from Ireland who were prevented from travelling to the UK during this difficult period.

“In the meantime, suffice to say that Fr David has left a considerable gap in the life of the parish he loved so much. Irish to the core of his being, never lost for words, a ready sense of humour, certainly a man who was never afraid of calling a spade a spade.

“Many will recall his kindness, his thoughtfulness and his willingness to listen to the sad, the distressed and the troubled. He loved his rugby on TV and followed closely the fortunes, or otherwise, of Brighton and Hove Albion.

“We will surely miss the twinkle in his eyes when he came into church, sometimes pausing to have a word with someone he had not seen for some time. As literally his right-hand man at the altar for eight years or so, I will be deprived of those little off-the-cuff remarks suddenly whispered into my ear.

“I never knew what to expect and I will greatly miss these little asides. May he rest in peace.”

Fr David studied for six years at St Patrick’s College, Thurles, in Ireland before being ordained in 1961.

His first parish was St Catherine’s, in Littlehampton, where he remained as assistant priest until 1965. He then went to Our Lady of Ransom in Eastbourne as assistant priest from 1965 to 1975 and was parish priest of St Joseph’s in Brighton from 1975 to 1987 then St Wilfrid’s in Burgess Hill from 1987 to 1996.

Fr David came to East Preston as parish priest in 1996, following a serious heart attack and triple heart bypass.

He became heavily involved in St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School in Angmering, and played a large part in its development over the years.

Donations to Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice c/o Reynolds Funeral Service in Littlehampton.

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