Rev. Austin M. Fogarty

Reverend Austin Fogarty, a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta for over 30 years, serving in parishes and in ministry to those in prison, died Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Emory University Hospital Midtown. He was 61. A native of Dublin, Ireland, born on May 18, 1952, Reverend Fogarty was the son of the late Christopher and Marie Browne Fogarty. He was ordained a priest on July 11, 1981, in Dublin by Atlanta Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan after study at All Hallows Seminary in Dublin and St. Peter’s in Wexford, Ireland, as well as Assumption-St. John’s Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. He served as the pastor of Christ Our Hope Church in Lithonia and of St. George Church in Newnan, where he ministered from 2002-2012. Since 2012 he has been the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta. Other parishes where Reverend Fogarty served include St. Michael in Gainesville, when he was a deacon, and then as a priest at St. John the Evangelist in Hapeville, St. Jude the Apostle in Atlanta, and St. James in McDonough. While at St. James, in 1997 he also began making weekly visits to prisons, especially the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson. He would celebrate Mass and offer the sacraments, counseling, and a ministry of presence to prisoners in the general population and those on death row. He was deeply committed to this ministry and to drawing other clergy to visit prisoners more regularly. Through his ministry many inmates, including those on death row, received baptism and other sacraments and entered the Catholic Church. He will be sadly missed by his family in Ireland, which includes his brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Ann Fogarty; his twin sister and brother-in-law, Patricia and Barry Pendred; his sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Brian Doherty; his sisters, Karen and Niamh Fogarty; his brother-in-law, Paul Harris; his aunt, Sister Catherine Brown; and his nieces and nephews. Departed relatives include his parents, his sister, Brenda Harris, and Maura Fogarty. Condolences may be sent to Richard Fogarty, 40 Foxfield St. John, Raheny, Dublin 5, Ireland. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 535 Rucker Road, Alpharetta, GA 30004 to benefit its sister parish of St. Martin in Delatte, Haiti. The Vigil Service will be on Wed., Jan. 22 at 7pm at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 535 Rucker Road, Alpharetta, GA 30004. Funeral Mass will be on Thurs., Jan. 23 at 11am, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. Rite of Committal will be at Arlington Cemetery immediately following the Funeral Mass.

Rev. Austin M. Fogarty

May 18, 1952 - January 15, 2014