Fr Peter McVerry, SJ (born 1944) is an Irish Roman Catholic priest, notable for battling homelessness in Ireland."'Pride of Ireland Awards': Homeless campaigner Fr Peter McVerry honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award"
by Jilly Beattie, ''Irish Mirror'', 4 June 2014; accessed 10 June 2014. According to one report, the trust which he founded helped 3,600 homeless people in Dublin in 2013.

Early years

Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

in 1944, McVerry grew up in Newry, County Down. He was educated by the Christian Brothers in

Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School The Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School (Irish: ''Scoil na Mainistreach, Iúr Cinn Trá'' ) is a voluntary day school for boys aged 11 – 18 years in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. History The school was established in 1851 by memb ...

, and later attended

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

. He entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

in 1962. He received a BSc in Chemistry (1968) and a Higher Diploma in Education (1969) from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

in 1968. He studied philosophy and theology in the Jesuit School of Theology in Milltown Park.

Fighting homelessness

After his ordination as a priest in 1975, McVerry lived and worked in Summerhill, North Dublin. During these years he came face to face with the problem of

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

and deprivation. He set up a trust to help struggling young people."Our hero for life"
by Jack Gleeson, dublinpeople.com, 9 June 2014; accessed 10 June 2014, "... rMcVerry was presented with his award by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, at a glittering ceremony shown on TV3...." He first worked in

Ballymun Ballymun () is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was ...

and the North Inner City during the 1970s when he found young homeless people in the streets. In 1983, he founded a charity to tackle

called ''The Arrupe Society'' after Jesuit leader

Pedro Arrupe Pedro Arrupe Gondra, SJ (14 November 1907 – 5 February 1991) was a Spanish Basque priest who served as the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. He has been called a second founder of the Society, as he led the Jesui ...

, but it was subsequently renamed the

Peter McVerry Trust Fr Peter McVerry, Society of Jesus, SJ (born 1944) is an Irish Roman Catholic priest, notable for battling homelessness in Ireland.hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

for young homeless boys aged between twelve and sixteen. He focused on those deemed too difficult to deal with by other agencies. McVerry recently opened a residential drug detox centre in

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

for

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

drug users. McVerry has lived in

since 1980. In 2013, the charity worked with almost 3,600 vulnerable youths. There was controversy in 2014 when a candidate for political office used images of McVerry in campaign leaflets, and McVerry denied that he was endorsing any particular candidate. He appealed to the government to buy more housing for the homeless. He advocated greater spending to help reduce

inequality Inequality may refer to: Economics * Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy * Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups * ...

. In 2014, he stated that the crisis of homelessness was threatening middle-class and working-class families. In 2015,

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

awarded him with an honorary doctorate. In 2015, he was awarded the UCD Alumni Award in Science.

Peter McVerry Trust

The Peter McVerry Trust (known previously as The Arrupe Society) was founded in 1983 as a charity to reduce homelessness in Ireland. The organisation was a continuation of work Fr. McVerry had been doing in Ballymun. The Arrupe Jesuit community in Ballymun involved itself directly with missionary work on the ground in one of Dublin’s poorest districts; working to scaffold community-building among socially disadvantaged people.

References

External links

Father Peter McVerry features on RTE tv in 1990 discussing the inadequacies of facilities for homeless boys in Ballymun
{{DEFAULTSORT:McVerry, Peter Living people 1944 births 20th-century Irish Jesuits 21st-century Irish Jesuits People from Newry Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy Date of birth missing (living people) Faculty of Belvedere College