Father Tom Devereux of Sacred Heart Church, with Fr Johnson Susairaj, and Fr Ilango Jesuraj

A NEW priest at a church in Kilburn hopes to continue the community work his predecessor achieved following his sudden death last year.

Last week, an “installation mass” was held for Fr Tom Devereux at Sacred Heart Church appointing him parish priest of the Roman Catholic church in Quex Road.

Fr Tom said the sudden death of Fr Terry Murray, to whom he was first assistant at the church for five years, in December was “very sad”.

He added: “Today would actually have been his 35 years of priesthood anniversary. He was a very dynamic person and he did a lot of things for the community. He was very well known but I certainly can’t try to match that. You build on what other people have done, so that’s what we’re doing, just building on what he already started.”

Some of that community work included Sacred Heart’s food bank and legal aid, which is in high demand.

Fr Tom said two weeks ago 87 people came to their food bank.

“It’s greatly needed, sadly,” he said.

Fr Tom was born in Ireland and moved to ­Kilburn at the age of four. He went to St Mary’s Primary School and St George’s Secondary School, which was then based in Netherwood Street, before going to a boarding school in Wales. After becoming ordained in Kilburn in 1979, his priesthood has taken him all around the world, from Liverpool to San Francisco and Sydney.

He said: “I was chaplain to the Irish community in Sydney. I had a base in Bondi and then I moved around. I was actually known as a backpacker priest because I looked after the Irish backpackers. It was pretty hard to come back to London after being in sunny Down Under. But you get used to it.”

Fr Tom said he’s happy to be back where he grew up, a stone’s throw from his childhood home in Priory Terrace. And he feels passionate about the “very vibrant parish” he’s a part of.

“We’ve got 65 different nationalities attending mass,” Fr Tom said. “We get a lot of Filipinos, and Nigerians are probably the second biggest group. On a Sunday, around 2,000 people attend mass here.”

When he’s not behind the pulpit, Fr Tom enjoys walking up Primrose Hill or getting lost in a book. He’s got two stories on the go at the moment, one about the Roman Empire and another on the Mongol dynasty.

“I do a lot of serious reading too. You have to. Spreading the message of the gospel today and making it relevant,” he said. “I’ve got a funeral for a 105-year-old lady in a few minutes. You have to do your homework.”

Councillor Eddie Hanson said: “It is great that we have a parish priest successor who is already known in Kilburn and local to the community, which will help with swift transition.”