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Reginald Joseph Orsmond was born in Troyeville, Johannesburg on 18th January, 1931, when the world was in the the grip of the Great Depression. These two circumstances of his birth influenced the shape of his life and his dicisions. His father was a carpenter and all his life Father Orsmond empathised with the working people.

He was baptised at Holy Angels Catholic Church in Bez Valley in Johannesburg and spent a year at the Convent School next door to the Parish. He later attended Jeppe Boys High School where he distinguished himself as a Catholic. He also did well on the rugby field. His parents' home was always open to his chums, especially to those who had nowhere else to go on a particular day.

Reg heard the first call to the priesthood when he saw the film about Father Flanagan of Boys Town and it was not a surprise when, upon completing school, he asked to be admitted to the new seminary in Pretoria, to study for the Catholic Priesthood. Father Reg Orsmond was ordained on 8th December, 1954.

Father Orsmond's first years as a priest were spent in Moroka and his mentor was a tough German Oblate, Father Paulsen. In due course he was transferred to St James' Mission, in Magaliesburg, where a flourishing school run by the Oakford Dominican Sisters had been closed because of the Group Areas Act. Father Orsmond saw the opportunity and approached Bishop Hugh Boyle about starting a Boys Town. Bishop Boyle considered the idea as foolhardy.

With the support of the Dominican Sisters and some of the neighbours, however, Boys Town came into being with a group of boys from Nazareth House in Yeoville, moving out to St James Mission, Magaliesburg in January, 1958.

Fr Orsmond's extraordinary rapport with the boys - mainly committed to his care by the Courts, his conviction that Father Flanagan's Boys Town recipe could work in Magaliesburg and his ability to touch the hearts and purses of other people with his enthusiasm, led to the establishment of the great institution that we know to-day.

The Vatican Council did not leave him untouched. When the first South African Council of Priests was established to address the growing effects of the revolt against apartheid within the clergy, Fr Reg Orsmond was appointed the first chairman by Archbishop Fitzgerald, president of the SACBC (South African Catholic Bishops Conference) at the time. This was a very sensitive appointment and Fr Orsmond handled the meetings with great skill and was subsequently the elected chairman, for at least one term of office, of the South African Council of Priests.

To Bishop Boyle's successor, Archbishop Joseph Fitzgerald, OMI, Boys Town at the end of the 1970's was a wonderful success story - as indeed it was. It was not surprising that the same archbishop should promote Fr R J Orsmond to the position of Vicar General of the Diocese of Johannesburg in 1980. When Archbishop Fitzgerald was laid low by ill-health, Fr Reg became Bishop R J Orsmond, Auxiliary Bishop on 14th May 1983 and on 23rd September, 1984, by the Grace of God, installed as Bishop of Johannesburg.

Pictures of Bishop Orsmond at that time show a splendid episcopal figure, with a heart and a smile as large as himself. He managed to steer the Diocese through the stormy seas of apartheid laws and the freedom struggle, keeping an eye on Boys Town at the same time. But it was not easy: The Catholic Diocese was not Boys Town and meeting the needs of priests and pastors in the post-Vatican Church required clever footwork. He never ceased being Father Orsmond of Boys Town and never lost his touch with young people on the streets of Johannesburg or around the Cathedral. He was able to treat them with dignity and both he and they felt at ease with one another.

He put his past experience to great use in raising funds for the Church: He established the Catholic Education Fund to up-grade the Diocesan Schools in the Townships to make sure that they would receive the maximum subsidy possible from the State. The fund-raisers had him join them in the "project door-knock" asking the Catholic business people for donations. He afterwards admitted that he found it incredibly embarrassing.

In the early 1990's Bishop Orsmond underwent a multiple heart by-pass operation and that, together with sugar diabetes, slowed him down, despite his great desire to do as much as possible. He succeeded in coping with his physical limitations by learning to delegate responsibilities to his Vicars; and when women were the best choice, he did not hesitate to appoint them. His achievements are remarkable: The Diocesan Schools were by now on a sound footing with subsidies paid by the State. New churches were being built to meet the needs of the influx of people following the 1994 elections; vocations to the priesthood were on the increase; religious communities were welcomed to the Diocese. On a visit to Rome, he persuaded the Pauline Sisters to relieve the Diocese of the ailing Catholic Bookshop. Diocesan structures were put in place with a splendid team of Episcopal Vicars, a Council of Priests, and Regional and a Diocesan Pastoral Councils.

The huge gap between the affluent and the disadvantaged parishes was a great source of scandal for him and eventually, he established the Sharing Fund from a levy on all capital undertakings in the established parishes of the Diocese to provide facilities for the new communities. All this took its toll on his physical and emotional energies and he became very unsteady on his feet. He fell once too often on 17th April 2002, on a Day of Prayer with his priests and he did not recover from its effects. The Great Man died in Kenridge Hospital on the morning of Pentecost Sunday, 19th May, 2002.

Attacks on Bishop Reg.

Recently, Oct '07, I have read stories related to Bishop Reg's alleged misconduct at Boys'Town.  I am appauled.  I met Reg in 1984 when I did a series of renewals in some dioceses of RSA.  I found him to be one of the nicest and congenial persons and men of God I have ever met in my life.  I pray these stories are false and wonder why such scandal could arise, five years after the death of this great apostle.  I pray also that all be settled in the peace and love of Chrsit.  Rev. Malcolm Smith

-- Malcolm Smith on October 08, 2007 08:15 AM (view details)

Boys Town was the best.

I spent five years with Father Orsmond at Boys Town. (1969-1974)
Most of my school holidays I spent with him at Munster.
I refuse to accept these allegations of abuse. Father was the kindest person I have ever met and is surely responsible for saving hundreds of us from a rather sad life. I dont believe it was possible for any abuse to happen and not one person to come forward in all the years that I was there, or to even notice something otu of the ordinary. Let this sick man stand forth and prove his allegations to all of us who new Father best.I wonder just how much money he hopes to get out of this book deal?

-- Armand Taalman on November 14, 2007 09:22 AM (view details)