One of Australia’s champions of disadvantaged young people is being remembered as a person of compassion who always believed those who were struggling could turn their lives around.
The much loved founder of the Christian ministry Youth Off The Streets, Father Chris Riley AM, has passed away at his home at the age of 70, following a long period of ill health.
He established the charity in 1991 with a single food van providing meals to young people experiencing homelessness in Sydney’s inner city.
He served as the organisation’s CEO for almost three decades before moving onto the Board as Founder and Executive Director in 2020.
He stepped down from this role in 2022 due to illness.
“HE INSPIRED AND CHANGES THOUSANDS OF LIVES”
The organisation wrote: “From modest beginnings, Youth Off The Streets has grown to a staff of over 220 dedicated experts providing wraparound support services and education pathways to children and young people aged 12–24 in New South Wales and Queensland.”
Anne Fitzgerald, Chairperson of Youth Off The Streets’ Board, said: “The Youth Off The Streets family mourns the loss of our founder.”
“He was a tireless advocate for homeless and disadvantaged youth, and he inspired and changed thousands of young lives.”
“Father Riley will be remembered for his compassion, tenacity and unwavering belief that every young person deserves the chance to reach their full potential.”
PM: “FATHER RILEY HAD A HEART AS BIG AS THE COUNTRY HE SERVED”
Youth Off The Streets CEO, Judy Barraclough, said: “Father Riley’s dedication to supporting and empowering young Australians in need has left a powerful legacy.”
“His vision, drive and determination will continue to inspire our organisation as we strive to provide growing numbers of disadvantaged children and young people with safety, support and education for a better future.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described him as having “a heart as big as the country he served”.
“He gave hope to young people doing it tough and never gave up on anyone.”
“He was a good friend and his legacy will live on in the lives he changed.”
“THERE IS NO CHILD BORN BAD, ONLY CIRCUMSTANCES TO OVERCOME”
Education Minister Jason Clare said Father Riley had “saved and changed the lives of thousands and thousands of young Australians” and the news of his death was “devastating”.
“It was an honour to call him my friend.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns responded to news of his passing with “profound sadness”, noting his “visionary” work had “changed the lives of tens of thousands of young people across New South Wales”.
“He turned a single food van in Kings Cross into a lifesaving network of crisis accommodation, counselling and other wraparound support services,” Mr. Minns reflected.
“Father Riley believed there is no child born bad, only circumstances to overcome, and he spent over three decades proving that with compassion and opportunity, young lives can be transformed.”
EARLY DECISION TO BECOME A PRIEST TO HELP HOMELESS YOUTH
He decided at the age of 14 that he wanted to work with homeless young people.
After graduating as a teacher and taking his vows, Father Riley worked for two years with the Boys’ Town charity in Sydney, then studied for a theology degree at the Melbourne College of Divinity.
Father Riley told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2012 that the four years of full-time study did not suit him.
“I found it really difficult to live in a non-working religious community, so I started to experiment,” he said.
After working with the St Vincent de Paul’s youth crisis refuge in Sydney’s inner west, he went on to establish Youth Off The Streets and set up a youth residential program in 1994.
He opened multiple schools for teenagers disengaged from mainstream education across Sydney, the Illawarra and the Central Coast.
FATHER RILEY HELPED BOXING DAY TSUNAMI ORPHANS
His biographer Sue Williams recalls in a Sydney Morning Herald tribute that in 2004 Father RIley saw the horrors of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster and travelled to Indonesia’s hardline Muslim region of Banda Aceh to offer to help, but was driven away by a hostile reception.
He was never one to give up on a project, so he asked Sydney Muslims to formally introduce him and went back.
Sue Williams went with him:
“I looked on in awe as he set up a tented orphanage for the children, staffed by the young homeless Australians in his programs, watched over every night by him, smoking the odd (hidden) cigar.”
Later, that orphanage became one of solid brick and featured in Sue’s book World Beyond Tears.
TRIBUTE FROM REVEREND BILL CREWS
Reverend Bill Crews, a long-time friend who has also worked extensively with disadvantaged youth in Sydney, said Chris Riley’s passing was “terribly sad”, but he left an enormous legacy.
“There’ll be children and grandchildren who would have never been on this earth, but for Father Chris Riley interfering in the lives of their fathers or their grandfathers,” Reverend Crews stated.
“What greater gift can you give to the world than that?”
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