My uncle, Stephen Rooney, who has died in a boating accident aged 66, was a committed priest whose upbringing during the years of conflict in Belfast heightened his strong sense of social justice.

Stephen was born and raised in Short Strand, a small Catholic enclave in east Belfast, one of 15 children of John Rooney, a checker for Richardson’s Fertilisers in Belfast’s harbour estate, and his wife, Catherine (nee Higgins).

When he was 16, he witnessed the Battle of St Matthew’s, in June 1970, when loyalist gunmen attacked the Short Strand enclave. His family and community saw much violence and heartache during the years of conflict. One of his brothers was interned and three imprisoned, at Long Kesh and in the H-Blocks and at Portlaoise, for IRA activities.

After secondary school at St Augustine’s, Donamon Castle, County Roscommon, Stephen entered the house of the Passionist Order at Tobar Mhuire (Mary’s Well) Crossgar, County Down. Subsequently, he joined the Redemptorist Order, whose monks live and work in the community, first in Clonard, Belfast, and afterwards in Esker, Galway. He worked in the St Vincent De Paul charity shop in Galway, and was active in a programme to help young Traveller children at a time when there was much anti-Traveller sentiment in the city.

Stephen took his vows in St Joseph’s Dundalk, in 1975. In 1978, he took an unexpected detour when he decided to enter the Cistercian monastery at Bolton Abbey, County Kildare where, with his characteristic enthusiasm, he undertook the life of communal prayer, physical labour and solitary contemplation. It surprised his family, since Stephen was a sociable and gregarious individual.

Stephen took his final vows while a member of the Cistercian community in June 1985. A local paper ran a story on him with the headline “The Monk Who Used to Stone the Brits!”

In 1986, though, Stephen gave up the ascetic life and went off to Detroit to become a community priest. He stayed there for the next 34 years, working in a number of parishes, latterly at St Joseph’s in Trenton.

Stephen’s approach to his work was rooted in compassion. He connected with people and established deep-seated friendships everywhere he went. Stephen had a razor-sharp wit and a wicked sense of humour. He loved life, was an avid reader and a skilled debater, and a lover of art-house film, music and religious architecture.

Stephen died when a speedboat he was in with friends capsized on the Detroit River.

He is survived by 12 brothers and sisters, Jim, Betty, Marie, Eddie, Gerald, Dolores, Patrick, Aodh, Pilib, Brendan, Bernadette and Paula; and 47 nieces and nephews. Two of his brothers, John and Billy, died in infancy.