South Africa doctors treating Fr Kieran Creagh, who was shot in South Africa this week, believe the next couple of days will be crucial to his recovery.
Surgeons operated on his chest and abdomen yesterday to remove a bullet that was fired into him in a robbery at Leratong hospice, a centre for terminally ill patients that Fr Creagh helped to establish near Pretoria.
The Belfast-born Passionist priest remained in intensive care last night. His condition was described as critical but stable.
His father Jim and a brother, Paul, arrived in South Africa early yesterday. Other members of the family stayed in Belfast to comfort his mother, Kate.
Paul Creagh said he had briefly spoken to his brother just after yesterday's operation and this gave them some encouragement.
"The doctors reduced the sedation so we could talk to him for about 30 seconds. That gave us some hope and we would like to think it will give him some strength too, to know that we've come out to be with him.
"My mum is very upset about it back at home. Myself and my dad did not know what to expect," he added, noting that "if he improves greatly", the family would like to bring him home.
He stressed, however, it was too early to make any plans. "The operation was done successfully but the doctors could not guarantee an outcome. He is now at a critical stage for the next 48 hours."
Staff at Leratong ("place of love") were fighting back tears yesterday, but said they were anxious to carry out Fr Creagh's instructions to keep the hospice operating as normal.
Leratong board member Helen Williams said the shooting was "a violation of what the hospice is all about". "We tried to set up an oasis of help and tranquillity. It's shocking that this would happen in any situation but, in this particular environment, it's even worse," said Ms Williams, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, who has worked on the project with Fr Creagh since its inception.
Fr Creagh was shot twice after opening the door of his living quarters to whom he thought was a nurse on Wednesday night.
Doctors at Zuid Afrikaans hospital said he was lucky, noting a bullet had passed through his thigh and ricocheted off a bone, before settling in his chest near a lung.
