After ordination in 1946, I was given a position on the Spiritan team whose purpose was to recruit vocations for the priesthood in Ireland. We did this by visiting boys Secondary Schools to talk about our missions overseas and to invite young men to consider the missionary vocation. We kept in touch with everyone who expressed interest, gathering them together for retreats, bringing them to Spiritan communities to meet retired missionaries. I loved this work very much and many of the Spiritans I now live with were recruited by me in the classrooms I visited. When I heard that a team was being put together to establish the Spiritans in English Canada, I was very interested. The first function of this group would be to spread awareness of the Spiritans across the country and to foster missionary vocations. When I was selected to be a member of this founding group, I was delighted.
We arrived in Canada in 1954 and set up our base camp in Woodstock, Ontario. In my first twenty years, I travelled Canada from East to West. I discovered how glorious was the country which had become my new home. I gave talks, retreats and workshops in High Schools, Colleges and Universities, in monasteries and convents and parishes. I never turned down an opportunity to spread awareness of the Spiritans in this new found land.
In the early years I felt very fulfilled. The Spiritan group was growing as more priests were sent from Ireland. The civil war in Nigeria brought an influx of displaced missionaries. Vocations were coming in numbers from the graduates of Neil McNeil High School. A seminary was set up. My work appeared very necessary and successful.
Then the great sea-change took place. The new philosophy and life-style of the sixties was embraced by the young. And the turmoil caused by the Second Vatican Council affected the laity and the clergy in the Catholic Church. As I saw the stream of vocations dry up and as I saw our seminary closed, I began to question the purpose of my work. This was the beginning of ten most difficult years for me.
During these years I was based in the Mount Cenacle Retreat Centre in Hamilton. My retreats were given mostly to older Catholics as the younger Church members seemed to turn away from mission, retreats, communion breakfasts, sodalities etc. which were the bread and butter of my ministry. The support of the Sisters in Mount Cenacle and of the pious, if aging, people who continued to do an annual retreat, sustained me through this era of my life.
In 1978 I accepted the post as pastor of St. Joseph's in Port Elgin, Ontario. I knew that in the post - Vatican II era it would be futile to operate a parish in the way it was done formerly. I realised that if we lost the young, we lost the future. But I also recognised how committed Canadian parents were to their children and how they were present at every function in which the children were involved. The plan I would operate on would be to have the young participate in all aspects of the parish and the adults would follow along.
All the roles that adults normally play in parish life except that of Eucharistic minister, I gave to the young. I set up a total of seven ministries, each ascribed to a certain age group. Each ministry had a uniform and the ministers were highly trained. From the "Alms Angels", aged 2½ to 4, who brought up baskets containing the contents of the Poor Box and the flowers to decorate the altar and the shrines in the Church, to the school seniors (16 to 19 years old) who ushered, virtually every young Catholic in St. Joseph's was involved in the Sunday ministry. The readings were done by young people, the choirs were composed of young people, the elderly were in the care of young people, the Mass servers were young people, the collections were taken and counted by young people. And the parents were always there while their sons and daughters "performed". The words of Isaiah were coming true, "And a little child will lead them."
This model of parish ministry attracted quite a bit of attention and St. Joseph's received visitors from many parish groups, some as far away as Florida, who wished to examine the model. Articles about the parish appeared in quite a few religious newspaper and magazines.
Needless to say it was with great regret that health and age factors caused me to retire at the age of 82. I now live in Laval House with many other retirees. I am happy and fulfilled and see my ministry now as looking after my Spiritan brothers who are dependent because of age and infirmity. I am particularly close to Garry McCarthy, the other surviving member of the Founding Fathers and John Sheehy, who worked with me in Port Elgin and who is in Providence Centre, a nursing home close to where I live.
And I thank God for all the gifts and graces he has given to me, for my fellow Spiritans, for my friends and for giving me fifty years in a wonderful country, Canada.
From Spiritan Missionary News
Vol. 28, No. 2
May 2004
Welcome
to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a
Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members,
founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be
found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated
ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the
Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your
visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your
prayers. May God bless you.
