'Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel'

'Until they pointed it out to me, I didn’t even notice that Christ is speaking in sign language from the cross, saying “I love you.”' (Cardinal Seán's Blog).

Marge Tucker, a member of the Catholic Deaf community in Boston, presenting Cardinal O'Malley with the crucifix pictured at the top

I have been involved to a limited degree in working with the Deaf since 1992, after the death of Columban Father Joseph Coyle - we were not related - who was a pioneer in working with and for the Deaf in the Church in the Philippines. I regularly celebrate Mass in Sign Language. One of the tragedies in the Philippines is that young Deaf people are a very specific target of fundamentalist Christian groups with their roots in the USA. Young Deaf people here are easy targets for the simple reason that the Catholic Church has so far done very little to minister to them. This is not by design. Church leadership is generally on the side of the poor and those on the margins. So many are on the margins in the Philippines because of widespread poverty but the Deaf, most of whom are from poor families, are on the margins of the margins..

Cardinal Seán O'Malley OFMCap, Archbishop of Boston, celebrates Mass with the Deaf thereZenit.org carries this report on the recent Congress on the Deaf held in the Vatican. I've highlighted some parts and added [comments].

A congress on ministry with and for the Deaf was held in the Vatican recently and there are a couple of reports below.



Conclusions of Vatican Congress on the Deaf


"Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 7, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the executive conclusions adopted by the Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Deaf entitled "Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel," which ended Sunday in the Vatican.


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At the end of this Congress on Pastoral Care, entitled "Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Evangelical Proclamation," organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, the instruments were defined for the realization of some priorities in the ambit of the integration of deaf persons in ecclesial life and more generally in society. [Deafness cuts off a person in a way that another disability doesn't. A person born deaf has no common language with his parents or with the community, including the Church community, unless he and they learn Sign Language. In my experience, the only 'native signers' I have come across are the hearing children of Deaf parents. The isolation of a deaf person is added to if his family lives in a relatively remote area and is very much added to by poverty.]

In this second stage of the dicastery's commitment to those affected by deafness, recommendations were received and began to be implemented which arose at the end of the International Conference "Ephphata! The Deaf Person in the Life of the Church," held last November in the Vatican. This result was obtained thanks to the active participation and support of exponents of the pontifical council and of other Vatican offices, of the Italian episcopal conference and of the dioceses of Rome, Bari, Brescia, Foggia, Chieti, Crotone, Padua, Patti, Vicenza, Bologna, Palermo, Sulmona, Aquila, Imperia, Agrigento, Teramo, Assisi, Florence, Foligno, Frosinone, Salerno, Milan, Trani, Modena, Tursi-Lagonegro, Venice, Messina, Perusa, Terni, Rimini and Pordenone. Added to them are the religious personnel, specialists and volunteers. A great contribution was also made by the representatives of the Church in America, Spain, Ireland, and Germany, who came to Rome for the Congress. [No Asian countries mentioned.]

These are, in synthesis, the priorities and instruments delineated during these working days:

1. To offer local and particular churches the instruments to begin to work "for and with" deaf persons, [Deaf people are not persons 'to be helped' but to be enabled, with their full cooperation, to become fully active members of the Church and of society, both giving and receiving] beginning both from specific elements for pastoral programming as well as multimedia subsidies. Among the latter, visual DVDs, which contain the translation in sign language, which will be used as an aid in the course of formation and participation in the life of the ecclesial community. [Hearing people need to be made aare of the needs of the Deaf and to be enabled to communicate with them.]

2. To take care and spread with particular commitment the "formation of formators," in the first place of future priests, of religious personnel and of all pastoral agents. [Some countries have Deaf priests and some have hearing pirests involved in full-time ministry with the Deaf. There are no deaf priests in the Philippines and very few priests in full-time work with the Deaf. By 'deaf priests' here I mean priests who were born profoundly deaf or became so while young, not priests who have grown deaf, ie, hard of hearing, as they grow older. though that can be isolating too its a different reality from that of the person born deaf.]

3. As it emerged in this congress, it is considered of essential importance that, for example, in seminaries it be possible to come close to the reality of deaf people by learning: the basis of sign language, their historical and personal experience, that is, the difficulties they meet in society and in school, as well as in the Church. Such an outline of formation, with the due adaptations, can be used everywhere. [I don't think that the average seminarian, or the average priest, has any idea of the situation of Deaf persons. This is not a condemnation of them but an observation. There are some priests and lay persons who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'. When there are regular Masses with a priest who sings or with an interpreter hearing people gradually come not to notice while the Deaf are made part of the worshipping community.]

4. To make permanent, in the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, the study group announced during the international conference. This organism will make possible the necessary qualities and uniformity of work carried out in this realm.

5. To create an Internet reference space, useful for the diffusion of initiatives, as well as for communication and exchange among those who work in the pastoral care of deaf persons. [The internet is a place where a deaf person can function on equal terms with hearing persons.]

6. To promote an ad hoc certification for those in the ecclesial realm translating into sign language. It is considered essential that a distinction be made between the "translator" and the "facilitator." The latter must have sufficient religious competencies to enable him to follow correctly, for example, the course of a Eucharistic liturgy, the course of the religious function.

Finally, all the participants in the congress committed themselves to see that these operative conclusions are quickly made concrete, in response to what has been requested by merit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and recalled during the opening of the works of this congress by the president of the dicastery, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.

Vatican City, June 6, 2010

[Translation by ZENIT]

Some of the Deaf giving the Sign of Peace, which we also use in Worldwide Marriage Encounter

Zenit.org also carried a report on 7 June, Archbishop: The Deaf Have a Place in the Church.

One paragraph in this reports reads: The prelate (Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski) pointed out that it is important that Christians "recall the mandate received at baptism and work for the diffusion of the Gospel through personal commitment and witness, becoming true 'heralds and witnesses,' even if they cannot hear or are close to persons affected by deafness." [In other words, the Deaf have the same obligation as hearing persons to witness to the Gospel. but as tings are now, especially in the Philippines, hearing people have to enable the Deaf to claim their rightful place in the Church].

The crucifix given by the Catholic Deaf community in Boston to Cardinal Seán O'Malley

All photos from Cardinal Seán's Blog.

Death of Columban Father Thomas O'Hanlon in Pakistan

Fr Thomas O'Hanlon (above and below) died in hospital in Lahore last night, Sunday 5 June, at 10:54 local time. He had a mild stroke on 25 May but four days later had a relapse and was admitted to the ICU.

Father Tommy, as most of us knew him, was from County Kerry, Ireland, and entered the Columban seminary late in September 1963. He was a few weeks later than his classmates. However, he had a good reason to be late: on the thrid Sunday of September he captained the Kerry Minor (under-18) Gaelic Football team to victory in that year's Minor All-Ireland championship. He was ordained in December 1969 and went to Mindanao, Philippines, in 1970. He served there till 1979 when he went with the first group of Columbans to our new mission in Pakistan.

Father Tommy was given the name 'Tanvir' by an elderly man shortly after his arrival in Pakistan. The name means 'inner light'. Father Tomás King, the Columban coordinator in Pakistan, said of our late confrere, 'Tanvir has passed on but his light burns in the lives and memories of the people he encountered and touched. he was passionate for justice which in later years evolved into a passion for the care of the Earth.' He had a doggedness about him too that could be exasperating at times but was never obstructive or negative. Something of his passion is captured in the photo above, which appeared in the American Columban magazine, Columban Mission, in 1996, as did the other photos here.

Fr Pat McCaffrey

Father King wrote of his death: 'Tanvir died peacefully in the presence of Columban Lay Missionaries, Sisters and Fathers after anointing and while the rosary was being recited.'

Coming so soon after the sudden death of my classmate, Fr Pat McCaffrey (photo above) in Pakistan on 18 May, this is devastating for the Columban priests, Sisters and lay missionaries in Pakistan. Father Tommy was 64 or 65 and Father Pat 66. I know you will keep them all in your prayers.

Graves of Fr Thomas O'Hanlon and Fr Patrick McCaffrey

You will find a photo of the graves of Fr Thomas O'Hanlon and Fr Patrick McCaffrey here. I have been unable to post the photo directly. (26 January 2021).

Will President Aquino of the Philippines receive 'the grace of office'?

President-elect Benigno C. Aquino III of the Philippines

Ma. Ceres P. Doyo, one of the top journalists in the Philippines, raised this question in a front-page story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most widely read broadsheet in the country, on Sunday 23 May. Her article also appears on her blog, Human Face by Ceres. Human Face is the name of her weekly column in the same paper:

IN SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE it is called “the grace of office.”

Could presumptive president-elect Sen. Benigno Aquino III and the nation that has apparently elected him by a landslide count on that?

It is said that when God invites or calls an individual to undertake a task, He also provides him the grace to carry out that task or calling.

“The grace of office” has often been used in the context of a religious vocation, especially for those in leadership positions, their imperfections, weaknesses and reluctance notwithstanding.

Biblical times and even contemporary history have seen ordinary persons rise to the task, strengthened only by their belief in God’s calling and their faith in the accompanying grace that would help them carry out their destiny.

There were those who rose and fell, as there were those who fulfilled their mission with humility and obedience.

You can read the full article, with the comments of various theologians in the Philippines, here.

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I don't recall anyone raising the question of 'grace of office' when David Cameron was chosen as prime minsiter of the UK after the elections there on 6 May, four days before the elections here in the Philippines. Mr Aquion, known as 'Noynoy', has not been officially declared the winner but there is no doubt whatever that he is the choice of the people. Though he didn't reach 50 percent he got more votes than the second and third candidates together.

St Thomas More (1478-1535)

Politicians are often held in disdain and in many cases there is good reason for that. But the Christian politician, like everyone else, is called to become a saint. the patron saint of politicians and lawyers is St Thomas More. Here in the Philippines most elected officials at higher level are lawyers while teachers sataff the polling booths. In Ireland a huge percentage of members of the parliament and senate are teachers by profession.

Above left, Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954), right, Robert Schuman (1886-1963)

Below, Julius Nyerere (1922-1999)

I'm aware of at least three 20th century politicians whose causes of beatification have been initiated, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Alcide De Gasperi, post-war prime minister of Italy, and Robert Schuman, post-war prime minister of France, the latter two considere the founders, with Konrad Adenauer of Germany, of the European Economic Community that grew into the European Union.

Robert Schuman once said of St Columban, from whose life journey this blog takes its name, that he was 'the patron saint of all who seek a United Europe'.

Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, one of Vatican II's most important documents, speaks at length on the place of politics in the life of the Christian and the Christain community. Here is one brief extract from No 73: It is clear, therefore, that the political community and public authority are founded on human nature and hence belong to the order designed by God, even though the choice of a political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free will of citizens.

God has certainly called Noynoy Aquino to serve the people of the Philippines as president for the next six years. This does not mean that he cannot make any mistakes. It simply means that the Holy Spirit will guide him if he asks for that guidance - and if we ask for that grace for the new president.

I was thrown out of this church

By chance, I chance across a photo of Drimnagh, Dublin, taken in the 1940s. It was then a new suburb of Dublin and I spent the first three years of my life there, before we moved in 1946 to the northside of the city where I had been born. (The Northside/Southside distinction is very important for Dubliners!) The street where we lived is not in the photo but is to the right of the area shown. However, the newly-built church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road, is very clear, with the new parish school to its right. In Dublin people always refer to a Catholic church by its street name rather than by its patronal name.

On a Christmas weekday in 1945, or it could have been very early in January 1946, my mother, pregnant at the time, took me to Mass. I was a few months short of three. It seems I shouted 'Bah' at the Infant Jesus in the crib. The priest ordered my mother and myself out. It seems he was 'ably assisted' by an older woman who made sure my mother understood what the priest had said.

I'm sure the priest had got out of bed 'on the wrong side' that morning, as I sometimes do myself. My father went to see him some days later but the priest didn't apologise. It would have helped had he done so.

I have one memory of the incident, a 'photo' in my mind while walking home. As you can imagine, it was a shattering incident for my mother. My father went to see the priest but he never apologised. However, whenever my mother told this story she always mentioned that the same priest (not the priest in the inset above but a curate, as an assistant priest is known in Ireland), having moved to the parish where my mother had grown up, couldn't have been kinder to her younger sister Madge in her last illness. Auntie Madge died on 3 February 1950 at the age of 26. Hers was my first experience with the death of someone close to me. My mother brought me to the wake.

I was at home during Lent 1991 and Our Lady of Good Counsel parish asked for a Columban to preach at all the Masses one weekend in connection with a 24-hour fast by secondary school students to raise funds for Trócaire, the development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Fr Michael Scully, the Columban Vice Superior in Ireland at the time, who knew nothing about my connection with Drimnagh, asked me if I could respond to the request.

I had the best opening line ever to a homily: 'I was thrown out of this church'. (In Dublin dialect that would be 'I was thrun ouhah this church'.) My mother died in 1970 and as I repeated my homily I felt a vicarious healing on her behalf. I also discovered that the parish was formally established eleven days before my birth. Now it's part of a cluster of three parishes working together as a unit

This incident has helped me more than once, though it's essentially a story rather than an experience for me. I have been very harsh with people on occasion in church. But whenever this has happened I've had the grace to ask the person later for forgiveness. And I'm usually very patient with small children making noise, though once or twice I've had to ask quietly if the parent or guardian could take care of a particular child.

One situation that does get to me here in the Philippines is children playing with coins on the floor of a church or chapel. However, I grin and bear it and it's a very long time since I've been in such a situation.

From the parish website

I found this photo on the parish website. Our Lady's Children's Hospital is in nearby Crumlin.. The words in Irish Gaelic mean 'Your two arms around them, O Christ'. A beautiful memorial.

Funeral of Fr Pat McCaffrey in Lahore, Pakistan

Fr Pat McCaffrey, 1944-2010. Photo by Fr Gary Walker, April 2010

This account of the funeral of Fr Pat McCaffrey is by Fr Tomás King, ordained in Ireland in 1992 and the current Coordinator of the Columban Mission Unit, Pakistan.

The funeral Mass took place in Sacred Heart, Cathedral, Lahore, on Thursday, 20 May at 3.00pm. Concurrently, a Mass was being celebrated in his home parish of Tempo, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, his classmate Fr Pat Raleigh being the main celebrant. The body arrived in the cathedral from the morgue at 2.30 for viewing. The 'Last Look' is an important custom in Pakistani culture. While people were filing past the coffin the rosary was recited.

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore

Archbishop Lawrence Saldana of Lahore was the main celebrant assisted by Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Shah OFM and Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, formerly of Hyderabad, and a friend of Father Pat and of the Columbans since their arrival in Pakistan in 1979. More than 50 priests from the diocese and beyond attended.

Interior of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore

In the introduction to the Mass Aquif Shazad from the Columban JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation) team gave a brief biography of Father Pat's life, after which symbols from the various countries that he had lived and worked in were placed on the coffin. The choir sang some of his favorite Urdu and Punjabi hymns. I gave the homily. The cathedral was packed. It was a moving liturgy and many tears were shed.

Bishop Joseph Coutts

Afterwards the body was taken to St Columban's Parish, Greentown, on the outskirts of Lahore city. Here he was welcomed by roughly 2,000 people from all corners of the parish who were unable to make it to the cathedral. The body was placed in the small church and people lined up and filed past for the 'Last Look.' Again, many tears were shed and prayers said. The graveyard is just at the back of the church and high school. The grave itself is literally a minute’s walk from the church through the church compound entrance. But the people preferred to carry the coffin the long route around to the main entrance, giving as many men as possible an opportunity to carry the coffin.

The grave chosen was under a mature 'people' tree. Prayers at the graveside were led by Fr Joe Joyce, a classmate from Ireland, and Fr Gabriel Rojas, a Columban from Peru. After it was laid in the grave, as is the custom, all present threw a fistful of clay over the coffin. As many women as men were present. While it is changing in Christian circles, it's still uncommon for women to go to cemeteries for burials. Darkness had fallen by the time the grave had been covered in, after which it was covered in rose petals and flowers. Incense sticks and candles were lit.

English Columban Father Denis Carter with friends in Pakistan

Father Pat had been laid to rest under the Lahore sky as the light from the many candles pushed back the darkness and the smoke from the incense sticks carried the prayers of those present, prayers that expressed a hope and belief that he continues to be among us. It was very difficult to walk away.

Rest in peace good and faithful servant.


All proceedings were recorded at the request of Father Pat's family. It was also recorded by a new Catholic TV station which broadcasts within certain parts of Lahore city.

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Father Patrick McCaffrey is the second Columban missionary to die in Pakistan. Pilar Tilos, a public school teacher from Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental, Philippines, on her second three-year term as a Columban lay missionary, died suddenly there on 4 January 1996 at the age of 55. She too is buried in Pakistan. We opened our mission there in 1979.

Pilar Tilos (right) with Emma Pabera from Candoni, Negros Occidental (in blue) and Gloria Canama from Tangub City, Misamis Occidental (in white) in Pakistan in the early 1990s. These three were the first group of Filipino Columban Lay Missionaries to be assigned overseas and were known as 'RP1', 'RP' meaning 'Republic of the Philippines'. Gloria is still in Pakistan while Emma was a staff member of the formation team for our lay missionaries in the Philippines for many years after leaving Pakistan.

Fr Pat McCaffrey's Last Hours

Fr Pat McCaffrey Last Hours

This account of Father Patrick McCaffrey’s last few hours were written by Srs Patricia, Eilish and Gretta Gill, Presentation Sisters, Murree, Pakistan. Murree, which could be called 'The Baguio of Pakistan' is at an elevation of  2,291 metres (7,517 feet) while Baguio, in the northern Philippines, is at 1,500 metres (5,100 feet). Wikipedia says 'The name Murree is derived from "marhi", "high place" although there is a popular belief it is named after the Virgin Mary'. Father Pat was my classmate. We entered St Columban's, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland, together in September 1961 and were ordained on 21 December 1967, he in St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry, and I in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin.

Murree, Pakistan

The reading of the day on which our good friend Fr Pat McCaffrey unexpectedly left us for his eternal abode was very apt indeed. With St Paul, Father Pat could truly address those very words to us all: ‘You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia. How I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me.’ Fr Pat McCaffrey arrived in Presentation Convent Murree on the 17 May in the afternoon. He was visiting three Columban lay missionaries, Paula Matakiviwa, Pita Qolikivikivi, two men recently arrived from Fiji, and Carmela Capistrano, a Filipina on her second term, studying Urdu there. After school at 2:00pm he joined us for a bowl of soup.

Presentation Convent School, Murree

Then he went out for lunch with the students but offered to celebrate Holy Mass for us in the evening at 6.30. We were delighted because, not having a resident priest here in Murree, we have Mass only on Sundays. We informed the Jesus and Mary Sisters too and they joined us for Holy Mass. Father Pat was in the chapel praying away on his own long before Mass time. When the Sisters arrived he came to the front where they were seated and shook hands with each one, welcoming the Jesus and Mary Sisters and asking if they wouldn’t mind waiting for the lay missionaries who would soon be there. During the Mass he spoke beautifully about the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus being with us always and the importance of the oft repeated words of Jesus, ‘Be not afraid’. He pointed out that we were eleven people present from five different nationalities. Wasn’t that wonderful? At the end of his sermon he wished us all a happy feast of the Holy Spirit and said he wouldn’t be with us to celebrate but encouraged us to enjoy this great feast of the Church.

The Mall, Murree

After Mass we all stood outside the chapel chatting. He was the last to come out and we teased him saying we were all waiting for the Spirit to come. He started breathing on us saying ‘Here comes the spirit’. He was in great form. Early the following morning, 18 May, at 5:45 we heard a big bang at our small school gate and the man cleaning the road, named Latief, told our watchman that Father Pat had fallen on the road. Sister Eilish and two of our workers rushed out to see what had happened to him and Sister Patricia ran to call Sister Gretta. The other workers brought out the charpai (bed) to put him on it. All our workers and Sister Eilish and Gretta were out in no time. As Sister Gretta blessed him there with holy water and a very special Irish cross handed to her by Sister Patricia. The workers and Sister Gretta rushed him to the Combine Military Hospital (CMH), which is just beside us, on the same charpai. He was attended by Dr Kamran and the staff of CMH without any delay but it was too late to do anything for him. He had already reached his heavenly Father for his reward. At the same time Sisters Eilish and Patricia, who were in the convent, had contacted some people on the phone and three Sisters of Jesus and Mary had also joined Sister Gretta at the hospital. By then we were in the process of getting the doctor to make his death certificate and were calling a few friends to make the arrangements to bring his body down to Pindi and from there to Lahore ,where Father Pat had been working.

Father Pat was brought to the same Chapel where he had celebrated Holy Mass only a few hours before and was now laid out to rest. Prayers were offered by both Christian and Muslim staff members, while all the teaching staff and students of Presentation Convent were stunned, sadly wondering what had happened as they turned the students’ vehicles homewards.

The ambulance was taking time to come so we decided to remove the seats of the big wagon of the Jesus and Mary Convent and take his body down to Pindi in it as soon as possible. Sisters Eilish and Gretta, some workers from the Presentation Convent and some from the Joseph and Mary Convent, as well as Mr Zaffar, Mr Ayub and the Columban lay missionaries travelled down with the body, praying on the way for the soul of this great priest. On our arrival at St Catherine’s Convent, Pindi, we were met by many Sisters from different congregations and Bishop Rufin Anthony of Islamabad-Rawalpindi. The prayers were led by Bishop Rufin in the compound. After the prayers we transferred the body to the ambulance to be taken to Lahore in the company of the three lay missionaries and Mr Zaffar. We very sadly said good bye to him in tears but it was so symbolic to see two Pakistani men, two men from Fiji and a woman from the Philippines travelling with him on his last journey to Lahore. This was to acknowledge him as a great missionary in the true sense. May his soul rest in peace and may the love he had for God and His people continue in many parts of the world. Amen.

Father Cyril Hally's missionary journey

Last Wednesday, 18 May, we Columbans lost two great priests. Fr Cryil Hally died peacefully in Melbourne, Australia, at the age of 90 while my classmate, Fr Pat McCaffrey, dropped dead in the street in Pakistan. I wrote about him here.

Fr Cyril Hally (1920-2010)

Father Cyril came to St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland, in 1963 and taught there for three years, as I recall. It was during Vatican II and he kept us informed about what was going on and its significance. He also put us in the picture about world affairs and also how our faith related to what was going on a around us.

He spoke to us of the morality involved in urban planning, that it wasn't just a matter of putting a roof over people's heads but enabling a community to grow. At that time there was a scheme in Dublin whereby many were removed from slum areas in the city centre to a place called Ballymun which, at the time, was considered to be way outside the city. for those who were moved there it was. Those who had jobs had to travel long distances to work. Such things as stores and schools were considered almost an afterthought, leaving people vulnerable. This was not by evil design but came from a purely utilitarian approach: people need a roof over their heads and a reasonably decent place to stay. The project produced many social problems and the high-rise buildings have since been demolished. It was only through Father Cyril's eyes that I saw the wider picture.

He gave me a deep appreciation of the centrality of the liturgy. Once a week he met with most of the students for a chant class, preparing for the Sunday High Mass and for Vespers. For one month each year our High Mass was broadcast nationally. he would never hold extra classes to prepare as he insisted on a high standard every Sunday.

I last met Father Cyril last September-October when I did some mission appeals for the Columbans in Melbourne. He was then in a nursing home, because of a fall, but was still interested in everything. he even asked me about the current economic situation in Negros. He also came to the annual meeting of the Columbans in Australia and New Zealand.

Though his mind was constantly active he took a perverse pleasure in the fact that he couldn't - or wouldn't! - use anything more complicated than a typewriter.

Another memory I have of him is that he was the referree for many rugby games in our seminary. He even sent off a player at a time when that was unheard of in the seminary and even in rugby circles in general. I reacll him as a man who looked 'beyond the box' but who had a deep appreciation of the importance of authority.

May Father Cyril rest in peace.
 

 

St Columban's Essendon, Victoria, formerly known as North Park Mansion, Columban HQ in Australia where Father Cyril spent his latter years.

This tribute appeared in the Columban website for Australia and New Zealand:

19.05.2010

A priest with vision who read the ‘signs of the times’.

Fr Cyril Hally was born on 9th February 1920 at Temuka, South island, New Zealand. He did his primary and secondary schooling at Oamaru. In 1939 he left New Zealand to go to St Columban Missionary Society seminary in Essendon Melbourne. At an early age he decided he wanted to be a missionary in China and followed his dream. After his seminary studies he was ordained in St Patrick’s Cathedral by Archbishop Daniel Mannix on July 2nd, 1945.

Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne

His life revolved around centres of higher learning. He was chaplain to Asian students in Lower Hutt, New Zealand while he studied for an arts degree but was sent to Rome in 1948 to study Canon Law before he finished his course. After gaining a licentiate in Canon Law, Cyril was appointed to Japan in 1951. But he was only there for just over a year before he was recalled to the staff of the Columban seminary at Wahroonga, New South Wales. He became a part-time chaplain to Asian students in Sydney.

In 1961 he was appointed to Lower Hutt again and resumed his BA studies at Victoria University but in 1963 left New Zealand to study linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington DC. His superiors had a change of mind and sent him to Ireland to be a member of staff at St Columban’s seminary at Dalgan Park, Co Meath. Here he started to lecture students during Gregorian Chant class on the social context of mission and the rapidly changing world they were heading out to challenge or be challenged by. Some priests recall these lectures as most stimulating and exciting but Gregorian Chant was not forgotten though not given pride of place.

In 1966 Cyril was appointed to a church ‘think tank’ in Brussels, ‘Pro Mundi Vitae’ which specialised in in- depth studies on topics and issues of the Church that needed researching. In 1971 he was appointed to the Australian/New Zealand Region and in 1972 was made First Secretary to the National Catholic Missionary Council, Sydney set up by the Australian bishops.

In 1979 he moved to St Columban’s seminary at North Turramurra and became a member of the seminary staff. He was Director of the Pacific Mission Institute for many years and lectured hundreds of participants who were heading for cross-cultural mission in Australia or other parts of the world. Fr Cyril had lectured in missiology, missionary anthropology, mission history and later peace and ecology.

He was awarded the inaugural Philia Prize for vision and initiative in religious work in Australia.

He was indefatigable in attending meetings concerned with justice and peace issues. Over the years he built an extraordinary network of people in many areas of life. He touched the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people with his vision and understanding of what was happening to the Church and the world. He kept an interest in the China desk of the Columban Mission Institute.

In 2006 he transferred from Sydney to St Columban’s Mission in Essendon where he had come as a young man to become a missionary so that he could receive better care. The last months of his life were spent in Mercy Place, Parkville where he continued to read and talk and be visited by Columbans, friends and admirers. He died suddenly but peacefully on Tuesday morning, May 18th2010.

Though he never became a missionary in China, he helped prepare missionaries who now work in many parts of the world to read what Pope John XXIII called ‘the signs of the times’.

Read Catholic Mission: A Mentor to Australian Missionaries - a Tribute to Fr Cyril Hally SSC