Burial of a faithful missionary priest

Yesterday we buried Father John Doohan, one of two brothers from County Clare, Ireland, who have spent all their lives as priests here in the Philippines. One of their sisters was the late Columban Sister Philomena who had worked in Burma, the Philippines and Chile. Last August another sister, Mary Doohan, who founded The Little Way Association in London. That has helped the Church greatly in a number of countries, especially in the area of the formation of seminarians, in helping local religious congregations and in building churches in financially impoverished areas. In 1996 Pope John Paul II awarded her the ‘Damehood of St Gregory the Great for her work for the missions’.

Father John, ordained in December 1947, came to the Philippines in 1948 and was sent to Mindanao. When the new Columban mission in the southern part of the province of Negros Occidental was opened in 1950 he and three others in Mindanao joined the pioneering group. He worked there in different parishes for 50 years until ill-health forced him to retire to Manila in 2000. He slowly declined, with great cheerfulness, but we knew for the last six months or so, when he was more or less in a coma, that the end would come sooner rather than later. It did, last Saturday, quietly and peacefully.

Father Michael, his brother, was unable to come as he’s in hospital at the moment. But two bishops were there and many priests. I was moved when I saw a group of young diocesan priests carry his coffin into the church. When he came to Negros there were only four parishes and the only local priest was transferred to Bacolod City where he later became Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich. The four parishes have become 16, all with local priests, and the area the Diocese of Kabankalan, with Bishop Patricio Buzon SDB from Cebu as the ordinary.

The only one of the pioneers still here is Fr Patrick Hurley, one of three brothers who became Columban priests and also with a sister who not only became a Columban Sister but Superior General of the congregation, Sister Catherine. Father Dermot and Gerard spent most of their lives in Fiji, though Fr Gerard also spent a stint in Britain.

Father Hurley preached the homily and one of the things he mentioned was that Father John was a 'Sheenite' priest because, inspired by Bishop Fulton Sheen, he spent an hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day. He also had a great devotion to St Thérèse of Lisieux.

I helped carry Father John’s coffin from the church to the place prepared for his burial in the church grounds of Immaculate Conception Church, Dancalan, which he built. As I saw and heard Father Patrick Hurley tap the coffin with his hand and say ‘Goodbye, John’ – they had known each other since 1942 – just before it was placed in the tomb I couldn’t but think of a short poem by Ogden Nash. Nash was to English poetry what PG Wodehouse was to English fiction, both of them masters of the comic word. That makes this poem all the more poignant.


Old Men

By Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

People expect old men to die,

They do not really mourn old men.

Old men are different. People look

At them with eyes that wonder when...

People watch with unshocked eyes;

But the old men know when an old man dies.

+++

I'm going to Manila this afternoon for some meetings and may not be posting anything for about a week.

Two Masses in Belsen Concentration Camp

Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, a large outdoor sculpture by Nandor Glid
commemorates Holocaust victims

Fr Patrick Brennan’s blog Humblepiety Fr Patrick Brennan of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, reminded me that today is Holocaust Day. It is a day that, above all, commemorates the millions of Jews who died in the Nazi concentration camps.


British clean up Belsen, April 1945

Many others died in them also. I came across accounts of two different Masses celebrated in Belsen after its liberation. The first is one of the most poignant descriptions of a Mass I have ever come across and is from an article by Lord Molyneaux, former head of the Ulster Unionist Party, I witnessed the dead of Belsen: we must always confront tyranny, that he wrote for The Daily Telegraph on this date five years ago. I was astonished to discover that James Molyneaux, a young officer at the time in the British Army, had been educated in a Catholic school in Northern Ireland.

The most moving experience came on the second morning as I was walking from what had been the luxury SS barracks which our troops had transformed into a hospital. My attention was drawn to two packing cases covered by a worn red curtain. A young Polish priest was clinging to this makeshift altar with one hand, while celebrating Mass. Between his feet lay the body of another priest who probably died during the night. No one had had the energy to move the body.

I had no difficulty in following the old Latin Mass, having been educated at St James's Roman Catholic School in County Antrim, and, although an Anglican, I had gained a working knowledge of all the rituals. Still supporting himself against the altar, the young priest did his best to distribute the consecrated elements. Some recipients were able to stumble over the rough, scrubby heathland. Others crawled forward to receive the tokens and then crawled back to share them with others unable to move. Some almost certainly passed on to another - probably better - world before sunset. Whatever one's race or religion one can only be uplifted and impressed by that truly remarkable proof of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

The other account of a Mass in Belsen after liberation was by an Irish Jesuit, Fr Michael Morrison, who was a chaplain with the group that liberated Belsen.

During his time in Belsen, Morrison witnessed many horrors but he also had times of great joy. After the first few days of total chaos, Morrison began to set himself up properly. When his work of anointing the sick and the dead began to lessen, Morrison decided to hold the first Mass to be said in the camp. However on the day he was supposed to hold the Mass, it poured rain. The rain was so bad that Morrison thought of canceling the Mass as he felt that no one would come. When he walked out on the makeshift altar he was stunned to see hundreds of people of many different religions waiting. He felt this to be one of the greatest moments of his life and so began to say Mass every day. This is from a BBC page.

Father Morrison clearly wasn’t aware of the Mass offered by the Polish prisoner-priest but both accounts surely are a testimony to the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to the presence of faith and hope in God and of the presence of God’s love in the midst of evil.

'Look up at the Lord with gladness and smile'

'Look up at the Lord with gladness and smile; your face will never be ashamed' (Ps 33:6).

Communion Antiphon, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Obama pushes abortion in the USA and in other countries

Among President Obama’s first acts as president:

On Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Obama Issues Statement Defending “Right to Choose”

Obama Revokes Abortion Funding Policy, Will Fund Overseas Abortions with Taxpayer Money

Both articles are by John Jalsevac.

Neither story should surprise anyone since Mr Obama has never hidden the fact that he is one of the most extremely pro-abortion politicians in the USA. But it seems that because of the colour of his skin many have chosen to ignore this. The story below shows the devastation that Roe v Wade and the pro-abortion mindset has had on the African-American population in the USA. While Mr Obama's wife and children are descended from slaves he isn't. The original slaves were taken from west Africa whereas he is the son of a Kenyan who was doing third-level studies in the USA. Kenya is in east Africa and has no historical connection whatever with slavery in the Americas.

LifeSiteNews also carries the following article:

At March, Black Pastor Warns Obama not to Preside over “Genocide” of American Blacks



WASHINGTON, DC, January 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The most well received speech at the March for Life this year was that of an African American pastor from Frederick Maryland. Pastor Luke Robinson began noting that the election of the first African American President of the United States was a fulfillment of “part” of the “Dream” of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.


Speaking of the inauguration of the “first black President” of the United States, Pastor Robinson explained: “So many African Americans and other folks cried and shouted because the inauguration was part of the deferred dream come true.” But, he added, “we come here to deal with some unfinished business as it relates to the ‘dream’.” Then, using Barack Obama’s own rhetoric, Pastor Robinson used the phrase “We need change now more than ever” which would accentuate the rest of his talk. “We are calling on the President of Change, President Barack Obama,” he said, “to be an agent of change as it relates to the lives of over one million children who will be slaughtered in this, his first year as President, by a horrible practice called abortion and ‘a woman’s right to choose’.”

The most striking portion of Robinson’s speech came as he begged Obama not to preside over the genocide of African Americans. “We need change Mr. President because every day about 4000 babies die by abortion. Every day Mr. President, people with your ethnic background any my ethnic background die in astounding numbers. Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in this country.”

“We make up about 12% of the population and about 34% of all abortions are black babies. In the last 36 years over 17 million African American babies have died by abortion alone. We need to change this picture. We need to stop this slaughter of the innocent preborn.“Please Mr. President, be that agent of change that can commute the sentence of over 1400 African American children and over 3000 children from other ethnic groups sentenced to die every day in this country by abortion.”

“We need change and we need it now.”“I pray with so many others,” he said, “that your administration will preside over the end to abortion and to the black genocide in America.” “At the conclusion of your term in office, may it never be said that you presided over the largest slaughter of innocent children in the history of the country and that African Americans became an ever increasing minority under your hand.”

Among those present at the March for Life was Frank Padilla, founder of Couples for Christ:

Frank Padilla, founder of the international pro-family organization Couples for Christ, spoke to LifeSiteNews about the "global attempt to destroy the family, destroy marriage, and destroy life". In the Philippines, where the group began, pro-life groups are fighting a "reproductive health" bill that would fund and promote the distribution of contraceptives, including those that cause abortion.

Patron of Journalists and of the Deaf

Today is the feast of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church, patron of journalists and of the Deaf. So he is my patron on both counts, since I edit Misyon and have been working with the Deaf on a part-time basis since 1992 and frequently celebrate Mass in Sign Language. Above all, he was a man who lived the fulness of the priesthood as a bishop faithfully. Maybe he would be a blogger if he were around today.

The following information, which I found here , is the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, located in Washington, DC.

St Francis De Sales: Patron of the Deaf and Hearing-impaired

In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf-mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop's housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop's generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.

As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education -- or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age, the 17th century, that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religios truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)
At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

After considering young Martin's deprived condition for a time, St. Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man.

By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.

St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.

Martin's devotion to the Bishop of Geneva was second only to his devotion to God. Martin prayed fervently, examining his conscience every evening before retiring, regularly confessed his sins to the Bishop, and assisted devoutly at the Bishop's Mass whenever he could.

Sixteen years later, no one would be more affected by the death of St Francis de Sales than his faithful servant Martin, who would visit his master's last resting place almost every day until the day he himself died.

The above account uses a term that is not used anymore: 'deaf-mute'. As a literal matter of fact, people who are deaf aren't mute, since they have voices and many can learn to speak.

The word 'handicap' too isn't used much now but rather 'disability'. I don't like the term 'differently-abled'. It cannot hide the reality that a person who is deaf or blind, for example, does have a disability. Deaf people prefer the word 'Deaf', with a capital 'D' to describe themselves as a group. Being profoundly deaf from birth is different from becoming hearing-impaired from old age, for example.

Those of us who can see and hear tend to think that blindness is a greater disability than deafness. But deafness, whether from birth or coming with old age, is a disability that isolates in a way that blindness doesn't. Most deaf people here in the Philippines don't share a language even with their own family. And the only 'native signers' I know here are the hearing children of deaf parents.

St Francis saw how isolated Martin was and broke through that isolation.

A Poem of Purity: Blessed Laura Vicuña

Today is the feast of Blessed Laura Vicuña, a 12-year-old girl born in Chile on 5 April 1891 who died on this day in Argentina in 1904. I came across this article, by Fr John Murray, a parish priest in Belfast, in the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart and got permission to use it in Misyon. We printed it in January-February last year, our second-last printed issue.

Blessed Laura’s feast isn’t on the universal calendar of the Church but she is especially venerated by Salesians. The day before, 21 January, is the feast of another girl around the same age, St Agnes. I regularly celebrate Mass in Holy Family Home here in Bacolod, featured in the current issue of Misyon as A Safe Haven and last July-August as ‘A Child Redeemed is a Generation Saved’ . Some of the girls there can relate to the experience of Blessed Laura and so last year we had a combined celebration of both of these saintly young girls. We celebrated Mass in their honour again last evening.

The reality of two young women offering their lives for others out of their faith in Jesus, St Agnes as a martyr and Blessed Laura offering her life for the conversion of her mother, can speak to the heart of anyone open to the Gospel and is Good News for young persons who have suffered deeply. Our suffering doesn’t have to be useless or meaningless. The words of St Paul in Col 1:24 once hit my heart like an arrow straight from Jesus himself: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. The lives and deaths of Agnes and Laura show the truth of this.

http://www.lauravicuna.com/ is the website of the Laura Vicuna Foundation, Inc, Manila.

From chef to priest

The Diocese of Cloyne in the south of Ireland has been in the news quite a bit these last few weeks, with many asking that Bishop John Magee resign over the way he handled allegations of child abuse by priests. However, no charges were brought against the two priests in question.

But yesterday’s Irish Times carries a story about a newly-ordained priest of the diocese, Fr Seán Corkery, Serving up a new vocation. He is a former professional chef.

One particularly interesting point in the article reads:

Corkery was wondering if he would have the confidence to be a leader. He was also unsure as to whether he would have the ability to ‘put words on tragedy’ for families impacted by sudden deaths.

‘In sad tragic times the priest is the voice of the community. You have to be there for people in the devastating times and know what to say and do. You have to try to put some shapes on the tragedies. I was wondering if I would have the confidence to do it.’

There seem to be more and more tragedies in Ireland in recent years, suicides, murders, road-deaths involving young people and so on. The Church is still the place where people try to come to terms with these and try to make sense of them. And in the last year a number of funerals of persons who could be described as agnostics have taken place in Catholic churches in Ireland.

Death seems to be the one situation where people are seeking the Good News from priests.

Pray for Father Corkery that he may have a long and happy life serving the people of his diocese and that he may lead others to consider the priesthood. Maybe too, with his professional background, he’ll become an Irish equivalent of Filipino-American Fr Leo Patalinghug of Grace Before Meals!

There is an account, with photos, of the ordination of Father Corkery on 22 June last year on the Cloyne website.

I've been having trouble lately uploading photos.