Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
Remember in your prayers the soul of Columban Fr
Patrick 'Paddy' Clarke who died peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday 26
April.
Father Paddy worked for thirty years in Japan and
when he came back to Ireland spent eleven years in St Jude's Parish,
Templeogue, Dublin, not far from where he grew up. He was much loved
there for his gentleness and kindness and many of the parishioners
attended his funeral here in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, this morning.
A unique experience for me at Father Paddy's
funeral Mass was that he had written the homily himself, based on Deuteronomy 6:4-7, the
First Reading, and Mark 12:28-34, the Gospel,
both of which he had chosen for his funeral Mass. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The
second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no
other commandment greater than these.
Father Paddy's obituary is on the website of the Columbans in Ireland here. May he rest in peace.
Jesu,
Joy of Man's Desiring
Composed
by JS Bach, transcribed for piano by Myra Hess
played
by Daniil Trifonov
Father Paddy loved classical music, piano music in particular.
Father Donal was born in Limerick on 29 October 1928 when
the family lived in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. He was educated at Presentation
Convent, Lismore, Christian Brothers' School, Lismore and St Joseph’s College, Ballinasloe, County Galway. He entered St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, in 1946 and was ordained priest there on 21 December 1953.
St Senan's, Cahiracon, County Clare
Father Donal suffered from tuberculosis, and while being
treated for it he spent the first years after ordination in Ireland doing
temporary pastoral work in Ardee, County Louth, in Clonfert, County Galway, and later
serving for a four- year period as chaplain to the Columban Sisters at St Senan's, Cahiracon.
In 1965, he was appointed to the United States and
served in New Jersey, and then Philadelphia, before being transferred to Los
Angeles where he served as bursar, superior, and in every other role over a
twenty-year period.
St Columbans, Bellevue, Nebraska, USA
In 1989 he was transferred to St Columban's, Omaha, Nebraska where he spent
the following five years. In 1995 he asked for an appointment to Jamaica where
he served as a gracious host in the Columban central house. However this
appointment did not last very long as Central Administration soon began
preparations for closing the Jamaica mission for lack of personnel.
Father Donal returned once again to Omaha where he would
spend the next ten years doing as much as his fragile state of health
permitted. Finally in 2010 he returned to the Dalgan Retirement Home where he was a gentle, undemanding presence until his death.
St Columbans, Nebraska
Over the years there have always been individual
Columbans who, because of ill health or because of their outstanding talents
in promotion or office management, never got much of a chance to serve on
overseas mission. The work they did was essential for the success of the whole
Columban mission venture. The best of them, and that included Father Donal, accepted
their roles wholeheartedly without complaint or bitterness. His was a
quiet, gentle, affirming presence in every appointment right to the end.
May
he rest in peace.
St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park
Father Donal had his chair specially positioned near the window to give him a
full view of the garden and various shrubs outside his room in St Columban's Retirement Home, Dalgan Park.
Michael Harrison was born on 21 March
1924 at Bunduff, Castlegal, County Sligo, Ireland. He was educated at
Castlegal National School and Summerhill College, Sligo. He came to St
Columban’s, Navan, in 1942 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1948.
The following year he was appointed to
graduate studies in the USA. He completed an MA in history at Fordham
University, New York City, and followed this with training in journalism at the Denver
Catholic Register.
In 1952 he was appointed to the Philippines as Far East
correspondent of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, , the forerunner of today’s
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a post he held until
1956. He was then called back to work in the Central Offices of the Columbans in Bellevue, just south of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and
travelled through Korea and Japan on his way home. He spent the next fifteen
years in charge of the Mission Office where he was credited with organising the
mail operation to new levels of efficiency.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose
leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper (Psalm 1:3, Grail
translation).
From 1972 to 1975 he was editor of the magazine of the Columbans in the USA, now known as Columban Mission. In the years that followed he served in the Columban houses in
West Chester, near Philadelphia, in Quincy, near Boston, in Philadelphia and in Westminster, California. In
1984 he was appointed secretary to the Columban Central Administration in Ireland for three
years.
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God (Psalm 42:1, Grail translation).
There followed appointments to Los Angeles and Omaha before being asked
to serve as Superior of Collegio San Columbano in Rome in 1992. Health problems
cut short this appointment and he was assigned instead to Bristol, Rhode Island, where he
served as vice-superior and bursar. He left Bristol for Ireland in 2011, where,
from his room in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, he relied on modern technology to stay in touch with a wide
circle of relatives and friends.
The variety of the tasks entrusted to Father Michael over the years are an indication of his many gifts, his discretion and
his quiet competence. Congenial, wise and never judgemental, he was deeply
appreciated by his colleagues and by the staff of the many houses in which he
served. He transferred to the Dalgan Nursing Home at the end of 2015 and died suddenly there on 17 January 2017.
May he rest in peace.
Perhaps the best know person associated with Fr Harrison's native
county is poet WB Yeats (1865-1939). And perhaps his best known poem isLake Isle of Innisfree.
Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
Isle of Innisfree, Lough Gill, County Sligo[Wikipedia]
Father Michael died peacefully in Our Lady's
Hospital, Navan, on 21 November 2016. Born on 28 November 1931 in Johnstown, County Meath, Ireland, he was educated at Loreto School, Abbey School, St
Patrick’s Classical School, all in Navan, and at St Mary’s College, Rathmines, Dublin. He
came to St Columban's, Dalgan Park, in September 1950 and was ordained priest there on 21 December 1956. During his student days he was outstanding at sports and regularly played for the Dalgan team against visiting teams in Gaelic Football, Hurling, Soccer and Rugby.Dalgan Park is very near Johnstown, where he grew up. He was a
younger brother of Columban Fr Fergus Duffy who died in 1983.
St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish [Wikipedia]
Father Michael was appointed to post-graduate
studies at St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he obtained an MA in Social
Studies; this was followed by studies in Journalism at Denver in 1959 while
awaiting a visa to Burma. In May 1960, when his request for a visa had been
refused, he was assigned to promotion work in the US from Westminster and San
Francisco houses. In 1962, he was appointed to the college staff at Milton, MA
and in 1963 to Silver Creek.
In 1966 he was appointed to the
Philippines. He spent 18 years in Zambales in the parishes of San Narciso, San
Antonio, San Felipe, Castillejos, Poonbato, and Botolan. In 1984 he was
appointed the College Formation Program in Cebu City and in 1988 was sent to Manila
where for three years he worked on Justice and Peace issues from a base in
Tondo.
In 1989 he was appointed to the Region of
Britain where he served until 2003. During those years he worked on Mission
Promotion and served several terms as Vice-Director of the Region from
1995 to 2003.
River Boyne, Brú na Bóinne, County Meath[Wikipedia]
The Boyne flows by St Columban's, Dalgan Park, by Johnstown and through Navan.
Appointed to Ireland in 2003, he served as
editor of the Regional Newsletter until deteriorating health confined him to
the Dalgan Nursing Home. Father Michael was a gentle, quiet man with a self-deprecating sense of humour. He deeply appreciated the care that he
received during his years in the Dalgan Nursing Home.
May he rest in peace.
Blessing of St Columban's Formation House, Cebu City by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Ricardo J. Vidal of Cebu, 23 November 1984, St Columban's Day.
L: Fr Seán Coyle, R: Fr Michael Duffy
A Philippine Folk Dance in San Narciso, Zambales
Thanks to Fr Patrick Raleigh, Regional Director, Ireland.
Father Dan celebrated his 100th birthday on 28 June, a celebration in which he delighted, and died peacefully exactly six weeks later.
With Fr Patrick Raleigh and Columban Sisters after Mass on his 100th birthday
Fr Patrick Raleigh, Regional Director of the Columbans in Ireland, wrote about the celebration. Here are some extracts.
Fr Dan was born in the city of Cork on 28 June 1916. He grew up with the beginnings of the Society of St Columban. His great hero was Bishop Edward Galvin, Co-founder of the Society. Fr Dan was educated by the Christian Brothers at Sullivan’s Quay in Cork and entered the old Dalgan Park in Shrule, on the Galway - Mayo border in 1933. He was ordained there in December 1939.
Images of Cork city shortly before Fr Fitzgerald was born
When he was asked about the influences that drew him to the priesthood he spontaneously pointed to the influence of his parents who were daily Mass goers. The family Rosary was said each night in the house. Time and again he has expressed his deep gratitude to his parents for all that they did for him. Here in the Nursing Home in Dalgan Park the words 'thank you' are always on his lips. He is very much appreciated by all the staff in the Nursing Home. They left no stone unturned in making sure that everything would go well for the day. They put a huge effort into decorating the place beforehand.
Early years as a Columban
His first appointment was to the Philippines in 1940 but because of World War II he never got there. In the early 1940s he served as chaplain to the Maria Reparatrix Sisters in Cork. At this time he took up golf, a sport in which he became quite proficient. He has said on many occasions that to keep his mind off exile and not knowing the day or the hour he would be called he would hit golf balls in the golf course in Douglas in Cork.
In 1946 he set sail for China with five Columban priests and five Columban Sisters. Sr Damien Rooney, Columban Sister and now living in the Columban Sisters Home in Magheramore, County Wicklow, was one of those. It was indeed very symbolic that she was able to attend the Ceremony in Dalgan. While Father Dan was the centre of attention, Sr Damien made a great impression on those who attended. She is now in her 96th year. In a strong and very clear voice and without a microphone she read out the special message that she had prepared for Fr Dan. I’m very happy to be here today to celebrate the 100th birthday of Fr Dan. Fr Dan has been a life-long friend since we first met in Hanyang, China in 1946. That was a very difficult time in China; a time of great destruction during the communist regime. Through it all Fr Dan was always calm – a source of strength and consolation for all of us. For all my life Fr Dan’s friendship and his faithful life as a Columban missionary, has kept me going. We are both a little advanced in age now, but we are still on the way. We are both on the road with Jesus as our constant companion, and who could have a better companion than Jesus !
A young Fr Edward Galvin in China, 1912-1916
During his six years in China the political situation was quite chaotic. Nevertheless, for Fr Dan it was a great privilege to work in the diocese with his great hero and friend, Bishop Edward Galvin whom to this day he has held in such high esteem. His first impressions of China were of the heat and mosquitoes. The Diocese of Hanyang was roughly the size of Munster. Only one per cent of the population were Catholics.
Bishop Edward Galvin and Fr Dan Fitzgerald were forced to leave China in 1952
In 1952 he left China but he left it with a great love for the Chinese people which continues to this day. He says that they were like a sheep without a shepherd. It was indeed very fitting that Dan received a number of emails from China including emails from Columbans there.
After China
After his years in China Father Dan worked in Australia where he spent seven years. There was a lovely email from Fr Pat Baker in the Philippines to Fr Dan thanking him for all the help and encouragement he gave him as his Spiritual Director in Turramurra back in the late ‘50s and ‘60s. Fr Pat said that Fr Dan was an inspiration to the students and he was delighted to have the opportunity to thank him. Fr Dan also worked on Promotion in Australia with the late Frs Gerry O’Collins and Pat Hennessy. In his email Fr Pat refers to them as the 'Dream Team'. Wonderful stories circulated about Fr Dan’s experiences in some of the parishes he visited, especially his feats on the golf course.
Nenagh
St Mary of the Rosary Church, Nenagh[Source: Parish website]
After his time in Australia, he was assigned to Scotland from ’73 to ’81.When he returned to Ireland he worked in many different places including being Chaplain for eight years at the Care Home run by the Bon Sauveur Sisters in Carriglea, Dungarvan, County Waterford. When most people would have considered retiring Dan in his seventies set out on a new Mission to the Diocese of Killaloe. He spent a short time in Sixmilebridge, County Clare before moving on to Nenagh.
He immersed himself wholeheartedly in the life of Nenagh and its people. Over the years in Nenagh Dan spent many hours every day praying in St Mary of the Rosary Church. As the people of Nenagh dropped in to the Church to say a prayer Fr Dan could be seen praying before Our Lady’s Altar. He built up many very genuine and strong rapport with everyone with a special attachment to Hospital visitation. During his time in Nenagh he visited the Hospital every night. Almost every family in Nenagh and in North Tipperary has some story to tell about meeting Fr Dan and his kindness to them. His nightly visits to the Hospital were eagerly looked forward to by not only the patients of all creeds but also by their families and the staff in the Hospital. His words of encouragement were always very much appreciated.
His daily Communion rounds to the sick are legendary. Fr Dan has often said that the people of Nenagh are a very decent people. When in Nenagh he spent many hours in the Confessional. During his time there he brought something very special to the people.. When the time came for him to return to Dalgan Park to the Nursing Home the people made every effort to keep him there and had organised a rota of nurses to look after his medical needs. As Columbans we owe a huge debt of gratitude to so many people in Nenagh, too numerous to mention. He continues to receive visitors from there on a weekly basis.
A visit from Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly SMA of Cashel and Emly, previously Bishop of Killaloe
His endearing presence
Since his return to Dalgan he has endeared himself to so many. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the very caring staff in the Nursing Home here in Dalgan for the very special way that they minister to his needs.
After the celebration of the Eucharist people were very anxious to gather around him to greet him and have their photo taken with him. He certainly rose to the occasion and was very effusive in his words of gratitude. Everybody enjoyed an excellent meal after Mass in the College dining room.
St Columban's, Dalgan Park
Columban Fr Sean McDonagh, from Nenagh, spoke in his homily at the 100th birthday celebration of how Fr Fitzgerald had served the people of the parish of St Mary of the Rosary.
His daily
communion rounds were legendary. He brought my own mother communion every day
for the last six-and-a-half years of her life when she was housebound.
During his 23 years of service, Fr Dan visited the hospital
every night. Almost every family in North Tipperary has some story to tell
about meeting Fr Dan on nightly rounds. I remember my own mother being rushed
into Nenagh hospital. I received a call to come home as they thought my mother
was dying. When I reached the hospital it seemed that she was dying. It was
only after Fr Dan’s visit that I wondered whether her potassium levels had
fallen. In fact, her potassium levels had fallen. The procedure to address that
helped save her life.
Not alone the patients, but all the hospital staff valued Fr
Dan’s contribution to healing in the hospital. In an email to Fr Donal Hogan
(who at the time was the Columban Regional Director) in March 2012, Fr Pat
Malone, the parish priest of Nenagh, wrote: 'Fr Dan is deeply loved, highly
respected and greatly valued by the whole community.' He wrote that 21 nurses
were willing to organise a rota to look after Fr Dan’s medical needs.
Fr Dan also spent many hours in the confessional servingthe needs of people. His pastoral presence at the Christian
Brothers School was deeply appreciated by both the staff and the students.
Fr Pat Raleigh
concluded his article about Father Dan's 100th birthday celebration with these
words:The
occasion would not have been complete without the singing of the The Banks and with great gusto everybody
joined in the singing.
(‘The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee’,
usually referred to colloquially as ‘De Banks’, is the anthem of Cork
people, especially those from the city. It was sung again after the lunch that followed the funeral
Mass and burial of Father Dan on 12 August.)
Father Dan died in the evening of 9 August. That afternoon he prayed the Rosary for the last time. In his homily at the Mass on Father Dan's 100th birthday and at the funeral Mass Fr Sean McDonagh spoke of the great devotion of this holy priest to our Blessed Mother. As the
people of Nenagh know very well – any time you would visit the Church to say a
prayer, Fr Dan could be seen praying right before Our Lady’s Altar . . . I
wondered whether there was
anything akin to a Guinness Book
of Records in Heaven. If there is
Fr Dan would certainly be close to winning the prize for the person who has
said the most rosaries in his life.
Nenagh is in County Tipperary, as is Clonmel, where the late Irish tenor Frank Patterson was from. In this video he is singing this hymn to our Blessed Mother, not as a performer but as the man of faith he was.
know very well – any time you would visit the Church to say a prayer, Fr. Dan
could be seen praying right before Our Lady’s Altar.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal. May his noble soul be at the
right hand of God.
Thanks to Frs Cyril Lovett, Patrick Raleigh and Sean McDonagh.
Fr Terence P. F. Twohig, known as 'Terry', was born in Donnycarney, Dublin on 16 April
1938.
Our Lady of Consolation Church, Donnycarney [Website]
He was educated at St Patrickʼs National School, Drumcondra, Coláiste Mhuire, Parnel
Square, and Mount St Josephʼs College, Roscrea. He entered the Columban seminary, St Columban's, College, Dalgan Park, Ireland, in September 1956 and
was ordained priest on 21 December 1962.
Appointed to the Philippines in 1963, he was assigned to Mindanao.
He served in Dumalinao, Kapatagan and Kolambugan, before being assigned to
Ireland for three years on promotion work.
On his return to Mindanao he served
in Kolambugan, Kiwalan and Iligan City. He then spent the next ten years in parishes in the Prelature of Marawi, where around 95 per cent of the people are Muslims, in Marawi City, Malabang and Karomatan (now Sultan Naga Dimaporo). For
part of that time he lived in a Muslim village in order to learn the Maranao language, spoken by the majority of Muslims in the two Lanao provinces, and become closer to the people. This was a difficult time for Father Terry.
A Muslim friend later wrote to him, Father we really miss
you back here. You have been a wonderful man to us, better than any good Muslim
has been. We really needed help, and the help unexpectedly came from you who
have been accused by our folk as an adversary . . . I want you to know that
there are Muslims, pure Muslims, who appreciate your work. Should I have the
opportunity I would work, and be proud of working, side by side with you, to bring justice and peace to both our peoples.
In 1990, Father Terry spent a sabbatical year in Birmingham, England, doing Islamic Studies. On his return to the
Philippines, he spent three years in Pagadian Diocese. On hearing of Fr Terry's death, Sultan Maguid Maruhom, a Muslim friend in Pagadian, sent this message that was read at the end of the funeral Mass: I am very sad to know that Fr Terry Twohig passed away yesterday in Ireland. As I pray for his soul, I and my family also extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and to the Columban Fathers. Father Terry was a good man who spent long years of his life in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao, to serve our people with abundance of heart and help sow the seeds of peace in this part of the world. I am one of his Muslim friends whom he had much inspired to take the challenge in bridging understanding and building peace between people of different faiths. One thing that made him very close to my heart was that in my time of great trouble this good man always came to help and console me. He never abandoned me as a friend despite the risk. Though he may have left us for good, I am sure my memory of him will always stay. Indeed he was a friend I will never forget and he will inspire me forever.
St Joseph's Church, Balcurris, Ballymun, Dublin
Assigned once again to
Ireland, he spent ten happy years with the people of Ballymun. On 16 May 1998 while he was celebrating Mass for 60 children making their First Holy Communion a shooting incident took place in the church. In his homily at the funeral, Fr Donal Hogan noted: Of course Terry later visited the gunman in jail
a number of times – ever the merciful one – indeed the Christ-like one.
RTÉ report on shooting in St Joseph’s Church
Am important part of Father Terry's life was his involvement with the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests, in Mindanao and later in Dublin, inspired by the spirituality of Blessed Charles de Foucauld. Failing
health forced Father Terry to the Dalgan Nursing Home in 2004. He was a gentle, good-humoured
man, always interested in people. A very committed missionary, he made every effort to reach
out to the Muslims of Mindanao, knowing that only the witness of true Christian
charity would, and did indeed, make an impression on them. Father Terry died on 30 March 2016.May he rest in peace. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow
me . . . (Psalm 23 [22]:6, Grail translation).
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal. May his noble soul be at the right hand of God.
St Columban's Cemetery, Dalgan Park Prayer of Abandonment Blessed Charles de Foucauld
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
A Proud Dubliner
Like most Irish people, Father Terry had a strong attachment to his native county/city. No doubt this was part of the strong sense of rootedness that enabled him to reach out to Muslims in Mindanao. During his funeral Mass his battered Breviary and a Dublin shirt were brought up as symbols of his life.
Members of the Dublin Gaelic Football team [Dublin GAA]
At the end of the burial of a Catholic in Ireland a decade of the Rosary is prayed. And after that at the burial of a Columban the Salve Regina is sung. At Father Terry's funeral another song was added, Molly Malone (Cockles and Mussels), the theme song of Dubliners, especially those from the city. Father Terry probably never heard this recent version in Dutch, sung by Ancora, but I'm sure he would have enjoyed it.
