Summer 2013 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

2
Summer 2013

Deep in his heart for us,
The wound of love he bore,
That love wherewith
he still inflames
The hearts that
him adore.
Contents
Page 3 Editorial.
Page 5 A Man of Faith and Vision.
Page 8 Remembering Scots Pioneer
MHM’s in Uganda.
Page 12 ‘Karunapuram’: Place of
Christian Compassion.
Page 15 From i-Pad to ‘I AM’.
Page 17 In the Land of the Fiery
Mountain.
Page 21 Obituaries.
Page 22 Young Indian MHM’s tell
their stories.
Page 23 Fr Brian Ahern mhm RIP.
Page 26 Our Scots MHM Jubilarians.
Fr. Bill Tollan mhm,
Editor
Editorial
Called to be
missionary
disciples
Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pompeo Batoni.
“Together let us pause to contemplate the pierced heart
of the Crucified One ... The very core of Christianity is expressed in the
heart of Jesus; in Christ the revolutionary ‘newness’ of the Gospel
is completely revealed and given to us: the Love that saves us and
even now makes us live in the eternity of God.”
Pope Benedict XVI
Acknowledgments
Contributors:
Fr T. De Deckere mhm
Fr B. Fox mhm
Frs Suresh Raj, Kocherla, N. Abba
Photo Credits:
B.Fox mhm;
J. Fox;
A. Eppink
Frs Suresh Raj, Kocherla, N. Abba
MH Archives
Cover photos:
Front cover: Women’s work ?,
Malawi.
Back cover: Wee pals, Kenya.
St. Joseph’s Advocate
is the magazine of the Mill Hill Missionaries in
Scotland, published from St. Joseph’s House,
30 Lourdes Avenue, Cardonald,
Glasgow G52 3QU.
Tel: 0141 883 0139.
Email: tollanmhm@yahoo.co.uk
Registered Charity Number: SCO39809
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We have all been much
heartened by the first
words and actions of
our new Holy Father,
Pope Francis. Soon he
will be setting-off for
the World Youth Day
in Rio de Janeiro, and
among other places he
will visit the great shrine
to Our Lady of Aparecida. We can be sure
that he will confirm in their faith the young
people gathered from all over the world, and
encourage them to be active witnesses of the
Gospel to the world.
In 2007 the Bishops of Latin America
gathered in Brazil at Aparecida to plan a new
‘continental mission.’ This great conference
was the successor to earlier conferences held
at Medellin (Colombia), Puebla (Mexico), and
Santo Domingo - each of which produced
great documents that have influenced the
development of the post-Vatican II Latin
American Church. The main architect of
the Aparecida document was the Cardinal
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Archbishop of Buenos Aires, now
Pope Francis. In this document a fivepoint
plan is outlined and developed:
i. We must begin with establishing a
strong personal relationship with
Jesus Christ.
ii. To be a Catholic is to be a
Missionary Disciple.
iii. Formation of Missionary Disciples
is central to the renewal of the
Church.
iv. Every Catholic and every Catholic
organization must be imbued
with the spirit of Service.
v. We must think globally and act
locally.
Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida.
In a concluding message from the
Aparecida Conference the Bishops
expressed their belief and hope that
the Church in Latin America will be:
• A life-filled Church, faithful and
credible, which is nourished on the
Word of God and the Eucharist;
• A Church of Christians filled
with the joy and conviction of
Missionary Disciples of Jesus Christ;
• A Church of Christians who are
stewards of creation.
Addressing the national directors
of the Pontifical Missionary Societies
in Rome on May 17th, Pope Francis
said, “We are all simple tools, but
important ones; we have received
the gift of faith not to keep it
hidden, but to spread it, so that it
can illuminate the path of so many
brothers and sisters.” He went on
to speak of our being willing “to
be instruments of God’s mercy, his
tenderness, his love for every man
and every woman, especially the
poor, the excluded, the far off. And
this, for every Christian, for the
whole Church, is not an optional
mission, but an essential one.”
Pope Francis concluded by warning
us against the temptation to ‘close in
on ourselves, worried about our own
problems,’ and being forgetful of the
‘universal mission’ of the Church.
In other words, the Gospel message
must be proclaimed to all - in word
and in deed - at home and abroad.
We must not be pre-occupied by
the troubles experienced here in our
Church in Scotland.
I think we can all expect to hear
much more from Pope Francis on the
subject of ‘Missionary Discipleship.’
In the present issue of the
‘Advocate’ there are many examples
of people who heard the call to be
‘Missionary Disciples’ - our early
Scots MHMs, and our young African
and Asian MHM’s who are their
successors. May their example help us
all to be zealous ‘missionary disciples’
according to the circumstances of our
own lives
A Man of Faith
and Vision
On March 26th this year, at an
elaborate ceremony in the magnificent
Liverpool Town Hall, St Joseph’s
Hospice Association (known as
JOSPICE) was granted the freedom of
the City of Liverpool. The Lord Mayor,
Councillor Sharon Sullivan, paid
tribute to the work of JOSPICE over the
last 50 years, in providing “loving and
compassionate care to people of any
faith and those without faith in the
last weeks of their lives.” Admission
to the Freedom Roll was the highest
honour the city could bestow, she said,
and was richly deserved.
Jospice was founded by Mill Hill
Missionary Fr Francis O’Leary. Born in
Crosby in 1931, he was ordained at Mill
Hill in 1956, and appointed to study
at Glasgow University, graduating in
1960. Contemporaries at University
were Fr Pat McDonald (who died in
2000) and Fr Bill Tollan. Though they
were ‘local boys’ Fr Frank seemed to
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have far more friends in Glasgow
than themselves. These friendships
he maintained in the years ahead,
and many of them were of great help
in the early years of Jospice.
After graduation, Fr O’Leary
was appointed to the diocese of
Rawalpindi, Pakistan. There he
taught in St Mary’s School for
Boys, while helping in the parish
in Westridge. On the voyage out to
begin his work in Pakistan he had
met Margaret and Peter Seymour-
Eyles who were on their way to Assam
in India. They showed an interest
in the work he would be doing in
Pakistan, and gave him an invitation
to visit them. Two years later he was
able to accept this invitation. His
route took him through Calcutta,
so on the return journey he visited
the Sisters of Mother Teresa. He was
deeply moved by the great poverty he
saw, and filled with admiration for the
way the Sisters were responding to the
needs of the poorest of the poor. At the
Sisters’ Hospice at the Kalighat Temple
he took a photograph of a dying man
who was being cared for by the Sisters.
The image of that man remained with
Fr Frank for the rest of his life, and
was the inspiration that led to the
founding of Jospice.
Later that year, Fr Frank learned of
a Mrs Jacob, a stroke victim, who had
been completely abandoned by her
family. Since no hospital would accept
her, Fr Frank arranged for her to be taken
to an unused outhouse at St Mary’s
Catholic Church in Rawalpindi. This
was cleared out and made habitable,
and there she was lovingly cared for
by the local Franciscan Missionaries
of Mary. The date Mrs Jacob had been
taken to the outhouse was November
19th, Feast of St Elizabeth of Hungary,
Fr Francis O’Leary.
and Patroness of Nurses. On that day
Fr O’Leary had said to a parishioner:
“We must remember this day because
it might be important to us one day.”
This date is still celebrated by Jospice
as ‘Founder’s Day.’
It became clear there was need for a
purpose-built hospice for people with
incurable illnesses and for the povertystricken
sick. A committee was set
up, and appeals made to people in
Pakistan and later in Britain to help
build the hospice. By October 1963
£8,000 had been collected and work
was begun on the building. A generous
grant came from the German Bishops
to help complete the work, and the
building was opened in November
1964 by Cardinal Alfrink of Utrecht.
The single-story building had two
20-bed wards and was dedicated to St
Joseph.
Like the founder of the Mill Hill
Missionaries, Cardinal Vaughan,
Fr O’Leary maintained a great
devotion to St Joseph, entrusting
to him all the financial affairs of
Jospice. Mother Teresa had written
to him, “Don’t worry about the
money - God will provide.” This
has remained the philosophy
of Jospice. Repeatedly, when
there was no money to pay the
bills, and the whole enterprise
seemed doomed, Fr Frank’s faith
was rewarded by unexpected
donations. In 1972 there was an
overdraft of £3,000; the bank
manager expressed his concern. Fr
Frank went into a nearby Church
to pray to St Joseph. Returning to
the office he found an anonymous
donation of almost £3,000. The next
week the bank manager demanded
that the overdraft of £500 be cleared.
That day a cheque for £500 arrived in
the post.
In 1966 a committee was set up
in Liverpool to increase fund-raising
activities. A room was rented in the
Liverpool Diocesan offices. The work
expanded, and the first hospice was
opened in Colombia, South America,
in 1966. Another was opened at
Negritos, Peru, in 1970. In 1975
another Mill Hill Missionary, Fr Frank
Smith, who had trained as a nurse,
began work on a rural health clinic
in the slums of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Fr Frank was able to combine his
pastoral work with promoting health
care among the very poor of the Isla
Trinitaria, just outside the city of
Guayaquil. Later, other hospices and
health centres were opened in Peru,
Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
In 1973, Fr O’Leary featured in the
famous Eamon Andrews’ TV show,
This old man, photographed in Calcutta
by Fr O’Leary, and Mrs Jacob, the first
patient in Rawalpindi, provided the
inspiration on which St Joseph’s Hospice
Association is founded.
‘This is Your Life.’ The programme
drew the highest TV ratings for that
week. Many of the people involved in
the Jospice story were brought together
for the occasion. The following year
a hospice was opened in Thornton,
near Liverpool, and this became the
headquarters for Jospice International.
In 1996 Fr Frank was awarded the MBE
in the Queen’s birthday honours.
From the beginning of the year
2000 Fr O’Leary had not been well. In
the summer he was taken to hospital
after a suspected heart attack. He died
on October 4th, Feast of St Francis. On
the occasion of Jospice being granted
the freedom of the City of Liverpool,
Fr O’Leary’s cousin, Archbishop
Vincent Nichols of Westminster,
thanked God for all who have worked
and volunteered so generously to
realise the vision of Jospice. “With the
powerful help of St Joseph’s prayers”
he wrote, “may Jospice continue to
serve our terminally ill brothers and
sisters for many more years to come.”
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Remembering
Scots Mill Hill
Pioneer Missionaries
in Uganda
On Saturday May 4th the annual
15 mile walk took place from St Simon’s
Church in Partick, along the banks of
the Clyde, to Blantyre - the birthplace
of the great Scottish missionary and
explorer, David Livingstone.
‘Faith, Freedom, Adventure’: these
words appear on a brochure produced
to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the
birth of David Livingstone.
Livingstone died in 1873 in a village
in modern-day Zambia, having
travelled over 46,000 kms - mainly
on foot - throughout vast areas of
unexplored Africa. He was born into
a poor family in Blantyre, worked
14 hours a day in the local cotton
works from the age of 10, and
yet managed to study to prepare
himself for University. The local
Catholic priest, Fr Daniel Gallagher
coached the bright young student
in Latin - necessary for University
admission. (Fr Gallagher later founded
the church that became St Simon’s.)
After graduating as a doctor he joined
the London Missionary Society and
began medical missionary work
in what is now Botswana. Soon
however, he undertook the first of
many expeditions, using his skills
as a linguist, navigator, and natural
historian.
By the time of his death, Livingstone
was a national hero - and an inspiration
to many who wished to follow in his
footsteps. He had sought to open
up the ‘dark continent’ - to allow
missionaries and traders to follow, to
eradicate the slave trade and improve
the lives of the indigenous people.
The Victorians had no doubts about
the benefits of the Christian religion
and Western civilization. But, unlike
many who followed him, Livingstone
had a deep respect for the local African
people, and would not have approved
of the way the colonial ‘scramble for
Africa’ unfolded.
Fr Herbert Vaughan was filled with
a similar zeal to bring the Gospel
message to Africa. In founding St
Livingstone reading to his young
daughter Anna.
Joseph’s Missionary Society in 1866
he was spurred-on by the zeal of
the various Protestant missionary
societies, and felt it imperative that
Catholics should be no less zealous in
their missionary efforts. As Bishop of
Salford, Vaughan had met the great
explorer Henry Morton Stanley on his
return from Central Africa in 1876.
(Five years earlier Stanley had famously
found Livingstone, allegedly greeting
him with ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume.’)
The Bishop was Vice-President of the
Manchester Geographical Society.
He keenly desired that some of his
missionaries should be assigned
to Africa. However, Vaughan was
unimpressed by any boasting about the
growing extent of the British Empire.
Such boasting, he wrote, is “vanity
and weakness...whatever the character
of the conqueror or the intentions of
their government.” His motivation
was rather “to put down the curse of
African slavery and to establish in its
place the voluntary and sweet service
of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In 1895 the first group of five
Mill Hill Missionaries arrived in the
Protectorate of Uganda. They were
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welcomed by the mainly French
White Fathers who had begun
missionary work in 1879. A civil
war of 1892 had created the
impression that Roman Catholics
were French, and Protestants were
British. The newly-arrived MHM’s
were led by an Englishman, Bishop
Hanlon; the other four included a
Dutchman, an Irishman, and two
Scots - Frs James Prendergast from
Dundee, and Thomas Matthews
from Dumfries. Fr Matthews was
to spend the rest of his life in
Uganda, dying on Easter Sunday
1942. He was the last survivor of
that first group that had made the
arduous journey on foot from the
coast to Kampala. His fellow Scot,
Fr Prendergast, however was dead
within five years of his arrival.
Surviving letters to headquarters
from the missionaries give vivid
descriptions of their journey to their
new mission, and the early years of
the Mill Hill Mission. Their ‘caravan’
had set out from Mombasa on the
East African coast on June 22nd and
arrived in Kampala, Uganda, on
September 26th. They covered on
average 13 to 14 miles a day, but with
many interruptions on the way. The
‘caravan’ consisted of over 160 people
- including ‘askaris’ (armed guards),
porters, cooks, tent-boys, guides, etc.
These were recruited with the help
of a local agent, who also procured
a number of donkeys - for carrying
goods and sometimes the missionaries
themselves. Fr Prendergast wrote he’d
been appointed ‘chef de cuisine’ for
the journey, while Fr Matthews was to
First Caravan to Uganda 1895.
Bp Hanlon is seated and Fr James
Prendergast is on the left of the picture,
and beside him is Fr Thomas Matthews.
be in charge of the tents.
Five weeks into the journey Bishop
Hanlon wrote, “During the first three
weeks of our travels from Mombasa we
were nearly roasted, and the skin was
crisped from our faces; during the past
fortnight it has often been scorching
hot during late morning and early
afternoon, and very cold at night and
early morning. During the past week
we have slept nearly every night in a
Scotch mist...We have each a donkey
to ride when we are tired, but for the
most part do our marches on foot...
We are one of the few caravans that
have come so far without losing some
men by death, either from disease or
exposure or wild animals or equally
wild natives of the Interior.” At times
there was a shortage of food and/
or water; other times they had to
negotiate large swamps, or cross big
rivers. Porters were often difficult to
handle, and some disappeared with
their loads. “Of the 160 men who
made up our caravan on leaving the
coast, 26 deserted and caused us great
inconvenience; eleven were left sick
at different stations on the way...three
died, and a fourth was speared to death
by the remorseless Wanandi tribe.”
Two hundred warriors of this warlike
tribe had attacked an advance party of
the caravan of the Protestant Church
Missionary Society (CMS) that was
following the same trail as the MHM
group. All but seven of the 31 porters
were killed. Bishop Hanlon had been
forced by exhaustion and the desertion
of porters to leave behind eleven crates
in charge of an askari. The crates were
to be brought on later. Four of these
were abandoned on the road, the rest
were carried by porters who joined up
with the CMS caravan, but were then
ransacked by the Wanandi. Many
valuable items were thus lost.
Arrived at last at their destination,
Fr Prendergast wrote: “By the help of
God and the assistance of the prayers
of all our friends at home, we have
accomplished the task - to journey
on foot for two months and a half
through barren desolate country,
through jungle and swamp, through
the midst of thieves and murderers,
through paths infested by wild beasts
and savage natives. Thanks be to God,
we are all in good health, in spite of
the terrors and dangers we had to pass
through.”
The new missionaries soon began
the serious work of establishing new
missions, learning the language, and
laying the foundations for what was to
become the thriving Church of today.
But five years after his arrival, James
Prendergast succumbed to the deadly
black-water fever. Fr Matthews wrote
home of the great energy his colleague
had brought to his missionary work,
how he had mastered the language,
built the great reed Church at Nsambya,
and was much loved by the people.
Great crowds attended his funeral
Mass. “They flocked to the graveyard
from all parts, and amidst the genuine
sobbing and weeping of his loved and
loving people the remains of dear
Fr Prendergast were laid to rest.”
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‘Karunapuram’
a place of Christian
compassion in India
Fr Thaddeus de Deckere is a member of the General Council. Here he
describes a recent visit to his former area of missionary work.
In January of this year I was in
our Training Centre for Mill Hill
Missionaries in India. The staff had
requested me to give two short
courses to our students there, and
they gave me a warm welcome when
I arrived on 4th of January. The
Centre is situated at a place called
Karunapuram which is a three hour
bus trip away from the mega-city of
Hyderabad in the state of Andhra
Pradesh After having been in the
over-crowded city for some days it
was a relief to breathe the fresh air of
rural India.
Student outing
on a lake.
Karunapuram is a big campus of
several hundreds of acres in size.
It is home to some 20 educational
institutes as well as institutes for the
care of the sick, the handicapped, a
school for deaf and dumb children,
a leprosarium and a care centre for
those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Besides that there is outreach to the
poor through social programmes.
These institutes are run by a variety
of religious congregations as well
as the local diocese. Karunapuram
(which means: place of compassion)
is a true oasis for the sick and needy,
and for children and youngsters in
need of good quality education.
It is the realisation of the dream
of an Italian missionary who had
the foresight some 50 years ago
to buy this plot of land which was
considered wasteland on which
nothing would grow. Our Mill Hill
Formation house is situated on the
edge of the campus, right next to the
care centre of HIV/AIDS patients.
At present there are over 50 Mill
Hill students preparing for life as a
missionary. Without much difficulty
I adjusted to the rhythm of the life
of the community, which revolves
around study and manual work
on the one hand, and prayer and
recreation on the other.
It was encouraging to see
how the students are gradually
developing a vision of care for
the world in which we live: sociopastoral
care for the people as
well as care for the environment,
God’s beautiful creation. During
Fr Thaddeus visiting the Fatima Sisters,
founded by MHM Mgr F.X.Kroot.
my stay I witnessed how the student
community undertook a cleaning
drive of the area surrounding the
nearby hospital, removing heaps
of rubbish that visitors and passersby
had carelessly thrown there.
Hopefully the students’ efforts
will contribute to a gradual rise in
environmental awareness, which
is still largely lacking among great
sections of the population.
The MHM Formation House in
Karunapuram.
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Students at prayer, India.
The courses went well. We
studied the history of the
Mill Hill Missionaries in the
Indian subcontinent, which
began in 1875 with the
arrival by boat of the first
band of four missionaries
in Chennai (Madras). The
students engaged well also
in the course on Vacation
Discernment which was meant to
help them get a clearer idea of what
God might be calling each one to.
On the last evening of my stay the
students displayed their
talents in a colourful
cultural evening, filled
with skits, jokes, song
and dance. It has been
a worthwhile as well as
a pleasant stay with our
Mill Hill Community in
MHM meeting in India.
Karunapuram, and I wish both staff
and students God’s richest blessings
as they strive to be a model Christian
Community.
From Ipad to….“I am”
by Bernard Fox MHM, Bamenda, 1st May 2013
Blue skies pushed through the
Cameroon clouds on Friday l9th April
as we gathered in Jakiri, Cameroon for
the priestly ordinations of two young
Cameroonian Mill Hill missionaries,
Rev Fred NgwangussemYangnyi and
Rev Anthony Emeka. It was for me a
trip down memory lane as I had often
passed through Jakiri when I was
working as a MHM in Mayo Darle in
the 1980s - sometimes transporting
patients from our Health Centre
along the +300 kms journey to the
Catholic hospital at Shisong. The
Catholic church, perched on a hill
overlooking Jakiri, was built like a
pagoda by a Mill Hill missionary who
had worked in Malaysia and was full
to capacity as Bishop George Nkuo
and ten MHM priests processed into
it - to be greeted by over 1000 faithful
singing and dancing and thanking
God that He had chosen two young
men from among them to go out as
Mill Hill missionaries, just as he had
chosen young men from Scotland in
the past to go as His messengers to
Cameroon away back in 1922.
In his homily, bishop George noted
that Frs Fred and Anthony were
children of the iPad/iPhone/iPod
generation. He challenged them to
14
Silver Circle Winners
December 2012: 249 Taylor £25 • 19 McGuire £15 • 203 Joyce £10
December 2012: 257 McQuaid £25 • 146 Hughes £15 • 69 Hamilton £10
January 2013: 5 Corvi £25 • 148 LLewellyn £15 • 278 Caban £10
February 2013: 110 Hughes £25 • 27 Burrrows £15 • 143 Hendry £10
March 2013: 173 Hendry £25 • 96 Lafferty £15 • 24 Doogan £10
April: 2013: 72 Clynes £25 • 236 Heraghty £15 • 161 Travers £10
May 2013: 323 O’Sullivan £25 • 241 Denton £10 • 327 Traynor £10
June 2013: 104 McLaughlin £25 • 144 Gallacher £15 • 19 McGuire £10
Congratulations to them all.
15

help the people to whom they were
being sent not to become enslaved by
the modern gods on offer, symbolised
by the iPad and all that this represents.
Instead, said the bishop, the new
missionaries must help their people
see that only the One who said “I am”
could offer true freedom.
I was inwardly wondering whether
the local people, mostly farmers, had
ever seen an iPad. When we emerged
from the church three hours later
and took my place beside the bishop
and the two newly ordained MHMs I
looked at the battery of photographers
and, sure enough, one of them was
“snapping” away - with an iPad!
Fr Fred will be going to Northern
Uganda, to Panyangara, where Fr
Gerry Hastie spend many happy
years. He will be working in the
same Catholic mission where one
of our young Irish MHMs, Fr Declan
O’Toole, was killed in an ambush after
speaking out against army brutality
during a de-arming operation.
Fr Anthony is appointed to the
diocese of Malindi, on the coast of
Kenya. He will be going to a place
near where St Francis Xavier stopped
off for a few days in 1542 to bury two
soldiers who had died on board the
ship that was taking him to Asia to
preach the Gospel to the people there.
In his homily on 19th March, the
feast of St Joseph, the day he was
installed as the successor to Benedict
XVI, Pope Francis referred to St Joseph,
saying that as St Joseph protected and
cared for Mary and Jesus, so he saw
his role as Bishop of Rome as one of
protecting and caring for the Church.
He went further, challenging all
people, Catholic or not, to care for the
earth and its people. He said:” It means
respecting each of God’s creatures and
respecting the environment in which
we live. It means showing loving
concern for each and every person,
especially children, the elderly, those
in need who are often the last we
think about.”
Surely this is a wonderful summary
of the Good News of Jesus…the Good
News that we are invited to welcome:
as God respects and cares for us so must
we care and respect and love everyone
and everything He has created.
This is the message that our newly
ordained missionaries will be taking
to Malindi and Karmamoja - but it is
also the message that we are called to
live in Motherwell and Kilmarnock,
Clarkston and Cardonald!
In the Land of the
Fiery Mountain
From small beginnings the Church in Cameroon has grown dramatically; a
memoir written in his retirement by Bishop John Campling recalls the early days.
“About 8.00 at night the Captain
called me to come up to the bridge.
Pointing straight ahead he said,
‘Look, there is your future now.’ On
the distant horizon there was a large
red glow like the setting of the sun. It
was the burning Mount Cameroon.”
So wrote Mgr John Campling in a
memoir recalling his arrival with three
other young MHM’s in the new MH
mission of Cameroon. It was March
1922. John Campling came from
Partick in Glasgow and had started
his missionary work in Uganda. He
had been appointed ‘Prefect Apostolic’
to lead the first group of MHM’s to
what had been until 1914 German
Kamerun. At the outbreak of the First
World War the British and the French
took control of the country, the British
part effectively being administered
from Nigeria.
The four missionaries had travelled
by boat along the coast of West Africa,
calling at Freetown in Sierra Leone,
and then at Lagos and Calabar in
Nigeria. The Holy Ghost Fathers in
Calabar had mentioned that Mount
Cameroon was volcanic and liable to
erupt periodically, but the Mill Hill
men had taken little note of this. Now
their boat drew nearer to the great
mountain. “What a sight it was” wrote
Bishop Campling. “... over 15,000 feet
Results of Annual Prize Draw June 1st 2013
1st Prize: £200 K. Brown Motherwell
2nd Prize: £100 M. Hagan Ayr
3d Prize: £50 G. McKeown Spears Town, Co Donegal
£10 Prizes: B.McGee; McCowan; B.Carey; G.Entrican; K.McColgan
The ‘outstanding’ pioneer catechist
Matthias Efiem (centre, wearing his
Papal Medal, standing beside Fr Bill
Congratulations to them all.
Tollan) on occasion of his Golden Wedding.
16 17

high, on it were two craters belching
forth a fiery stream of lava which was
a mile broad and flowed down for five
miles into the sea. Plantations, houses,
and even the fish in the sea were
destroyed. The burning lava thrown
up in the air was all sizes, forms and
colour, and some of the fiery material
was the size of a large table. It was a
sight never to be forgotten.”
The young missionaries were
understandably apprehensive about
this land of fire to which they were
heading. “It was late when we retired
with not too cheerful thoughts to our
cabins.” Next day they reached Bota,
the small port near the town of Victoria.
After coming ashore by launch they
made their way to Bota Mission - built
by the German missionaries who had
all been expelled at the outbreak of
the First World War. They found a
fine Church, a presbytery, and various
out-houses - all well-built, and cared
for in the absence of the Germans by
the catechists. Outstanding among
the latter was Matthias Efiem who
was to spend the rest of his long life
in the service of the Church working
alongside our missionaries. One of
the European officials told Bishop
Campling how the Catechists had
edified everyone by their faith and
loyalty to their work. Every Sunday for
seven years, in the absence of a priest,
they held devotions in the Church and
gave instruction in the faith.
From Bota the erupting craters on
the mountain were not visible, though
at night a great ominous glow would
light up the sky. Within a month the
eruptions ceased, “and mighty glad we
all felt.” The Germans had established
two other Missions higher up the
mountain slope, - Bonjongo - about
6 miles away, and still higher - Sasse -
The old German Church at Bonjongo.
eight miles further. Again, there were
good buildings - including a primary
school which was run by the head
catechist. The German colonizers
had established extensive oil-palm
plantations, giving employment to
many people, and attracting labourers
from great distances. In fact, the
local Bakweri people were heavily
outnumbered in the plantations by
people of other tribes. Hence the
importance of Pidgin English - the
‘lingua franca’ for all the tribes - and
soon adopted by the missionaries as
the language for Christian instruction.
Within a few years of the arrival of the
Mill Hill Missionaries the numbers of
Catholic Christians increased rapidly.
Much of the increase was attributable
to the efforts of the catechists in the
workers’ ‘camps’ scattered throughout
the plantations. Bishop Campling
wrote of an assistant teacher in Sasse
taking time-off to spend some weeks
labouring in the plantations to obtain
money to pay his father’s tax. On his
return he said he had taught many of
his fellow-labourers all the ‘doctrine’ he
knew; there was need now for a good
Catechist to give fuller instruction
and prepare them for Baptism. The
departed German missionaries had
left yet another valuable legacy that
greatly assisted the rapid growth of the
Church: they had recognised the rich
musical ability of the people. Bishop
Campling wrote, “Their singing of
plain chant and of polyphonic music
also, was a pleasant surprise.”
Campling had made his
headquarters in Bonjongo, from where
on a clear day there was a wonderful
view of the bay below and over 50 miles
away the island of Fernando Po - a
perfectly-shaped volcanic cone. About
a year after their arrival, a very severe
earthquake shook the house shortly
after midnight. Next day further
alarming tremors were experienced. A
boy working in the house was thrown
to the ground, and one of the priests
came rushing from the Church fearing
the building was falling down. “But
that was just the beginning; shocks
occurred daily, hourly, and at times
two or three in the hour...there was a
sound like thunder down in the earth,
a rattling of the iron roof, the creaking
of the stairs, a shaking of doors and
windows, and the queer oscillation of
the bed, floor and ground; even the
birds were disturbed and twittered in
alarm.” It seemed as if “a powerful
explosive force was seeking an outlet,
and that it may happen just where
we are. It persisted for a full month
and was indeed a most harrowing
experience. It was the best retreat I ever
made.”
Until then the new missionaries had
confined their work to the existing
missions near the coast. But their
mission was to be to all the people of
what was now British West Cameroon.
The Germans had started missions in
a few other places further inland. The
furthest-away of these was near Kumbo
- 150 miles north. John Campling
A young Fr Campling.
The Fon on his throne, Cameroon.
Fon’s warriors at his Palace.
18 19

set off for Kumbo on a long trek on
foot that took him through the thick
equatorial forest and then up into the
Bamenda Highlands. Along with him
went a catechist, cook, and fourteen
porters - to carry all that was needed
for the journey, cooking utensils, Mass
box, clothes, table, chairs, oil-lamp,
etc. The length of the daily marches
varied from nine to 27 miles; they set
out before sunrise before the sun got
really hot.
One day they reached a large
plantation, and the manager invited
Mgr. Campling to stay for lunch
and tea. Nearby was a large empty
store-house. “The kindly manager
said he could send word around for
the Catholics to gather there if I so
agreed. He then called his drummer
and ordered him to send the necessary
message. This he did from the
verandah by tapping his rat-a-tat on
his drum.” At the appointed time the
Catholics had duly assembled, and the
priest was kept busy with confessions
for the next few hours.
The journey continued for many
days, through thick forest and across
streams and rivers. Some of the rivers
they had to cross by suspensionbridges
made from ‘bush rope’ made
from the abundant creepers that grew
on the trees. Crossing such bridges was
a scary experience, especially when the
fibres had begun to disintegrate. On
one occasion the party had made the
crossing as darkness was falling. It was
only next day in the daylight that they
saw how near to breaking-point the
rope-bridge was.
The forest gradually gave way to
grassland as the travellers climbed
up into the highlands. At Bali they
found a lively Christian community,
with a good catechist and a well-built
bush church. The people were eager
to receive the Sacraments after such
a long interval. The local ‘Fon’ (or
King) received them at his palace. He
was seated on his elaborately carved
throne, an elephant’s tusk as his
footstool. That night Mgr Campling
was awakened by the sound of horns
being blown at about 3.00 am. At
breakfast he was informed that the
Fon’s warriors had been summoned
to make an attack on a neighbouring
tribe.
After many more days of marching
the party reached their destination
of Kumbo where there was a wellestablished
Mission Station begun by
the Germans. The journey had given
John Campling an overview of the task
ahead of the Mill Hill Missionaries in
this part of Cameroon. He began to
lay his plans for the future. However,
two years after his arrival in Cameroon
he was to return to his original area
of missionary work - in Uganda, but
this time as Bishop. Before leaving
Cameroon in 1924 he reported that the
‘Prefecture’ of Cameroon had about
4,000 Catholics, five mission stations
and schools, and eight Mill Hill priests.
The Fon of Njinikom with Archbishop
and Bishops.
Today this same part of Cameroon
has an Archdiocese and three other
Dioceses, with five bishops (one an
Auxiliary to the Archbishop) - all
of whom are Cameroonians, and
over 700,000 Catholics. Most of
the priests, Religious Sisters and
Brothers, are Cameroonians. The
Major Seminary at Bambui has over
200 seminarians; our own Mill Hill
Cameroonian seminarians do their 3
Obituaries
LET US PRAY FOR OUR DEAD
Recently Deceased Mill Hill Missionaries
Fr Brian Ahern : see separate obituary notice.
Fr Gerard Vermeulen Born in the Netherlands,
Gerard was ordained at Mill Hill in 1951, and appointed
to our mission in India. For over 30 years he worked
among the poorest of the poor in Nellore and Kurnool.
Returning to the Netherlands in 1982 due to illness, he
worked as a chaplain before spending his last years in
retirement.
Fr Leo van Ruijven Ordained at Mill Hill in 1964, Fr
Leo was appointed to Kenya - where he was to spend the
rest of his life, in spite of ongoing struggles with ill
health. He worked in parishes, in the seminary, and in
the diocesan administration.
Fr Louis Purcell Born in Lancashire, Fr Louis was
ordained in 1956 and appointed to our mission in
Sabah, Malaysia. He was expelled in 1970 with most of
our other MHM’s by the pro-Muslim local government
of the day. For the next six years he worked in the British
Region - as Rector of Lochwinnoch and then as Regional.
In 1976 he was elected to the General Council on which
he served for 12 years. He returned to his first mission in
1989, but was refused a work permit after two years.
After three years in our mission on the Falkland Islands,
he then worked in various capacities in our UK houses,
until his retirement to Herbert House in 2009.
Fr Jan van Leeuwen Born in the Netherlands in 1928
Fr Jan was ordained at Mill Hill in 1955, and appointed
to our mission in the Philippines. He worked there in
various parishes, and in hospital ministry until 1998.
Returning to his home country he became chaplain in a
Care home where he stayed until his retirement in 2005.
years of Philosophy studies at Bambui
before continuing to Nairobi for their
Theology.
The arrival of the first MHM’s in
1922 was heralded by fire on the
mighty Mount Cameroon. The fire of
Faith has spread widely throughout
the land they came to evangelise, and
now is being carried from Cameroon
to many other parts of the world.
Fr Brendan Jordan Fr Brendan’s death on May 29th
came as a great shock to his colleagues and many friends
- in Uganda, where he spent most of his missionary life,
and in his native Ireland. Ordained in 1969 Fr Brendan
studied theology at Louvain, and taught in seminaries in
Uganda until 1984. He was then involved in renewal
programmes for priests and religious, in Uganda, and
later for his MHM confreres throughout the world. He
was preparing to assist in such a renewal programme for
our senior members in October of this year when the
first signs appeared of the illness which proved to be
terminal. He lived through years of unrest, turmoil, and
civil war in Uganda, but remained enthusiastic and
cheerful in his varied ministries. .
Recently Deceased Friends and Benefactors
Fr Michael McNamee ((Parish Priest of St Leonard’s,
East Kilbride)
Fr Francis Kennedy (Archdiocese of Glasgow;
missionary in Argentina)
Lynda Flynn (Falkirk)
Mrs Ellen McCall (Faifley)
Malcolm MacLellan (King’s Park)
Anne Gilroy (Cardonald): Anne was a prominent
member of the ‘Friends of Mill Hill’ for many years. In
spite of growing disability she attended the monthly
meetings, was involved in various fundraising activities,
and showed a continued concern for and interest in the
MHM’s and their work. We are most grateful to her for
all she was and all she did on our behalf.
20 21

Young Indian MHM’s
tell their stories
Fr Suresh mhm in Baswar
In the Autumn 2012 issue of ‘St Joseph’s
Advocate’, Indian MHM Fr Suresh
Pachikalapadu wrote of his new mission
of Baswar in a hitherto unevangelized
part of India.
He told of the
backwardness
of the people
in that part
of the vast
subcontinent,
and their need
for programmes
of basic health
care and
education. It
was decided that
the proceeds of
our annual Prize
Draw should go
towards assisting
Fr Suresh in
his work. After
Fr Suresh Sharing a
meal with a local
family.
Fr Suresh’s Stormtossed
house
paying printing costs and the prizes,
we were able to send him the sum of
£1,300.
Meanwhile, in a recent letter, Fr
Suresh wrote of being joined by other
MHM colleagues to prepare to travel
to a meeting for young members in
faraway Hyderabad. In the evening a
powerful storm blew up and almost
blew away the flimsy house in which
the priests were to spend the night. The
accompanying photo tells its own story!
Fr Kocherla mhm in Vishnupur
Fr Kocherla is
another young
Indian MHM
working In a
different part
of the same
diocese of
Ambikapur, Fr Kocherla with his
people.
in the village
of Vishunpur.
He writes that he works, with another
young Indian MHM, mainly among the
Kudaku - the most neglected of all the
tribal peoples. These people depend for
their livelihood on the resources of the
forest. The young missionaries face the
challenges of child marriage, bonded
labour, illiteracy, alcoholism, and
superstition. However, the people have
a rich culture expressed in traditional
song and dance, and in this way they
express their unity and distinctive
identity. The young priests live very
simply, doing their own cooking and
fetching water from the well like the
villagers themselves. At times they are
troubled at night time by drunkards,
or by the Hindu Fundamentalists.
Fortunately, the local people have stood
by them, and give them their support
and encouragement.
Fr Nicholas Abba mhm in
Cameroon
Fr Nicholas writes about his missionary
work in the Diocese of Kumbo,
Fr Nicholas on trek to
one of the many
outstations.
Fr Brian died in Southport
on 3d March 2013,
aged 80. He hailed from
Lochee, Dundee – the
same place as an earlier
MHM Dundonian, Fr
James Prendergast (see
article in this issue about
the pioneer MHM’s in
Uganda.)
Brian began his journey
to the missionary
priesthood at St Joseph’s
Cameroon. The parish of
Elak Oku has 28 outstations,
many of them reachable
only on foot. The parish
has 12 primary schools and
five nursery schools, though
some of these consist only of
one or two rooms. Fr Nicholas
is intrigued by the traditional
beliefs of the people, and the
tension these create with
our Christian faith. The
village of Elak is one of the
highest in Cameroon, and
is surrounded by steep hills
Fr Brian Ahern R.I.P.
Fr Brian in the
sugar-cane fields,
Peru.
College, Lochwinnoch.
He was ordained at
Mill Hill on July 7th
1957. After obtaining a degree at
Cambridge he was appointed to our
Sarawak mission, where he taught in St
Anthony’s Secondary School. From 1964
to 1970 he was on the staff of St John’s
Seminary, Hyderabad, India. Later he
worked in mission promotion in USA
and valleys. The people are
very industrious, and grow a
variety of crops in the fertile
soil; the region is famous
for its coffee and honey.
This young missionary has
found a welcome among the
people of Oku and enjoys his
work among them - in spite
of the hardships of adapting
to a new culture so different
from his own. He concludes,
“If God brings me to it, He
will bring me through it!”
and at Mill Hill. From 1981
he worked in Chimbote, Peru,
then in our mission in Chile,
moving to Guayaquil, Ecuador
in 1993. Back in England, he
worked in mission promotion
in Freshfield, Durham, and
Manchester. He eventually
retired to Herbert House,
Freshfield; for the last five years
Alzheimer’s disease necessitated
his residence in a specialised
care home in Southport.
Fr Brian had a long, varied, and
colourful missionary life – being
involved in education, priestly
formation, and a variety of pastoral and
missionary work on three continents.
He was a man of great intelligence, and
an excellent linguist. He brought great
enthusiasm to his work wherever he
went, and had great compassion for the
poor. May he rest in peace.
22 23

MILL HILL NEWS
There is
Seven New Mill Hill Missionary Priests
• On 6th April two young Indians were
ordained to the missionary priesthood
at Ramanthapur, India: Fr Thomas
Yellavula and Fr Sleevaraj
Manchanappally.
• On 19th April, at Jakiri, Kumbo Diocese,
Cameroon, Fr Frederick Yangnyi and Fr
Anthony Emeka were ordained.
• On 25th April, at Kisumu, Kenya, Fr
Philip Odhiambo was ordained.
• On 27th April, in Iloilo, Philippines, Fr
Reynel Estroso Tanalgo, was ordained
• On 11th May, in Mukumu, Kakamega
Diocese, Kenya, Fr Francis Bitute
Makuba was ordained.
Our ‘MISSION DAY’ on June 1st was a
great success. This took the place of the
annual ‘Summer Fair’, and provided an
opportunity for many of our friends to
gather to pray for our missionary work,
and to celebrate our common
involvement in Mission. Fr John Kirwan,
from our Congo mission, presided at the
opening Mass and spoke movingly about
his work in that troubled land. After Mass,
tea and sandwiches were available, and all
were able to view the displays illustrating
our missionary work in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America. Many thanks to all who
worked so hard to prepare the exhibits,
to those who worked on the catering, to
the Sisters of Nazareth for the use of
their Chapel, and to those who provided
the music.
Fr Mark Connolly was with us in
Cardonald for a few months as he waited,
yet again, to renew his visa for India. He
returned to his post at Pargi on June 3d,
where he has been re-appointed Rector
and director of our ‘orientation’
programme, preparing young men for
possible acceptance as candidates for the
missionary priesthood. The proceeds of
the collection taken up at the Mission Day
Mass went to Fr Mark to assist in local
projects to assist poor people in the area.
P.S. I would like to thank the many people
who showed their concern and kept me in
their prayers during my recent illness.
Thankfully, I’ve made a good recovery.
Fr Bill Tollan
We all take Climate change
more seriously
We stop wasting billions on
nuclear weapons
We support the work of SCIAF
and other organizations to
bring about fair and ethical
trading
We realize our common global
citizenship
We become better informed
about world hunger and how
it can be tackled
REMEMBER:
• One in every 8 people around
the world don’t have enough to eat
• 870 million people in the world
are starving
• 2 billion people suffer from
malnutrition
• 1.4 billion people (mainly in the
developed Western countries) are
overweight and obese
• A child dies from hunger every 10
seconds
• 25% of children in the poorest
countries (165 million people)
are stunted in brain or body
(though this is an improvement on
1990 when the figure was 40%!)
“A future without hunger can
become a reality if the only
things we are hungry for are
sharing, solidarity and justice.”
Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, President
of Caritas Internationalis
Our best hopes for solving World
Hunger lie (according to ‘The
Observer’ June 9th 2013) in:
• Support Small Farmers (there is
an 8 out of 10 chance of such efforts
succeeding)
• Target Infant Nutrition (there is
a 9 out of 10 chance of such efforts
succeeding)
“There are seven deadly social sins:
Politics without principle’
Wealth without work.
Commerce without morality.
Pleasure without conscience.
Education without character.
Science without humility.
Worship without sacrifice.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Mission Day was a great success.
24 25

Our Scots
MHM Jubilarians
We extend our congratulations and best wishes to
our jubilarians, and wish them many more years of
‘love and service.’
Diamond Jubilee
Fr John Sweeney: born
in Rutherglen, he attended
Our Lady’s
High School,
Motherwell;
ordained in
1953 in the
unlikely setting
A young
Fr. John Sweeney
leaving for
Uganda.
of Olympia
Exhibition
Hall, he studied
at Glasgow
University, and
taught in the minor seminary in
Freshfield until 1965. Appointed
to Uganda, he taught for 22 years
in Namilyango College, living
through the dangerous years of
the reigns of Presidents Idi Amin
and Milton Obote. Asked to visit
in prison a British associate of
Amin, Bob Astles, this led to a
prison apostolate that continued
for many years. Until his return
to Britain in 2007 Fr John was
in charge of a parish in Jinja
Diocese. After some years in
Cardonald, where he did many
‘supplies’ in Motherwell Diocese,
he retired to Herbert House, our
retirement house at Freshfield,
near Southport.
Golden Jubilees
Fr Joseph Holmes was born
in Dumfries and educated at the
local Marist
St Joseph’s
College and
then our MHM
seminaries.
Ordained in
1963 he served
on the staff of
Fr Joe Holmes. our College at
Lochwinnoch, and then for many
years in Kenya. He was on home
leave when the Pan Am flight
was blown up over Lockerbie,
and found himself caught-up
in ministering to the victims
and survivors. Fr Joe was later in
charge of our MHM houses in
Durham and Cardonald. Since
2004 he was happy to be able to
spend the final years of
his active ministry in his own
Diocese of Galloway, as Parish
Priest of Annan.
Fr James Dalziel was born of
Scottish parents in Mysore, India,
where his father
worked as an
engineer. Both
his parents
died there,
and James
returned to
Scotland with
Fr James Dalziel. his brother. He
was educated at
St Aloysius College, before
beginning his training as an
MHM. After ordination and some
higher studies he was appointed
to our mission in Kashmir, later
moving to Hyderabad. He was
chaplain in the Bangalore Medical
School for ten years, and then
for a further ten years was again
in Hyderabad, assisting in the
setting-up of our new Formation
House. He returned to Britain after
almost 40 years missionary work
in India, and was assistant to the
Rector of our Retirement house
in Freshfield. He is still chaplain
to the Mill Hill Sisters’ retirement
house in Burnley, Lancashire.
Silver Jubilee
Fr John McAulay is from
Clydebank: as a boy he attended
our MH Colleges
before his
ordination in
1988. He was
appointed to
our mission
in Cameroon,
where he
worked for a
Fr John McAulay. number of years
before moving
to the even more challenging
environment of Sindh, Pakistan.
There Fr John worked among the
Kohli tribal people. For the last
few years he has been engaged
in mission promotion work in
England, but recently was also
appointed to be in charge of the
Mill Hill website.
26 27

St. Joseph’s House, 30 Lourdes Avenue, Cardonald, Glasgow G52 3QU.
Tel: 0141 883 0139. Email: tollanmhm@yahoo.co.uk
Mill Hill Website: www.millhillmissionaries.com
Registered Charity Number: SCO39809