The Diocese of Mutare & The Carmelites in Zimbabwe - the Irish ...

School and one to look after the Convent. There was some great misunderstanding as to who was in charge of the
Teacher Training School, the Sisters or the Priest in charge and after an intervention by the Bishop, the matter
was resolved and all lived happily ever after!!
Saint ThÑrÖse was badly affected by lightning in the beginning until a lightning conductor was installed. Many
buildings were struck, the telephone was blasted off the office wall, many other dangerous strikes were recorded.
The lightning was attracted to the area by a certain rock formation and Bernard erected a massive conductor and
it was interesting to hear the lightning hopping off the conductor during an electric storm. Another interesting
story is when the Sisters purchased one hundred day-old chicks, the idea of day-old chicks fascinated the local
people at that time, chicks without a mother was beyond them and they actually thought that it was magic,
especially when they saw the little chicks crowding around a lamp after the sun set!! Soon after the chicks were
completely wiped out by a lightning strike and the locals were then thoroughly convinced that the chicks were
unnatural!!
Once the Teacher Training School was completed, Bernard began building the primary school buildings. The local
people helped greatly and came forward to mould bricks and do other necessary chores. The number of Catholics
was expanding and the church building was becoming too small. Tom McLoughlin had difficulty in getting
permission to build a larger church because of finances, but he was not to be put off and after some agreement
with the Bishop, permission was granted, Tom would source funds, the people would contribute and the Diocese
would also contribute!! The same design as at Regina Coeli was used with John Sisk and Co Ltd supplying the
plan.
Since coming to the Mission Father McLoughlin became very interested in the Catholic Association, (C.A.) The
Bishop appointed Tom the Diocesan Representative of the movement and at the Mission he organized and
trained groups of lay people from every walk of life and went to out-schools and outstations to promote the
movement. The slogan was – ‘Better hearts, better homes, better Christians’.
The Teacher Training was very successful and while Tom was regarded as a strict disciplinarian it was a happy
school. The story goes, the male students had a party in the nude one moonlight night while the female students
watched at a distance!! Tom heard of the ‘goings-on’, went to where the party was in full swing and lined the lads
up just as they were and compelled them to march to the graveyard where they had to say a rosary and sing three
hymns!! That cooled things down a bit and discipline was never a problem afterwards!!
During 1961 Father Cyprian Kennedy was transferred to St. Peter’s Mission in the Sabi Valley and he was
replaced by Father Tom Norton. Tom McLoughlin went to Ireland on holidays and Father Leo Gallagher was
assigned to Saint ThÑrÖse Mission. Father Leo did a lot of work on the grounds of the Mission, planted flowers
and made the Mission very attractive for the people living there and for the visitors. Father Leo also built a
hospital with the help of the Sisters from the Netherlands who also staffed the hospital. When the Father went to
the outstations for Mass and to the out-schools, the Sister from the hospital accompanied him so the ‘whole
person’ was catered for, body and soul!! An orphanage was also opened around the same time at the Mission and
of course it was full in no time.
Father Gallagher built an outstation Church at Dowa. It was an important venture because it was the first of
such churches to be built at a Mass centre where there was no school but simply a small and active Catholic
community. Mr Ambrose Majongwe was instrumental in organising the people to support the building of the
church. Mr Majongwe was also very active in the C.A. movement at the Mission as described earlier. Other
centres like St. Rita’s and Padua soon got their own churches. During the early sixties, the Saint ThÑrÖse pastoral
area was divided. Padua, Inyazura and Tandi came under St. Simon Stock Rusape while St. ThÑrÖse retained the
rest of its centres or outstations. In the late sixties the Teacher Training at the Mission became a school for girls
only under the title of T4 (Junior Teachers).
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