Summer 2012 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

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Summer 2012 Advocate:Layout 1 19/07/2012 12:14 Page 2AdvocateSummer 2012 Volume 52 No. 2ST JOSEPH’S ADVOCATEPublished by:Mill Hill MissionariesEditor:Fr. Jim O’Connell.Printed in Ireland by:Modern Printers, Kilkenny.CONTENTSEditorial 2 Jubilarians 16Eucharistic Congress 4 50 Years Later - Still in the U.S.A. 21Memories of Basankusu 8 10th Anniversary - Declan O’Toole 24A Week in Africa’s Newest Country 11 Africa - Be Missionaries 28The Story of a Painting 14 Obituaries 31Front Cover:Inside Back Cover:Back Cover:. Donal Harney, mhm.. Promote Our Magazine.. Jim O’Connell, mhm.Photo Credits: . Richard Njoroge, Ita O’Toole, Fons Zppink, Bart Daly.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSGrateful Thanks to all our ContributorsMISSION OFFERINGSAll Postal Orders and Cheques to be sent direct to us atMill Hill Missionaries, Waterford Road, Kilkenny.All Bank Giros to be sent direct toBank of Ireland, Parliament St., Kilkenny A/c No. 10914412Mill Hill MissionariesSt. Joseph’sWaterford Road, KilkennyTel: (056) 7721482 (Office)E.mail: jimocmhm@eircom.netFax No. (056) 7751490Mill Hill Missionaries50 Orwell ParkRathgarDublin 6Tel: (01) 4127700E.mail: josephmhm@eircom.netSt Mary’s Parish25 Marquis StreetBelfast BT1 1JJTel: 04890 320482
Summer 2012 Advocate:Layout 1 19/07/2012 12:14 Page 3In the late nineteen sixties, whenour home church was being renovated,the large statue of St.Joseph was removed from thechurch. At first, we thought it wasa temporary absence, but it becameclear when the work wascompleted that the statue of St.Joseph was not returning. My fathergot quite upset about it andwe learned for the first time that the previousgeneration of our family had paid for thestatue of St. Joseph when the church wasbuilt.Some time later, my father raised the matterwith the Canon (Parish Priest), when he camefor the ‘Station Mass’ (House Mass) in ourarea. My father asked why St. Joseph’s statuewas removed from the church, and wanted toknow where it was. The Canon made light ofit, saying that there were too many statuesand the New Liturgy did not encourage this.He obviously did not realise it was such asensitive issue for my father. I doubt if hewas prepared for my father’s response, whenhe said: ‘if you only knew all the hardshipthat was involved in scraping together theFROM THE EDITORFr. Jim O’Connell,mhmmoney to pay for that statue.’The Canon took things a bit moreseriously then, as my father explainedthat our family had paidfor it and that most of the moneyhad come from selling eggs andchickens - at a time when therewas little or no money around. St.Joseph was back in the church afew weeks later – though he wasplaced at the back rather than the front!This incident brought home to me that devotionto St. Joseph ran deep in our family backthe generations. The same can be said formany families, if our experience of ‘St.Joseph’s Novena’ each March is somethingto go by. In the weeks leading up to theNovena, we receive thousands of letters; thisyear, we received over 8000 letters. Theseletters contain the petition envelope, a donation,and sometimes a personal letter. The petitionenvelopes are placed (unopened) in abaskets beside the statue of St. Joseph, upnear the Altar in our church. They remainthere during the Novena and are later shredded.The personal letters get a personal responsefrom one of the priests here. PeopleMILL HILLPILGRIMAGE TO KNOCKSATURDAY JUNE 9th, 2012Transport arranged from SOME areas - or make your own travel arrangements2DETAILS FROM HILL HILL MISSIONARIESTEL 056-7721482
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Summer 2012 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

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