Summer 2012 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

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Summer 2012 Advocate:Layout 1 19/07/2012 12:14 Page 2250 Years LaterAnd still in the U.S.A.We guessed that something was wrongwhen we got to immigration and customs andno inspectors were in sight. This was October22, 1962 – the night of the Cuban MissileCrisis. President John F. Kennedy was on TVaddressing the American people and every-21by Fr. Bart Daly, mhm[Fr. Bart Daly, mhm, is celebrating his Golden Jubilee this year. He is in thephotograph (back row - fourth from right) with the group of Mill Hill Missionarieswho were working in the U.S.A. in the 1960’s. The Superior Generalat the time, the late Gerald Mahon is in the photo (seated 2nd from right) withBishop Edward Maginn (Albany) on his right.]ON July 8, 1962, 25 of us wereordained priests at St.Joseph’s College, Mill Hill,and afterwards, we were givenour first appointments by theSuperior General, Fr. ThomasMcLaughlin.Those appointments would scatter usacross the world from Asia, to Africa, toAmerica - and to this day many of us havenever met again. I was assigned to America,to Slingerlands as it was then called. It wasnear Albany, New York.On a beautiful October day I boarded aflight at Shannon and flew westward with thesun to Idlewild International airport in NewYork. As the Aer Lingus flight made its finalapproach and the magical lights of New Yorkrushed up to greet us, none of us on board hadthe slightest inkling that we would be landingin the midst of an international crisis.
Summer 2012 Advocate:Layout 1 19/07/2012 12:14 Page 23body (including airport personnel) was gluedto the television. It was the night that theworld stood on the brink of nuclear war.American reconnaissance flights had revealedthe installation of Soviet offensive nuclearweapons on the island of Cuba. Thesewere capable of striking major Americancities like New York, Washington, andPhiladelphia.President Kennedy called for a blockadearound Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from deliveringmore missiles to the island. USarmed forces were at their highest state ofalert that night. US planes with nuclearweapons capable of striking Russia were inthe air and at the precise moment thatKennedy began his speech to the nation, USplanes headed south from bases in Florida towardsCuba. The crisis lasted for seven daysand finally the Soviets agreed to remove themissiles from Cuba, transporting them on thedecks of the ships so that American reconnaissanceplanes could count them and makesure that all had been removed.Names that were poetryto my earsFather Pierre Heymans was at the airport.He was the Superior in Albany and the nominalSuperior of Mill Hill in America. WithFr. Hugh Lee at the wheel, we drove to Manhattanand as we headed South on the EastRiver Drive, I recall Hugh pointing out thewonderful sights, the UN Building, the EmpireState, the string of bridges over the EastRiver, New York aglow in a thousand pointsof light.When we arrived at the crowded andbustling Port Authority bus station - to take abus to Albany - I listened in awe to the PublicAddress system announcing the names ofAmerican cities that were poetry to my ears.Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Pittsburgh,22Pennsylvania; Wheeling, West Virginia;Bloomington, Indiana.The bus trip to Albany seemed endless.One of the brothers picked us up at the busstation and brought us finally to our destination,the Mill Hill house in Slingerlands. Thefollowing morning I was driven to St. Luke’sParish in Schenectady to celebrate a funeralmass – a sung high mass complete with a deaconand sub-deacon. It was my first.The Mill Hill community in Slingerlandswas large: 8 priests, 4 brothers, some MillHill Sisters and a number of seminarians.These attended classes at the local diocesanseminary, where one of the Mill Hill priestswas on the staff.The Mill Hill group in thoseearly daysWhat I recall mostly from those early dayswas the great spirit of vitality and energy ofthe Mill Hill group. Mill Hill was new to thecountry – just about 10 years – and in additionto Albany there were foundations in St.Louis and Los Angeles. The first three Americans(our classmates for four years at MillHill ) had been ordained the previous July;there were seminarians in Albany, St. Louisand even Mill Hill itself.The first session of the Second VaticanCouncil was underway; the Kennedys werein Washington, youthful, restless and full ofvigor as they summoned America to NewFrontiers In a phrase beloved of Ronald Reagan:‘It was morning in America’.In those years the priests were mostly engagedin promoting Mill Hill through talks,slide shows, mission appeals, recruiting ofvocations, giving weekend Retreats; and allof us were helping out in the local parishes.The brothers ran the farm.I was assigned to weekend work in a place
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Summer 2012 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

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