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

four Sisters arrived at Regina Coeli. Again like the Sisters of Charity, two were nurses, one teacher and one Sister
to look after the Convent. Regina Coeli escaped the ‘troubles of the war’ for a number of years as it was on one of
the main routes for those who were going to Mozambique for training. The mission is only a few miles from the
border with Mocambique. It was during 1977 when the freedom fighters started to come into the mission and
during this time there was a contact between the security forces and the freedom fighters and many people lost
their lives. The Mission was closed down as a result of the contact. Martin O’Regan was arrested, imprisoned
and later deported. Dom Carruth and the Franciscan Sisters sought refuge in Umtali. Some time later, Father
Max Muzungu, Diocese of Umtali was sent to the mission to look after the area but left within a short time.
Saint ThÇrÉse Mission (1956)
During 1956 Bishop Lamont turned his attention to the Chiduku area as there were about 50 000 people living
in the area at that time. Before the establishment of the Mission, Chiduku had been cared for from Monte
Casino Mission and had about eight Mass centres and out-schools. Saint Clement’s Mass centre was singled out
as a possible site for a future Mission. The District Commissioner of Makoni/Rusape and the local chief, Chief
Makoni were consulted and both readily gave their consent to the establishment of a Mission Station. Father
Cormac Kennedy and Brother Bernard Clinch were sent to open and build a Mission, Bernard Clinch was a
master builder.
The Bishop had the intention of opening a Teacher Training School for girls at the Mission as there was a
Teacher Training School for boys at Triashill Mission which was run by Martin McMahon, Fintan O’Connell
and Gabriel O’Brien, all Irish Carmelites. The Triashill Training School took in boys who had completed their
Upper Primary Education, the course lasted for two years and entitled all those who were successful to teach up to
and including third year primary. There was also a Teacher Training School for girls at Monte Cassino which
complemented the Triashill School. The Bishop tried to pull a fast one on the Department of Education with
which he was at logger-heads and went ahead and built a school for girls at Saint ThÑrÖse Mission. The
Department of Education allowed the Bishop to open St ThÑrÖse but he had to close Triashill Training School.
The result was that St. ThÑrÖse Mission became a Teacher Training School for both girls and boys.
The site of the new Mission was next to a swamp and the lesson learned from Avila Mission which had no water
for years seemingly was not taken into account!! A bore hole had to be sunk, a great gamble where water was an
absolute necessity especially for a Government aided Teacher Training School!! The bore hole was sunk and
proved to be relatively successful.
Cormac Kennedy and Bernard Clinch lived in a grass roofed classroom for some time. When the Priest’s house
was nearing completion, Christmas 1956, the brothers moved into the near completed building, they brought their
beds with them and agreed to move their other bits and pieces at a later date. That very night, around midnight,
the very classroom in which they had been living in was hit by lightning and practically destroyed all the Mission
files, baptismal books, marriage registers, school books, Bernard’s building tools and most of their clothing were all
burned in the conflagration!!
During 1957 Bernard Clinch finished the building of the Teacher Training block, a truly modern building with
modern flush toilets, showers, a fine kitchen unit and the most up-to-date dormitories, it even surpassed Monte
Cassino Training School!! The Sister’s Convent was also constructed for the Sisters from the Netherlands.
Cormac Kennedy and Bernard Clinch continued to develop the Mission, Cormac also looked after the out-schools,
a huge area stretching from Rusape to Dowa and southwards to Maranke. When Cormac Kennedy went to
Ireland, Fathers Tom McLoughlin and Cyprian Kennedy came for some time. Father Tom looked after the
Mission and Father Cyprian looked after the out-schools. Bernard Clinch continued to develop the Mission. Four
Sisters from the Netherlands arrived in Chiduku during 1958, three came from Holland and one was transferred
from Regina Coeli. Two Sisters were to teach in the Teacher Training School, one to teach in the Upper Primary
27