Celebrating 50 Years of Devotion: Fr. Ed O’Connell

On the occasion of Fr Ed O'Connell's 50 Years of Devotion, he answered some questions about his Catholic Legacy. 

Fr Ed O'Connell - 50 years of faith

In a world that often seems transient and fast-paced, where commitments can wane, and attention spans can diminish, it is truly awe-inspiring to witness a journey marked by unwavering dedication and profound faith. 

How does it feel to have completed 50 years? 

At a more superficial level, the personal satisfaction of reaching this goal. But deeper, for me, this anniversary allowed me in Peru to be with various parish communities (The Risen Lord, Our Lady of the Missions and Holy Archangels) and pastoral works (Manuel Duato Special Needs School and Warmi Huasi, a small NGO working with children and adolescents at risk). Just to hear them express their feelings about what my accompaniment has meant to them. A fellow Columban told me, “Just let them love you, let them say what it has meant to them, and be glad”. And so it was, their appreciation of my presence with them over the years filled me with contentment. It was like re-living the grace-filled moment of my ordination, as I felt not only the people’s love but also that of God. 

What changes did you see in these years concerning faith in God? 

Faith in God, in most cases, begins in and is passed on by the family circle, be it grandparents, parents or siblings. Whilst the Second Vatican Council brought about necessary and needed changes in the Church. Somehow or another, the penny catechism was lost along the way and the basic doctrine seems not to be taught as before. The loss of faith from one generation to the next has been noticed and has accelerated in the past twenty years. Only a small number of families pass on the faith to their children. 

On a more positive side, in South America, we have had leadership from the hierarchical Church, with meetings, every 15 years or so, of the Latin American Church to review and update pastoral options. From Medellin, Puebla, and Santo Domingo to Aparecida, the bishops, priests, religious and lay people kept abreast of the signs of the times. Important issues were faced: “Structural sin”, “option for the poor”, “option for the youth”, “women doubly exploited by lower wages and machismo” and the “faces of Christ” in the indigenous and the migrants amongst the many vulnerable faces of Christ. 

It is important to keep before us the person of Jesus Christ, his humility, his simple lifestyle, his commitment to “serve and not to be served” and his dedication to the Father’s will: the Kingdom of justice and truth at the service of the common good. That is the way forward, the structures of the Church will have to adapt or fall by the wayside. Our mission now is of being a “counter-culture” to extremes of popularism, where ever they come from and in whatever shape they take. 

Fr Ed O'Connell

How important is leaving a Catholic Legacy? 

We are the product of catholic legacies. The faith passed on to us by our parents, nurtured in primary (St. Joseph’s Putney Bridge Road) and secondary (Salesians, Battersea) schools, and lived out in parish communities, Christi, Brixton and St. Chad’s South Norwood, and in the Young Christian Workers Movement.

The legacy we leave behind is in the people we have, in some way large or small, formed in the practice of the Christian faith. This may have happened in basic Christian communities, as in the parishes I worked in Peru, they were broken down into chapel neighbourhood communities, with bible reflection once a week on the gospel of the following Sunday. As well as preparing communities for their participation in Sunday liturgies, it was also a time to reflect on what the gospel meant to each person in their home, neighbourhood and work situation. 

Women, often with only some years of primary school education, were encouraged to participate and, over time, they lost their timidity and became leaders of their communities, even celebrating a lay lead liturgy and giving the reflection after the gospel. This was and is a living church that was formed to give witness to the values of God’s Kingdom, with an emphasis on justice.

Fr Ed O'Connell works in Lima, Peru with disabled children and adolescents  at the Manuel Duato special needs school.