One of the key issues faced by our General Assembly 2024 was the question of diminishment and the shape of Columban Mission into the future. As I celebrate my golden jubilee and look back over the last 50 years, diminishment has always been a part of the story. There have been a great number of endings but also some wonderful beginnings.
I started in Dalgan in 1967 with 32 classmates. As it happened, we were the last of the big classes to enter. Over the 7 years we were in the seminary the total number of students dropped from around 180 to just over 60 as fewer young men entered, more left to follow other paths in life and the bigger classes ahead of us were ordained. Of the original 33, 12 were ordained. 5 of my ordination class have died, the ending that all of us must face.
I did my language studies in Ozamis in the southern Philippines along with two American Columbans, also ordained in 1974, Vinny Busch and Dick Pankratz. Some years later, as the number of arriving Columbans dwindled, the language school closed, and eventually, we let go of the Columban house there. At one stage, there were about 250 Columbans in the Philippines. Today, there are 38, including 9 students and 3 Lay Missionaries.
Back in Ireland, we closed our own seminary program, and our students moved to Maynooth. The last Columban ordained in Ireland was Dan Troy in 1999. The last two Columbans from New Zealand (Pat McMullen and Leo Schumacher) were ordained in 1987, while the last Australian Columban ordination was Tien Nguyen in 1995. However, at the 1982 General Assembly, the decision was made to accept vocations from the countries where we work and to set up a Columban Lay Missionary program. Since then, we have over 60 new Columban priests from the Philippines, Korea, Fiji, Peru, Chile, Tonga, China and most recently Myanmar. We have also been blessed with many short- and long-term Lay Missionaries from many different countries.
I spent a short time in Jamaica in 1986, a new mission opened along with Belize. We also opened new missions in Brazil and Pakistan. We are still in Pakistan but the other areas we closed. The General Assembly in 2024 mandated that we look at reducing the number of our cherished places of mission so more hard decisions about endings will have to be made.
A collage of photos of Fr Pat's life. Photo: Fr Tom Rouse.
In 1991 I came to the Region of Australia/New Zealand to join the staff at the Pacific Mission Institute which grew out of our formation program. Its aim was to prepare people for cross cultural mission. It included a residential program that drew about 30 or so participants each year as well as external students, many of them lay people, interested in doing theology courses. However, in 1996 the signs were clear that the number of people who might avail of our program were diminishing so the hard decision was made to close the residential program. The Institute, which had been renamed as the Columban Mission Institute, reinvented itself around three priority areas - Christian Muslim Dialogue, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation and China, the original focal point of Columban Mission. JPIC work continues to be a major focus. The Centre for Christian Muslim Relations continues to do great work in Australia in interfaith relations. Its Director, Patrick McInerney, along with Kim Chong, have been working closely with the Diocese of Parramatta to ensure this work continues. Since Partick’s appointment as the Director of the Region of Oceania recently the need for this cooperation has increased.
In 2018 we celebrated 100 years of Columban Mission. The following year the new Region of Oceania was established made up of three countries, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. The aim was to increase cooperation across the 3 countries in response to diminishing numbers. The development of new technology like Zoom enables members of the region to meet and conduct society business without the cost of international travel.
Along the way there have been many goodbyes. It was hard to leave my school friends in Trim when my family moved to Nass in 1960 as it was to leave my family to go to Dalgan in 1967. Leaving Ireland in 1975 to go to the Philippines was a big break. When I came to the end of my short stint in St Clare’s Parish in Chester in 1980 it was with great sadness as the people there did so much to lift my dropping spirits at a difficult time in my life. In 1986 I left the Youth Retreat Team run by the Presentation Sisters in Portarlington with reluctance as my 4 years working there had been a privilege and a blessing. At that time the Columbans wanted me to be part of the team going to Jamaica, so I went. Unfortunately, things did not work out for me there and that ending was very much tinged by a sense of failure.
The hardest ending to take in my time in Australia was not the closing of the Institute (I did not feel that comfortable in the academic world) but when my time as chaplain to two colleges in Sydney (Our Lady of Mercy Convent in Parramatta and Loreto College Normanhurst) came to an end. It was a such a joy to be around so many gifted and creative teachers and students. I was part of some wonderful liturgies for Mercy Day and Loreto Day as well as for graduations and other important days in the life of these schools. Moving out of the institutional building at St Columbans Turramurra in 2001 to live in a smaller house was easy though it was sad to see the whole building demolished a few years later marking the end of a phase of Columban life in Sydney.
In 2006 I left Australia to come to New Zealand to be part of the staff of the Mission Office here. I loved Sydney and again leaving was hard. Having to start over in a new place and a new role gets harder with age though we do have the inspiration of St Columban who left Ireland for his European mission at a good age.
I have been here for 18 years, and we have witnessed many endings, the saddest of which was the unexpected death of our colleague Vinita Naidu last year. The old house, which was cold and damp, was demolished in 2015 to be replaced by warm and cozy town houses. Sometimes endings in life are like that – one moves from a bad situation to a much better one and I have experienced a few moves of that kind. At other times one can move into a bad situation and the task then is to recognise the fact and make the necessary changes.
Though many endings were hard, new beginnings bring fresh possibilities and hopes. I am so grateful for the people I met along the way, for the opportunities provided by the Society of St Columban and for the variety of ministries I was able to experience. I give thanks for friends, encountered at various points in my journey whose friendship has sustained, encouraged and enriched my life. I remember with deep gratitude a few very special people who were God’s gift to me when life was tough and who helped me transition into something better.
Fr Pat O’Shea works and lives in Aotearoa/New Zealand
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