A woman plants seeds on a farm on the grounds of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Machakos, Kenya. Photo: CNS/Fredrick Nzwili Fragments of Truth: Pallottines in Kenya & Tanzania, with the Rwanda Dossier, volumes I & II, by Donal F. McCarthy SCA (Pallottines Ireland, Dundrum, Dublin; the copies are on a print on demand system and priced accordingly)
The Pallottines are a religious congregation who are more formally known as the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Societas Apostolatus Catholici). The congregation was founded in Rome in 1835 by Fr Vincent Pallotti.
He set out the aims of the new congregation as, firstly, the diffusion of the true Faith among pagan people, secondly, the revival of faith and charity among Catholics, and thirdly, the diffusion of corporal and spiritual works of mercy throughout the world. Fr Pallotti was beatified in 1950 and canonised in 1963 during the Second Vatican Council.
The congregation flourished, and even before Fr Pallotti died in 1850 it had spread throughout the world, with a membership of more than 4,000 priests and brothers.
In 1909 the congregation was structured into four provinces, one of which is the Irish province, whose college in Thurles was established in that same year. In the early 1960s the provincial house was transferred from London to Dublin and the congregation subsequently took responsibility for the administration of three parishes in the archdiocese of Dublin: Corduff (1981), Shankill (1995) and Rialto (2005).
Members of the Irish province have served in Argentina, Africa and the US. Already Donal F. McCarthy, the congregation’s chronicler, has provided a comprehensive account of the Irish Pallottine mission in the US: A Patchwork Quilt: Pallottines in the USA I & II (2015). This mission mainly centred on West Texas, the so-called Panhandle. Eventually the parishes developed by the Irish Pallottines in the area facilitated the establishment of the important diocese of Lubbock.
In this new book, Fragments of Truth: Pallottines in Kenya and Tanzania author Fr McCarthy describes the Irish Pallottine missionary activity in Africa. Also included is an appendix, The Rwanda Dossier, on the terrible events in that country.
The African mission was first mooted in 1938 and two years later the province took responsibility for the evangelisation of one of the poorest regions in Tanzania, a semi-desert area in the centre of the country.
The names of the trailblazers of the mission deserve to be remembered: Vincent Cunningham, James Mullin and Patrick Winters. Eventually the parishes and numerous out-stations they and their successors established were developed into the dioceses of Mbula and Singida.
Winters was the first bishop of Mbula. However, after serving for 27 years he lost the support of his priests, was forced to resign and was replaced by a Tanzanian.
Donal McCarthy’s narrative on the Irish Pallottine experience in Kenya mainly records their co-operation with Pallottines from other provinces and with members of other missionary congregations in developing the structures of the Catholic Church in that country: presbyteries, churches, schools, medical centres, colleges, junior seminaries and out-stations.
He provides a chilling account of the massacres in Rwanda when the Hutus who constituted 89% of the population set about slaughtering and eliminating the Tutsis who made up just 10% of it.
He emphasises that subsequently the missionary congregations, including the Pallottines from Poland, played a key role in enabling the people of Rwanda return to peace and normality.
Throughout the two volumes there are a number of miscellaneous interesting items. There is an excellent brief history of Tanzania. There is a useful account of the career of President Julius Nyerere. He was educated by the Pallottines and it was one of those teachers who encouraged him to apply for the scholarship which led him to the University of Edinburgh and on to his successful political career.
The two volumes are very well illustrated. However, Fr Donal McCarthy’s labour of love will be most valued for the hundreds of extended profiles of the men and women, religious and lay, who advanced the enlightened aims of the Pallottines in different parts of the world.
Those interested in learning more about this title can reach the author Donal F McCarthy by mail through the Secretary, Pallotti House, Dundrum Dublin 16 C50 for details of cost and postage; or by email palldundrum@gmail.com.