Chai Brady
Fr Des McGillicuddy MHM pictured with a family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mission Sunday
Irish missionaries continue to live their lives alongside some of the world’s most vulnerable people, writes Chai Brady
Martyred, attacked, robbed, expelled by dictatorships and oppressive regimes, facing down drug gangs, militias, extremists and more while spreading the Gospel, the tales of missionaries never fail to astound and inspire.
What it means to be a missionary has changed significantly over time. The whole Church is called to spread the Gospel even when it is unpopular or daunting to do so – just like so many Irish men and women have down the ages and continue to do across the globe.
The emphasis now is on the whole Church becoming missionary, the missionary discipleship of all Christians, as Pope Francis puts it”
Nowadays missionaries can’t simply be understood as an Irish or western priest or religious bringing the Good News to far-flung lands. The face of mission continues to adapt. It is a versatile, living thing in the modern world continuing to draw on the renewed vision of the Second Vatican Council. Most of the Faithful are aware of this changed reality, but what shape is it taking today?
Fr Des McGillicuddy MHM (72), who has been doing mission work for 46 years, tells The Irish Catholic that when he started out, a missionary was seen as a separate vocation reserved to a few individuals.
“The emphasis now is on the whole Church becoming missionary, the missionary discipleship of all Christians, as Pope Francis puts it,” the Mill Hill Missionary says, “That includes the local Churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America, they are no longer the objects of mission, they are agents of mission.
“In fact the primary missionary impulse is coming from these continents now and no longer from the Church in the west or the north, which was the case when I started out so I think that’s a big change.
“I think also the content of mission has broadened, whereas it was primarily a concern to establish churches, schools, hospitals and inviting people to enter the churches, become Catholics, to pray and to worship, now the emphasis is more on building communities where members’ faith is nourished by reflecting on the Gospels and the Bible to the point that they begin to feel an urge to seek a more fulfilling life for themselves and those around them. I think it’s broader, more outward looking.”
It was a sense of adventure that first brought Fr McGillicuddy to mission work, with the outward apostolic approach of the Mill Hill Missionaries – “action rather than contemplation, going out into the unknown” – being particularly attractive.
Originally from Rathcoole in Co. Dublin, he joined the congregation in 1968 and was ordained in 1975 and immediately went to Chile where he stayed for eight years before being expelled by the military dictatorship.
Spies
“It was basic community work and development but it was in the midst of the military dictatorship of [General Augusto] Pinochet, he was world-renowned. So it was difficult to do many of the basic things that one would associate with doing Church work because of the repressive atmosphere,” Fr McGillicuddy explains.
“We were constantly being watched, we had spies in the community itself. People were very hard hit economically so we had what we called a common pot and people came to get shared food, and we got some food from Caritas as well – and that kept the people going. Eventually I was expelled from the country in March 1983.” Two other priests were also expelled alongside him.
“By 1983, there were movements towards liberation and getting rid of the repressive regime and our area was identified as one of the areas,” he recalls, “we would have been seen as at least-sympathising with the rebellion so to speak…the Church was generally being repressed.”
After further education in Germany, then taking charge of pastoral formation in St Joseph’s College in London he returned to Ireland to work on justice, peace and development which involved efforts such as lobbying for food security in developing countries.
“Our missionaries experienced the effects of that – so we tried to do our bit from Europe, see what we could do to ameliorate the situation, and other things like fair trade and the ‘Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network’ which continues to this day,” Fr McGillicuddy said.
He then returned to Latin America and was based in Brazil from 2003-2015 in Rio de Janeiro. When he arrived, the country was still struggling with the after-effects of the military dictatorship from 1964-1985. It was a different world from Chile, following the restoration of democracy the government in Brazil was attempting to improve the lives of the poor.
The problem was that there were adolescents armed and drugged, so it was a bit scary”
Ecclesiastically is was also a different world. “It’s a very big Church, very dynamic and so we had the whole process of working with basic Christian communities. Bible reflection was also much stronger in Brazil,” he recalls and was relieved to be in an environment where there was less repression. Still, he adds “Never a dull moment!”
Although the Christian community was vibrant, there was also a lot of pressing social issues. “I lived in an area in the latter years especially where there was a constant war between the militia and the drug gangs. The militia were made up of serving and retired police and firemen – they just changed their uniforms at night and went out killing drug gangs,” Fr McGillicuddy says.
It was a turbulent time. “Their motive wasn’t pure, it wasn’t to free the area of drug gangs – it was to get control of the area and charge protection money from small businesses and shops in the area.
“So there was a constant war for control of the patch between the militia and the drug gangs. Knowing me to be the priest I was safe but then there were a lot of stray bullets as well. You had to be careful,” he recalls.
Reflecting on one Good Friday in particular in which parishioners did the Stations of the Cross surrounded by gunmen, he remembers: “The people were very brave. We said ‘we always do it and we’re going to continue to do it’, but the people with the guns respected us, and we got through so there were certainly eery moments and difficult moments”.
His upbringing in Dublin could not have prepared him for the complexity of daily life in his new home. “The problem was that there were adolescents armed and drugged, so it was a bit scary but the people were very brave too – they came out for the liturgies, the Bible reflections whatever even in the evenings and at night.
“I would encourage them to stay at home but they said ‘no, we’re going to meet’. Thank God nobody ever got killed by a stray bullet or anything. But, people were very determined to stand up to them as well.”
Radiate joy
The central plank of mission is that it is a life lived alongside people.
For Sr Renee Duignan MMM it is about friendship and it “nourishes my spirit to experience the depth of faith among those around me who radiate joy in spite of the many struggles that is their daily reality”. Hers is an experience of gaining as much from the people that she serves as she brought to them.
Pope John XXIII spoke at that time of the great needs of the Church in Latin America which also influenced my decision to enter the Medical Missionaries of Mary in Boston in 1964”
Hailing from Co. Leitrim, Sr Duignan – a Medical Missionary of Mary – was already exhibiting some of the traits of a missionary from a young age when she left home aged 18 to go to New York – a huge change from the rural setting of Kiltubbrid.
After working in a bank for three years, she decided to join the MMM after feeling a “restlessness” which she describes as the beginning of a call to something different.
“A deep awareness of all I had received in my own life motivated me to respond to God’s call to share with those most in need,” she says, “I was deeply impressed with Martin Luther King Jr. whom I had listened to at a rally in New York City. Pope John XXIII spoke at that time of the great needs of the Church in Latin America which also influenced my decision to enter the Medical Missionaries of Mary in Boston in 1964.”
She returned to Ireland to continue her formation doing nursing and midwifery. Her first assignment was in Malawi in south-eastern Africa, where she ministered for ten years.
Repression was again to the fore.
“We lived in a dictatorship which was particularly difficult for the local people. My first assignment was to Nkhata Bay to a health clinic, a maternity unit and dispensary with no doctor. It was challenging and many times we had to use all our skills and pray our way through some of the cases.”
Hospitality
“I later worked in our hospital in Mzuzu together with a great community of MMM, the local people and many volunteers from different countries. It was a rich experience of hospitality, especially being with and learning from the Malawian people,” Sr Duignan said.
Subsequently she was elected to the congregation’s leadership team, serving in that role for 12 years. It brought her in contact with sisters at home and abroad, “seeing first hand our healing charism unfolding in different countries and cultures despite wars and difficult situations”.
But that restless missionary spirit was always there. Sr Duignan spent six months learning Spanish in Mexico before going to Marcala, Honduras in 1998 in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch. She worked with the indigenous Lenca people who live in the mountainous area of the region for five years, mostly in health education and learning to make natural medicines with the them at their request.
In 2004, the congregation founded a second community in Choloma in the north of Honduras – where most of the people are migrants who came to find work in the factories – this is where she remains.
Sr Duignan said: “We are living in one of the most violent areas of the world. Many people are living in extreme poverty with poor infrastructure, lacking employment and caught up in the drug scene and organised crime.
We do have to highlight that there are Irish people still on mission overseas doing very difficult work, very dangerous work”
“Many young people are losing their lives in the process,” she says.
It’s a dim picture, but the sisters remain a constant presence. “The breakdown in family life is a contributing factor to so much domestic violence. We constructed a centre for integrated healthcare, ‘Casa Visitation’ and from this centre our priority is health and human rights education, as well as some curative and complimentary therapies,” Sr Duignan explains to The Irish Catholic.
Three years ago, a plan was put in place in which the Medical Missionaries of Mary would withdraw from Honduras and hand over the work to the diocese, but then Covid-19 happened and Sr Duignan says “many things have changed due to the pandemic”.
“Last year was extremely difficult with many infections and deaths and in November 2020. The two hurricanes, Iota and Eta in quick succession caused much devastation. The caravans of people continue to leave on a hazardous journey hoping for a better life in the USA, many do arrive and many are also deported.”
Sr Duignan says that as she readies to leave Honduras in mid-December after 23 years of a “wonderful adventure”, she gives “thanks to God, to my MMM sisters, our staff, our benefactors, church groups, those we have served and many companions along the way who have accompanied me on this journey. These people I have been privileged to serve have touched my heart with their life stories, every day I learned something new which taught me humility, to keep a balance, have a sense of humour and above all trust in God”.
Dangerous work
While they naturally shun the limelight, the stories of missionaries such as Fr McGillicuddy and Sr Duignan make Irish people “very proud” of that tradition according to Julieann Moran of Missio Ireland.
“We do have to highlight that there are Irish people still on mission overseas doing very difficult work, very dangerous work,” she says.
Missio Ireland is the Irish branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), the Pope’s official charity for overseas mission which has been coordinating and collecting funds for different mission diocese and parishes around the world for decades. Previously known as World Missions Ireland, it had the official rebranding launch on Monday.
Explaining the reason for the change, Ms Moran says: “We are part of a much larger global network of charities. We’re actually in 120 countries around the world and a lot of them have changed their name to ‘Missio’ and for us to honour that union with the other charities and the collaboration between all of the offices we decided to harness the energy of the Missio family”.
Gearing up for World Missions Sunday this weekend, Ms Moran says the charity have produced a video which involves 20 international offices, 50 missionaries in 50 different countries speaking about 25 languages which will be shown before the Mass broadcast on RTÉ.
Ms Moran is involved mainly in the evangelisation and education component of the agency, with the Children’s Day of Mission Prayer – which took place on Friday, October 8 – being an important aspect of Mission Month. It aims to encourage young people to pray for children around the world, particularly in developing countries.
Pope Francis consistently speaks about the fact that missionary outreach needs to be the model of all of the Church’s activity”
The resources provided were being used “up and down the length and breadth of the country”, Ms Moran says. It includes an activity calendar for each day of October for children to take part in an act of kindness for children who are struggling in challenging parts of the planet.
Speaking of the changing idea of mission, Ms Moran says: “I think in Ireland we have such a long-standing tradition of Irish people going on mission. The face of mission has changed, and maybe that message isn’t as loud as it could be – that today we have African missionaries on mission in Europe, America or Asia, and we have Asian missionaries on mission in Africa or Europe or America.
“That sense that this is something that nearly only Irish people did, that’s changed. I think there was a time in Ireland that everybody was related to a nun or a priest or a lay missionary that was out on mission somewhere,” she says.
“Pope Francis consistently speaks about the fact that missionary outreach needs to be the model of all of the Church’s activity. I think that we need to join the dots a little bit and make that connection – that mission at home and mission overseas is all still part of the one same mission.
“There are separate components to how we are in ministry or on mission depending on whether we’re here at home in a parish or school in Ireland, or whether we’re overseas working with another community. It is still the one mission given to us by God,” she says.
Generosity
Covid-19 has taken a toll on many parishes worldwide which led to Pope Francis announcing an emergency fund in April 2020. Ms Moran says: “we were really surprised in one way and delighted with the generosity here in Ireland because we were in full lockdown at that time and Irish Catholics still managed to help us raise more than €1.1 million on Mission Sunday, and nearly a quarter of a million towards the Holy Father’s Covid-19 emergency fund, it was extraordinary”.
The fund supported more than 250 projects in 41 different countries.
Next year, it will have been 400 years since the founding of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and 200 years since the establishment of the Propagation of the Faith. Missio Ireland has big plans to be part of those celebrations which will also see the centenary of the Society for St Peter the Apostle, which fundraises for the training of clergy and religious in mission countries.
A central part of the universal celebration will be the beatification of the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith Pauline Jaricot, who will be declared blessed in May.
With much to celebrate, Ms Moran adds that the true heroes are the missionaries who continue to spread the Gospel message. “We can’t let their experiences and their stories die with them when they have departed.
“We need to do a body of work as a country, even just for social or historical reasons, to collect up their stories because the contribution they have made globally, it’s just extraordinary,” she says.