The Missionary—Called To Put Out And Catch
Introduction
St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession. In The Confession, he wrote:
“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain and was reunited with his family.
A few years after returning home, Patrick saw a vision he described in his memoir. The vision prompted his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years, and was later ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.
1 Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-11 ·
Everything will soon come to an end, so, to pray better, keep a calm and sober mind. Above all, never let your love for each other grow insincere, since love covers over many a sin. Welcome each other into your houses without grumbling. Each one of you has received a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, put yourselves at the service of others. If you are a speaker, speak in words which seem to come from God; if you are a helper, help as though every action was done at God’s orders; so that in everything God may receive the glory, through Jesus Christ, since to him alone belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 95(96):1-3,7-8,10
R. Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name. R.
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples. R.
Give the Lord, you families of peoples,
give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name. R.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
The world he made firm in its place;
he will judge the peoples in fairness. R.
Gospel Acclamation: Luke 4:17
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
Commentary
In honour of St Patrick, whose feast we celebrate today, and the enormous and true missionary witnessing of St. Patrick’s Missionary Society in Nigeria, I post below the wonderful story about this great missionaries during the period I define as the wee hours of Christianity in Nigeria. We can see that theirs is a Missionary outfit made in and for Nigeria.
St. Patrick’s Missionaries in Nigeria
The history of the Society in Nigeria is truly the history of the Society, for the first twenty years after our foundation. The Society was founded on St Patrick’s Day 1932 and, until new missions were opened in Kenya in 1951, Nigeria is where all our overseas missionary activity took place.
The story of the Society can be traced back to the work of Fr Patrick Joseph Whitney who was ordained for the Irish Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois in 1920. He had studied for the priesthood at Maynooth College, the national seminary in Ireland. While a student he had heard the appeal of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, an Irish member of the Holy Ghost Fathers (known now as the Spiritans). He was in charge of a huge area, the Vicariate of Southern Nigeria, with maybe six million people. Shanahan was very short of priests and appealed to the students at Maynooth to make a temporary commitment of five years, before they would return to their own diocese. This was not unusual at the time. There was an abundance of priests in Ireland, and similar arrangements had been made for India and China.
He arrived in Nigeria in December 1920 with Fr Thomas Ronayne, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, who had been ordained for seven years. In the following December Pat Whitney writes of his developing idea to set up a ‘Maynooth Nigerian Diocese’. In the following decade another ten Irish diocesan priests travelled to Nigeria to work with Bishop Shanahan and the Holy Ghost Fathers. Over this period they came to believe that what was needed was a permanent commitment In due course they decided to set up a society of secular priests who would be full-time missionaries. Fr. PJ Whitney was chosen to lead the Society.
In March 1930, St. Patrick’s Missionary Society was set up on a trial basis with Fr. PJ Whitney as Superior, with headquarters in Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow, where a house and land had been donated by John Hughes. Fr. PJ Whitney appealed in Maynooth and by the end of 1930 seven more diocesan priests had gone to Nigeria. He also travelled Ireland, speaking of the needs of Southern Nigeria and seeking the support he needed to establish the Society as a permanent missionary body within the Church. He was very successful at this and, in 1932, the time was ripe for the official establishment of the Society. The first students for the Society arrived in Kiltegan and were ordained in 1939. Others were ordained earlier, who had studied at other seminaries.
The initial concentration of the Society men was in Calabar and soon after in Ogoja, in the South East of Nigeria. Over the years the numbers of priests increased greatly. The particular concern of the priests was primary evangleization, the preaching of Christianity to those who had not heard of it before. There was also a strong commitment to the work of education and, in cooperation with the Medical Missionaries of Mary, care for those suffering from leprosy. James Moynagh was appointed Bishop of Calabar in 1947. Thomas McGettrick was appointed Bishop of Ogoja in 1955 and Bishop of Abakaliki in 1973. Ned Fitzgibbon became Prefect Apostolic of Minna, in the north of Nigeria in 1964. In these years the Society flourished in Nigeria.
The secession of Biafra in 1967, and the subsequent war with Federal Nigeria, were dark days for the country. Members of the Society stayed throughout the war and suffered alongside the people, which was much appreciated: a very authentic Christian witness.
Over the years, Diocesan volunteer priests have made a huge contribution to the work of the Society in Nigeria, providing a close link with the origins of the Society.
The Future
In recent years, as the Society ages, the number of men working in Nigeria has declined. At the same time Nigeria remains very important to the future of the Society as it is one of the centres for the formation of future members of the Society. The initial formation house was established in Ijebu-Ode in 1997. To date thirteen young Nigerians have been ordained as members of St Patrick’s Missionary Society and have ministered in Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil and South Africa
St Patrick’s missionaries are still working in the Archdioceses of Lagos, Abuja and Calabar, in the Dioceses of Bauchi, Calabar, Ijebu-Ode and Minna, and in the Apostolic Vicariate of Bomadi.
>>>cf: spms.org <<<
Blessing
The members of the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, surely, are among the big catch Peter made today after he put out his net into the deep waters as Jesus instructed. They also put out into the deep waters of Nigeria and all the readings we heard today are about following in the missionary footsteps of Christ – to bring souls to conversion and to God May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
St Patrick—Pray for Us!