St Patrick Fathers

St. Patrick Fathers Celebrating

75 Years of Missionary Work

Near the village of Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, Fr. Pat Whitney, Fr. Frank Whitney and Fr. Francis Hickey founded St. Patrick’s Missionary Society

On St. Patrick’s Day, 1932. They are known in the United States as the St. Patrick Fathers. They now have 308 priests and 58 students and have priests working in ten African countries, and in Brazil and Grenada.

Our first priests arrived in Nigeria, West Africa, in 1939 . During the next decade 60 more joined them.

In 1951 their first missionaries to East Africa arrived in Kenya and worked in the Great Rift Valley.

In 1956 they were requested to work in Kitui, also in Kenya. This was Fr. Steve Donohue’s first assignment after his ordination in 1959.

In response to Pope John XXIII’s plea for priests in Latin America, St. Patrick Fathers went to assist in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1962. Their primary work was with the poor of the shanty towns, and with small Christian communities

St. Patrick Fathers went to Grenada in the West Indies in 1970 where there were many Christians but only a few Priests. Here their priority was the training of lay leaders.

Also in 1970 the St. Patrick Fathers went to Malawi, in Central Africa. Three years later they opened their first missions in neighboring Zambia. Fr. Michael Moore worked in Malawi after his ordination in 1984.

Sudan is Africa’s largest country. Although there was Christianity in Sudan since the sixth century, the north has remained mainly Muslim.

In the 19th century, missionary work was revived in the south but by 1964 nearly all missionaries had been expelled. Of Sudan’s 39 million people more 9 per cent are Catholic. Six of our priests went there in 1983, just before a civil war broke out between the north and south. During the 22 years of conflict roughly 1.9 million people were killed and 4 million displaced

Many Sudanese took refuge in neighboring Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. In 1996 a few St. Patrick Fathers started to work in a Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda

Requests for missionaries continued to come from many countries. In 1989 the St. Patrick Fathers began working in three more African countries: Cameroon, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Following the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, 3 priests were sent on a temporary basis to assist with the peace and reconciliation efforts.

This brings to twelve the number of countries in which the St. Patrick Fathers work. Over the years each new venture was undertaken in the spirit of the 1932 mission to Southern Nigeria: trust in God and dependence on the prayers and help of families, friends and benefactors. It is a privilege to be associated with the work for the poor of Africa, Brazil and Grenada.

“This is eternal life:

to know you the one true God and

Jesus Christ whom you have sent”

The Challenge: Today billions of people have not heard of Jesus Christ.

The Call: “Go into the whole world and bring the Good News”.

A Response: St Patrick’s Missionary Society (St. Patrick Fathers) was founded in 1932 and has priests in 31 Dioceses in ten African countries, Brazil and the West Indies.

Our Motto:

"The love of Christ compels us.”

Wherever there is poverty, disease, injustice or illiteracy the missionary is involved in bringing love and comfort just as Christ did.

A Missionary is one:

· who makes Christ known by personal example

· who prays for the bearers of the Gospel and those who hear it.

· who asks the Lord for more missionaries, both lay and religious.

· who shares one's wealth or talents in support of mission work.

· who responds to Christ's call, to leave home and friends, to bring the Good News to those who do not know it.

We invite you to be a missionary with the St. Patrick Fathers.

Mission Statement of the St. Patrick Fathers
"Our Vocation ...
means crossing boundaries
created by culture, language and world view.
It means accepting the uniqueness of peoples,
recognizing the Spirit at work in them,
leading them to faith in Jesus Christ.

It means forming the new people of God
which is inclusive of all.
It therefore means working for unity,
for reconciliation in such a way
that ethnic, religious, national, cultural
and historical differences are overcome.

It means being ready to risk new ventures
... to take on new ministries,
to face the pain of change,
to trust oneself ever more deeply to the Lord
and the future he holds for us.

If we are to keep our missionary edge
as a Society working in other cultures,
we must continue to hear the call
of the most needy, the poor,
the sick, the refugee, the marginalized".

Lord, You know I cannot really
“go to all the nations.” I have responsibilities
here at home and often they are heavy.
But still I hear your call.
I hear it from Asia
in the whimper of the dying child.
I hear it from the parched lands of Africa
in the cry of the hungry.
I hear it from Latin America
in the weeping of the homeless.
I hear it in the silence of my heart.
How can I answer you?
Take my prayers and sacrifices and send them
to your poor as bread, as hope, as shelter.
Extend my help around the globe
so that no corner of the earth
may be without your faith, your love,
your SELF.

(POF Los Angeles)

St. Patrick Fathers

19536 Eric Dr., Saratoga, CA 95070

Tel: (408) 253-3135