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Reaching
out
to Nigeria
from St. Peter's Phibsboro.
Mission Alive !
The 1950s
and 1960s were the high points of Foreign Mission in the Irish Church. Many
Congregations of Priests, Brothers and Sisters sent personnel to new mission
territories. It was a time of ‘high energy’ in the church in Ireland not
just for the personnel sent abroad, but also for the many mission support
organizations set up to create awareness of mission and to give monetary and
material support.
Part of
this Missionary Era was the establishment of the Vincentian Mission to
Nigeria and the setting up of the Nigerian Mission Committee here in St.
Peter’s Parish. Even though the number of Irish personnel going on mission
has reduced considerably in recent years, the fruit of the labours of those
sent ensures that mission is very much alive through the establishment of
new congregations and new provinces of existing missionary groups.
The
Nigerian Vincentian Province has 44 priests, 1 Brother and almost 100
Seminarians. Ministries have grown through Parishes, Schools, Retreat Work,
Development Work, Formation Work, Prison Visitation and Education for the
Deaf. A new development of the new Nigerian Province is their own embracing
of Foreign Mission with two priests working in Italy, one in Mozambique and
one preparing for mission in Algeria. Growth in ministry incurs capital and
ongoing costs, therefore I am appealing to the generosity of the People of
St. Peter’s Parish so that “Mission Alive” is an ongoing reality for the
Vincentian Community and the Church in Ireland.
At this
time I wish to acknowledge the hard work of the Vincentian Mission Committee
since 1960. Their work is a living out of their Baptismal calling and
expressing the command of Jesus “to teach all nations”. Last year St.
Peter’s Parish contributed in excess of €7,000 and Fr. Eamon Rafterty, CM in
his letter of thanks wrote:
‘Thanks again for your ever constant support, year after year. Your lastest
money in excess of €7,000 went towards the Deaf School here. We have 29 deaf
or handicapped pupils and we have just built a Hostel for them on our
grounds. It is very big, and as we have not yet furnished it, it seems and
sounds empty, but it is a big advantage to have it. Now we are in control of
it and do their cooking there and gradually we will make it more homely for
them.’
I
particularly acknowledge the many years given to this work by the late Ms.
Phyllis Mills, may the Lord reward her for her “missionary work”.
Fr. Brian
Moore, CM.
15th November 2003
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Nigerian Mission Weekend
2008- Thank You
I write on behalf
of all the members of the Vice-Province of Nigeria of the Vincentian
Community, to thank you very sincerely for the recent fundraising event
you organised at St. Peter’s for the Vincentian Mission in Nigeria. We
have received word that you have sent the sum of €8,900 to us. This is
very generous. I had told you that we wanted this money to be able to
purchase a second-hand bus for our novices and villagers at Ogobia, Benue
State. Happily, we were able to get the Vincentian Solidarity Fund in
Philadelphia, USA, who accepted to match your donation, to enable us
purchase two buses and give the other one to the postulants and villagers
at Amakom, Anambra State. This is miraculous and it was possible because
of your hard work and generous donation. Be sure that your names are
raised up by our priests and students, at prayers and Mass every day. May
God who has started all these good works in you bring them to fulfilment.
Thank you again and may God bless you abundantly.
Fr. Michael Ngoka, C.M., Vice-Visitor 2008
To the People
of St. Peter’s from the Vincentian Fathers in Nigeria
May the peace of the Lord be
always with you !
I write to formally thank you for
your generous efforts each year to raise money to support the Nigerian
Vincentian Mission. I sincerely thank you all and pray God to bless you
and reward you abundantly.
We have heard of the sad news of
the passing away of Fr. Frank Mullan, CM. Our Vice-Province has fixed
5th May, 2007 as the day to celebrate his life and gift at the prestigious
church of St. Vincent, Ikot Epene, the church that was built by Fr. Frank
with the money that was raised in St. Peter’s in the early 1960’s. We
will also keep you in mind that day.
May God who sees all things be
your strength and courage. Thank you very much
Your brother in St. Vincent,
Fr. Michael Ngoka, CM, Vice-Visitor of Nigeria
2006
Nigerian Mission
Fundraising Weekend 2008
St. Peter's Parish has
generously supported the work of the Vincentian Mission in Nigeria since
the 1960's when Fr. Frank Mullan, Fr. Paddy Hughes and Fr. Morrin set
out for Nigeria. In recent years we have been blessed to
have young priests, such as Fr. Cyril and Fr. Daniel from Nigeria as
part of our community here in St. Peter's. This year we would like
to continue our tradition of supporting their work and we are organising
a weekend of events on Saturday
17th & Sunday 18th May. We would appreciate
your support with the events being arranged.
Coffee Morning, Cake Sale & Raffle
Sat 17th May -
10.00am to 1.00pm in St. Peter’s Club. Gifts of homemade or bought
cakes, homemade jams & marmalades, bottles, chocolates or unwanted gifts
for our mini wheel and bric-a-brac stall would be greatly appreciated
Nigerian Mission Weekend 2005
Since the start of the Vincentian Nigerian Mission in
1960, St. Peter's has given ongoing support to the work of the Mission.
Again we are appealing to your generosity for a specific project.
The
project that we are focussing on this year is to support the Fr. Vincent
O'Brien College at Ondo, Ogovia, Benue State. This second level
college is situated in a remote part of Nigeria. Through the efforts
of the late Fr. Vincent O'Brien, CM this college was set up with an
emphasis on agricultural science and domestic economy to ensure the the
pupils can utilise their skills in food production and in developing a
balanced diet for the people. the funds raised will be used to
develop the science and domestic economy services of the school and to
provide extra tuition and practical experience for the students. To
date the Nigerian Vice Province has 51 ordained priests and eighty plus
seminarians in formation. To maintain the formation programme and
various project like the above project is costly, so any support given to
our Mission Appeal this year is greatly appreciated.
Fr. Brian Moore,
CM
Thank You from Fr.
Eamon Raftery, CM
2002
Dear Parishioners,
Greetings from
Nigeria.
Thanks again for your ever constant support, year after year. Your latest
money in excess of €7,000 went towards the Deaf School here. We have 29
deaf or handicapped pupils and we have just built a Hostel for them on our
grounds. It is very big, and as we have not yet furnished it, it seems and
sounds empty, but it is a big advantage to have it. Now we are in control of
it and do their cooking there and gradually we will make it more homely for
them.
The big difficulty we have is paying the teachers, as they
are specialists and we have to have qualified ones or else they are not able
to communicate with the children in their sign language. In the ordinary
school, of which the deaf school is part, we get by with less than perfect
teachers because they can make themselves understood. “Less than perfect”
because we can’t afford to have all qualified teachers. We have classes in
sewing, knitting and weaving. We are here to train and develop the local
skills. To help balance our (financial) books, we are going to try and go
commercial in this area and e.g. knit jumpers for the schools around. The
Irish Government is about to fund a water supply for us. There is no such
thing as running water or tap water here. The best thing is a bore hole but
as we are on the side of a valley we would have to go too deep, so it
financially would be prohibitive. Instead we have a spring where we get our
water supply at present. We are going to tap into it and supply the village
as well as the school. The other shortage we have perennially is the
uncertainty of the electricity supply. So we have to have a generator to
pump up the water from the spring to the house and village.
The ladies here have a very strong Catholic Women’s Organisation and they
are the best supporters of the Church and the hardest workers in it. We have
just got them a machine for palm oil processing to replace their hand
machine which was very laborious.
Bye for now and thanks for your help. Be assured of our
prayers. God Bless.
Fr. Eamon
Raftery C. M.
July 2003
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