Société des Missions Africaines - Province d’Irlande

né le 28 octobre 1927 à Tramore dans le diocèse de Waterford & Lismore, Irlande membre de la SMA le 5 octobre 1949 prêtre le 17 juin 1953 décédé le 27 juin 1992

1953-1957 Rome, études 1957-1960 diocèse de Onde, Nigeria 1960-1965 Dromantine, professeur 1965-1966 Rome, études supérieures 1966-1968 Dromantine, professeur 1968-1973 Rome, vicaire général 1973-1978 Rome, conseiller général 1979-1988 diocèse de Jos, Nigeria 1988-1992 Blackrock Road, Cork décédé à Cork, Irlande, le 27 juin 1992 à l’âge de 74 ans

John Power was born in Tramore, in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, on 28 October 1927. He died in the Bon Secours hospital, Cork, on Saturday, 27 June 1992.

John (Jackie) received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers school, Waterford, and at St. Joseph's college Wilton, Cork, matriculating in 1945 with a university scholarship. He spent the next three years at U.C.C., where he received an honours B.A. degree (English and Latin) in September 1948. John entered the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy in 1948 and a year later, in 1949, commenced his theological formation in the major seminary at Dromantine, Co Down. John became a member of the Society on 5 October 1949 and was ordained a priest by Bishop Eugene O'Doherty of Dromore diocese, at St. Colman's cathedral, Newry, on 17 June 1953. He was one of a group of eleven ordained on that day.

A brilliant student during his under-graduate days, it was no surprise that after ordination John was sent to Rome for further studies. He spent four years studying in the scriptural institute, acquiring his licentiate in 1957. John was then assigned to Ondo diocese in south-western Nigeria, a jurisdiction which had been erected in April 1950, under the leadership of Thomas Hughes. John spent three years in the diocese, exercising the pastoral ministry in Oro, Ondo town, Okitipupa and Ikere-Ekiti. Inevitably destined for a teaching and scholarly ministry, he was next appointed to the staff of the major seminary at Dromantine to teach scripture. John Joe Conlon was then superior, with Andrew O'Rourke, Robert Molloy, Gerard McGahan and Martin Walsh as the other members of the teaching staff. At the time there were over eighty students in formation. In 1965 John went to Rome for a year's post graduate study, returning to Dromantine in 1966. Two years later John was a delegate to the Society's General Assembly at Rome which elected him to the General Council. He was also appointed Vicar General of the Society (vice-superior) and was to remain in Rome for a decade, being re-elected to the same office at the 1973 Assembly. In 1979 John was assigned to Jos diocese and took up a teaching post in St. Augustine's major seminary, Jos, which catered for all of northern Nigeria. He returned to Ireland in 1988 to work on the preparatory commission for the 1989 Provincial Assembly. After the Assembly he became editor of the Provincial Bulletin. He was attached to the Provincial headquarters at Blackrock Road, Cork, from 1988 until the time of his death, although he spent some of this time overseas, in the Society's Foundation in the Philippines.

John Power was a man of outstanding intellect. He was also a talented communicator, in both the spoken and written word. Already as a student he was a regular contributor to the African Missionary and his articles on scriptural and theological subjects were to appear in that journal all during his life. But his influence as a writer, teacher and speaker was to extend beyond the Society and its supporters. During his years in Dromantine his spiritual, liturgical and scriptural conferences were greatly in demand by diocesan clergy and teachers. His books, which handled complex subjects with astonishing clarity, and which were written in a lucid, flowing style, were widely read. Set My Exiles Free (Gill and Macmillan, 1967), reissued under the title History of Salvation (1989) and also published in Italian (1992), was an introduction to the Old Testament which made the best of modern scholarship accessible to a general readership. John's great love for the bible, and especially the Old Testament, shone through this splendidly written book and was one of the reasons for its great success. Mission Theology Today, published in 1971 was a coherent account of the theology underpinning the Vatican 11 Decree on Missions and made a valuable contribution to the understanding of all conciliar documents. Other titles by John were Look Towards the East, and Ink on the Scroll (1990), the latter an introduction to the literature of the Old Testament.

John's talents were always available to the Society, and never more evident than at Provincial and General Assemblies. All the major society documents of recent years bear his imprint. But John was more than a man of intellect. During his years in Rome, as Vicar General of the Society, he became renowned for his hospitality to missionaries passing through. Always ready to listen and to spend time, he helped many a weary missionary over those years. John's love of the Society was matched by his love of Africa. His years in Jos were, he was later to admit, the happiest of his life, living with those who had formerly been his students, teaching in the major seminary and, finally, working in a parish. When he was compelled to retire from Africa because of deteriorating health, John moved heaven and earth to return to the missions. In the year before his death he spent several months in the Phillipines, teaching a new generation of S.M.A. students. He was preparing to return there when he fell ill for the last time.

He is buried in Wilton.