Société des Missions Africaines –Province d'Irlande
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né le 8 août 1912 à Belfast dans le diocèse de Down & Connor, Irlande membre de la SMA le 30 juin 1935 prêtre le 18 décembre 1938 décédé le 6 avril 1977 |
1939-1950 missionnaire dans la préfecture de Kaduna, Nigeria décédé à Belfast, Irlande, le 6 avril 1977, |
Father Patrick James KERR (1912 1977)
Patrick Kerr was born in Belfast (the family address was at 16 Nansen Street, Falls Road), in the diocese of Down and Connor, on 8 August 1912. He died with his family at St. Meryl Park, Glen Road, Belfast, on 6 April 1977.
Patrick (Pat) studied at St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork, between 1930-1933. After matriculating he entered the S.M.A. novitiate and house of philosophy at Kilcolgan, Co Galway, in the same year and on 30 June 1935 he was received into the Society. He continued his formation in the major seminary at Dromantine, Co Down, and was ordained a priest along with ten classmates, by Bishop Edward Mulhern of Dromore diocese, at St. Colman's cathedral, Newry, on 18 December 1938. He was one of a group of eleven ordained on that day.
After ordination Pat returned to Dromantine to complete his theological formation. In October 1939 he set sail for northern Nigeria where he was to serve for a period of almost thirty years. He was to make his special contribution in the area of education. Assigned to the prefecture of Kaduna from 1939, and serving the remainder of his African career in that region, his first assignment was to Kano mission where he ministered for six months. During this period he studied the Hausa language, took catechism classes in school and supervised the evening catechumenate. He also had his first experience of 'doing the line', visiting by rail the many outstations in the Kano hinterland. Pat's next appointment was to Gawu mission in the south-east of Niger province, some 80 miles from Minna. Gawu was one of the main towns of the Gwari people, who were largely Animist. It was opened as a principal mission station in 1938. When Pat came to Gawu there were some twenty outstations and much of his time was spent on trek, visiting these communities. During the last year of this first tour of duty he was sent to Guni mission, situated between Kaduna and Minna, where he constructed a rural school for training teacher-catechists. Pat's second tour (1946-1950) was spent as superior of Guni mission. Statistics for the station, which had been founded in 1941 under the patronage of St. Theresa, show how difficult the work was and how slow the progress of the Church. In 1949 Guni had a total of 114 Catholics, 77 catechumens, 5 catechists, 1 boys school with 76 pupils and 5 teachers, 7 adult baptisms, and a single Catholic marriage (perhaps the best indication of progress).
During his eleven years in Kaduna Pat revealed an aptitude for educational work. It was no surprise therefore when at the end of his second tour he was sent to study at Queens university, Belfast, for a diploma in education. This was awarded in 195l. Pat returned to Nigeria in October of the same year taking up the post of principal at St. Malachy's teacher training college, Minna. This institution was originally the 'rural school' founded by Pat in Guni and which had been upgraded and transferred to Minna in 1947. Situated at Bosso, in Minna district, there were some 80 students in training when Pat became principal. In September 1954 Pat was invalided home with a duodenal ulcer. Making a good recovery he returned to Kaduna in November 1955, a year after it had been erected as a diocese, resuming his principalship of St. Malachy's. In 1960 Pat was appointed supervisor of schools for Niger Province, resident at 'Education House', Minna. Three years later he was appointed 'education secretary for the archdiocese of Kaduna', living at 'Catholic Education House', Kakuri, Kaduna South. These were the most responsible posts in the education apostolate, requiring him to supervise vast school networks and liaise with the government education department. In June 1967 Pat's health gave cause for concern and he finally retired from Africa. For the last decade of his life he ministered in the diocese of Down and Connor, living in the family home at 27 St. Meryl Park, Belfast. Characteristically, during these years he made over his Nigerian government pension (for his work in education) to Saminanka mission in the archdiocese of Kaduna. Pat fell seriously ill in the autumn of 1976 and bore his long final illness with fortitude.
John McCarthy, Pat's 'regional superior' in Kaduna (and later archbishop of the diocese) wrote as early as 1942 that Pat was 'a missionary of the first class, organiser, teacher, builder, preacher all combined'. His subsequent career in Kaduna bore this out and more. Pat wrote his 'memoirs', revealing a real literary talent. The following extract gives something of the flavour: 'To get a full view of Kano one should climb Dalla hill. From this vantage point the city presents itself in its full extent. Squat, square and oblong-shaped, mud-built, flat-roofed compounds stretch as far as the eye can see or the Harmattan permit. Each compound is a family unit of varying dimensions, a family entity, enclosed by a wall, thereby ensuring privacy and the right of purdah, by which the women-folk are sheltered from the sight of outsiders. Intricate paths and roads weave everywhere, yet all apparently conspire to converge on central openings in the ancient walls, the gates of the city. Here and there minarets, turrets and domes protrude into the sky and one can imagine that the land of Arabia is not much different to this. And when you leave the hill to view the city in its streets, the narrow alleys, the open drains, the all-pervading smells, the lounging noisesome crowds, the donkeys, sheep and goats wandering everywhere at will, only heighten that impression'. Pat's memoirs, which give a graphic and detailed account of his early missionary life, are preserved in the archives of the Irish Province at Blackrock Road.
He is buried in Wilton cemetery.
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