Société des Missions Africaines – Province de Grande Bretagne

né le 14 octobre 1906 à Greenock dans le diocèse de Glasgow, Grande Bretagne membre de la SMA le 3 juillet 1928 prêtre le 12 juin 1932 décédé le 2 juin 1973

1932-1937 missionnaire au Liberia 1937-1957 missionnaire au Nigeria 1958-1965 missionnaire en Floride, USA 1965-1968 Ecole Saint-Gorran, Pays de Galles, aumônier 1968-1973 animation missionnaire et recherche de fonds décédé à Manchester, Grande Bretagne, le 2 juin 1973, à l’âge de 67 ans

Father John Rafferty Augustine DUFFY (1906 - 1973)

John Duffy was born at Greenock, Scotland (the family address was 29 Kelly Street), in the archdiocese of Glasgow, on 14 October 1906. He died at Manchester, England, on 2 June 1973.

John ('Jock') was educated in the colleges of the Society. He studied at the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad, Co Mayo (1922 1923), and St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork (1923 1926). In the autumn of 1926 he entered the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy, at Kilcolgan, Co Galway. He studied theology in the Society's seminary, at Dromantine, Co Down, between 1928 1932. John was received as a member of the Society on 3 July 1928, and was ordained a priest by Bishop Edward Mulhern of Dromore diocese, at St. Colman's cathedral, Newry, on 12 June 1932. He was one of a group of eight ordained on that day.

After ordination John was appointed to the prefecture of Liberia. This was the first mission confided to the Irish Province on its foundation in 1912. The S.M.A. had come to Liberia in 1906 when Stephen Kyne, an Irish member, led a small team of missionaries to Monrovia. Several previous efforts to plant the Church in Liberia had failed. Mgr. Kyne, however, succeeded in establishing a mission at Kekru, near Monrovia; and his successor, Jean Ogé, established several mission stations on the Kru Coast (east of Monrovia) from 1912 onwards. When John arrived in Liberia, in October 1932, he was assigned to Monrovia district. Robert O'Leary was superior at Monrovia, while John Coleman was the 'first assistant priest'. The mission in Monrovia was still in its infancy. Re-opened in 1921, after four previous 'openings and closings' in the 19th and early 20th century, there were now some 500 Catholics (mostly Kru immigrants) and some 100 catechumens. The Fathers in Monrovia worked energetically to develop the district, ministering not only to the faithful but visiting the government prisons and army barracks and, in particular, seeking out locations for secondary stations (such as Krootown, Basstown, Firestone plantation, Kakata, and White Plains). In January 1933 Monrovia's first two outstations were founded, Kekru (the original mission which had been closed for over 20 years) and Kakatown (another station which had been closed for many years). John worked in Liberia until February 1937 when he went on his first home leave.

John's vacation in Ireland coincided with a decision by the Provincial, Stephen Harrington, to increase significantly the number of missionaries in the vicariate of Western Nigeria, especially those with educational skills. John was one of six members to be posted to Western Nigeria in 1938. The Provincial told the vicar apostolic, Leo Hale Taylor, that John 'is a good energetic Father, a good worker and will do very well in Nigeria'. On his arrival John was appointed to Okeni district where Willie Keenan was superior. Okeni was a growing mission district with over 1,000 catholic members and 800 catechumens located in Okeni and its 22 secondary stations. Because of a shortage of missionaries through illness, Fr. Keenan and John were also in charge of Lokoja and Kabba districts. After a year, with the arrival of additional missionaries, John was released to serve full-time as superior of Kabba, a district with some 700 catholic members and 300 catechumens. John went on home leave in March 1944, a year after the jurisdiction had been renamed 'the vicariate of Asaba-Benin' (in January 1943) with Patrick J. Kelly as vicar-apostolic (In 1950 it was erected as 'the diocese of Benin City). John's return to Nigeria was delayed because of the difficulty in securing a sea passage in wartime. He reached his mission in March 1946, resuming his superiorship at Kabba. His assistant priest was a Nigerian (a Sobo), Stephen Umurie. John spent the last year of his tour as superior of Onitsha-Olona mission. When he returned to Nigeria after his next home leave, in November 1951, he was re-appointed to Kabba.

In 1956 John returned to Ireland to take up a post in Blackrock Road. He was placed in charge of the main office (or secretariat), a post which required considerable administrative skill and an ability to organise and supervise a large staff. Two years later, in 1958, John was assigned to pastoral work in the cathedral parish of the diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.A. From 1960 he was attached to St. Mary's rectory, St. Petersburg, Florida. Eight years later, in 1968, he became a member of the newly-erected British Province of the Society which was seeking an increase in members. He served on the staff of the seminary at Dutton Manor, near Preston, Lancashire.

John was described by Bishop Collins, his superior in Liberia, as 'a good teacher, a good preacher, a capable administrator and a most zealous priest'. In Nigeria John spent much of his missionary career in the Kabba region, then a poor and isolated area. He recognised among the people a growing interest in education, and responded by establishing a network of high-quality schools. In this he worked closely with the district officer for the area, a convert to Catholicism. In 1956 John was awarded the M.B.E. (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his contribution to education in and around Kabba. The honour was bestowed on him at Buckingham Palace on 13 November of that year.

He is buried in Greenock, Scotland.

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