Société des Missions Africaines - Province d’Irlande

né le 10 mai 1921 à Drumenaghbeg dans le diocèse de Clogher, Irlande membre de la SMA le 1er juillet 1942 prêtre le 15 juin 1946 décédé le 6 août 1993

1946-1947 Wilton et Cork, études 1948-1952 diocèse de Ondo, Nigeria 1952-1968 Castlebar, collège Ballinafad 1969-1973 Blackrock Road, conseil provincial 1973-1975 Maynooth, vice supérieur 1975-1986 archidiocèse de Dublin, paroisse sma de Neilstown 1986-1991 Claremorris, animation missionnaire et vocationnelle 1991-1993 Blackrock Road, Cork, retiré décédé à Blackrock Road, Cork, Irlande, le 6 août 1993 à l’âge de 72 ans

Bernard Dolan was born at Drumenaghbeg, in the parish of Devenish and the diocese of Clogher (his postal address was Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim), on 10 May 1921. He died in the mother house of the Irish Province, at Blackrock Road, Cork, on 6th August 1993.

Bernard (Ben) received his secondary schooling in the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad, Co Mayo (1935 1937) and at St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork (1937 1939). After matriculating and receiving his leaving certificate he joined the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy at Kilcolgan, Co Galway, in September 1940. Two years later he commenced his theological formation in the Society's seminary, at Dromantine, Co Down. During his last year in Wilton Ben attended lectures in the arts faculty at U.C.C., and he continued his studies during his years at Kilcolgan, travelling out to U.C.G. one day each week and receiving additional lectures in the house from a priest designated for that purpose by the university. In 1942 he was awarded an honours B.A. degree (philosophy and education). Ben was received as a member of the Society on 1 July 1942 and was ordained a priest by Bishop Eugene O'Doherty of Dromore diocese, in St. Colman's cathedral, Newry, on 15 June 1946. He was one of a group of fourteen ordained on that day.

After ordination Ben spent a year at U.C.C. (residing in Wilton) at the end of which he was awarded a higher diploma in education. He was then appointed to the Ondo Ilorin vicariate in south western Nigeria. This jurisdiction had been erected in 1943 under the leadership of Thomas P. Hughes, when the districts of Ondo and Ilorin were detached from the old vicariate of the Bight of Benin. On his arrival Ben was appointed to St. Augustine's elementary teacher training college at Akure (later re named St. Peter's) where Fintan Nelly was principal. In 1950, with the erection of the jurisdiction as a diocese and the appointment of Fr. Nelly as director of schools, Ben became principal of the college, with Michael J. O'Shea as his assistant.

When Ben came to Ireland on his first home leave, in June 1952, a new Provincial, John A. Creaven, had just been appointed and staff changes were being made in most of the home houses. Ben was retained in Ireland to teach at Ballinafad. A year earlier this school, which formerly trained pupils for the intermediate certificate, had become a full secondary college for aspirants to the Society. Patrick Glynn was superior, Con Clancy was vice superior; other members of staff were John Heaney, Tony Jennings, John Keaveney, Patrick Killeen and Benvenuto Wolff. During his first year Ben taught English and Latin. In his second year, in addition to his teaching duties he was appointed director of students, in charge of discipline. Ben was to remain on the staff until 1969. From 1962, in addition to his other portfolios, he was nominated vice superior. Two years later he was appointed superior and held that position during his remaining time in the school.

Ben was elected by his confreres in Ireland as a delegate to the Provincial Assembly of 1968, held in Cork in July of that year. At the Assembly he was elected councillor to the new Provincial, Lawrence Carr, taking up residence at Blackrock Road. As councillor he was given responsibility for recruitment and formation. After the next Assembly, held in June 1973, Ben took up a new appointment, as vice superior of S.M.A. house, Maynooth, which had opened its doors to students a year before. In 1975 the Society was entrusted with a parish in the archdiocese of Dublin, the parish of Neilstown, situated in a newly constructed public housing estate which had virtually no infrastructure or facilities and had an unemployment rate of almost 80%. Ben was nominated by the Society to lead this ministry. In March 1975 he became a curate in Leixlip parish, near Neilstown, with responsibility for preparing the new parish. In June 1977 he moved into Clondalkin parish as a curate awaiting a final determination of the Neilstown parish boundaries. In June 1979 he came 'administrator' of Neilstown parish and, finally, on 25 October 1981, he was installed as first parish priest. In 1986, having put the parish on its feet, Ben withdrew from the active pastoral ministry and took up residence in the S.M.A. house, Claremorris, Co Mayo, where he assisted the promotion team. He spent his last years in Cork, at Blackrock Road, in ailing health.

His obituary in the African Missionary records the following tribute: 'A great lover of Irish music, language and culture, Fr. Ben's attitude to life was already firmly rooted in the solid traditions of Co Leitrim when he set out in 1935 for Ballinafad college on the first step of his journey to the missionary priesthood. During his years as a Provincial councillor he also served as editor of the African Missionary. In an editorial written in 1969 he reminded his readers: 'God will measure our success in life, not so much by what we had, but by what we did with what we had. God needs you. You with your fully developed and fully exploited individual human talents and graces, in that office, in that workshop, at that factory bench, in that pub, in that dance hall, because through you He can best gain access to that community'.

These words surely represent in many ways the core of a philosophy that Ben instilled in the generations of students who passed through Ballinafad and remember with gratitude the values and life skills that he communicated to them. After his long service in education and administration he undertook the very challenging task of establishing a parish in Clondalkin, Co Dublin. It was a daunting task in a suburb of Dublin with a rapidly growing population which suffered from all manner of social and economic deprivation. Ben's open and helpful approach helped to build up St. Peter the Apostle parish in Neilstown and helped to give the community a sense of identity and improve morale'. His obituary in the African Missionary concludes by saying: 'In gathering together our memories of Fr. Ben we give thanks for the glory that shone in his life, for the faithful way that he served the Church and our Society, for the manner in which he loved his family and his country'. Ben was a first cousin of Patrick Joseph Duffy who was ordained for the Society in 1934.

He is buried in Wilton cemetery.