Société des Missions Africaines –Province d'Irlande

né le 12 janvier 1900 à Clonown dans le diocèse d'Elphin, Irlande membre de la SMA le 22 juillet 1920 prêtre le 14 juin 1924 décédé le 22 août 1975

1924-1942 missionnaire au Nigeria 1942-1975 missionnaire aux Etats-Unis décédé pendant un congé en Irlande décédé à Athlone, Irlande, le 22 août 1975, à l'âge de 75 ans

Patrick Shine was born at Clonown, Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland, in the diocese of Elphin, on January 12, 1900. He died in Athlone, on August 22, l975.

Patrick (Pat) was one of a handful of SMA priests to come from the Athlone area, which included John Reddington, Thomas and John Galvin, Michael Harrison, William Shine (no relation), Eamonn Kelly and Mick Igoe. Pat received his primary education from the Marist Brothers in Athlone. In 1914 he came to the Sacred Heart College, Ballinafad, Co Mayo, and a year later progressed to the Society’s senior secondary school, St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork, graduating in 1918. He then entered the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy at Kilcolgan, Co Galway. He studied theology in St. Joseph's seminary, Blackrock Road, Cork, between 1920 1924. He was received as a member of the Society on July 22, 1920 and was ordained a priest by Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork diocese, at St. Joseph's church, adjoining the seminary at Blackrock Road, on June 14, 1924. He was one of a group of eleven ordained on that day.

After ordination Pat was appointed to the Vicariate of Western Nigeria, which was the first mission in Nigeria to be entrusted to the Irish Province (in 1918) and which extended over an area which today forms several ecclesiastical jurisdictions. On his arrival in Nigeria, in October 1924, Pat was appointed to Aragba mission where, under the watchful eye of the veteran Alsatian missionary, George Krauth, he studied local languages, learned about African culture and undertook supervised pastoral work. After six months Pat passed his language examination and his 'canonical' examination, and was given faculties to hear confessions. He was then posted briefly to Eku mission before becoming the first priest to take up residence in Sapele, in Warri province. Formerly an outstation of Warri, Sapele had been opened in 1921, mainly serving immigrants from the east (many working in the Sawmills). Pat came to Ireland on his first home leave in November 1929. On his return to Nigeria, in February 1931, he resumed his superiorship at Sapele. He was to remain in charge of Sapele during two further tours of duty, until December 1942.

Pat has the distinction of sharing with Patrick J. Kelly (later bishop of Benin City) the development of Sapele district. When he first arrived there, the Catholic mission was a rather hopeless looking outstation which was serviced by the Fathers stationed in Warri town over 30 miles away. Making Sapele town his headquarters, Pat trekked through the bush, month after month, and year after year. Together with Patrick Kelly he was responsible for building Sapele's first church which was destroyed by lightning in 1937 having been in use only a year or two. He began the present church in 1939 but owing to the outbreak of war, work on it had to be abandoned for the duration. When he bade farewell to Africa, in 1942, Sapele and its twenty outstations were amongst the most promising missions in all Nigeria. To show the scale of the achievement the mission statistics are instructive. In 1921 when Sapele was opened there were a mere 34 Catholic members and 67 catechumens. When Sapele became a residential station, in 1926, there were 170 members and 80 catechumens and there was also a single school with 250 pupils and 7 teachers. By 1940 shortly before Pat's departure, Sapele had over 3,000 members, 1,200 catechumens, 13 catechists, 20 schools with 1,400 pupils and 48 teachers, and a sisters' convent. But the most telling statistic was the number of marriages perhaps the best index of progress. In 1925 there was not a single Catholic marriage. In 1940 there were 26 marriages and the number was rising annually.

In Nigeria Pat became known as 'Oga' Shine ('Oga' means ‘an influential person’) because of his frequent use of the term when addressing people. He was described by a colleague as 'a very hard worker and renowned for his cycling feats in the Warri Province.' As a result of his labours Pat developed severe rheumatism and, no longer capable of serving in the tropics, was transferred to the American Province of the Society which had been founded in 1941 and was in need of personnel. He was to work in America from 1942 until the year of his death. He was first posted to the Province’s headquarters, at Tenafly NJ, where he was attached to the promotion team. In 1947 he visited Australia to visit a brother and to investigate the possibility of establishing promotion work there. However he received a rather cool reception from bishops and priests and the scheme came to nothing. In April 1948 Pat was assigned to the Society's parish of St. Odilia's, in Los Angeles, serving a community mainly of African Americans and Mexicans. This mission, situated on Hooper Avenue, had been founded in 1926 and was in one of the poorest districts of the city, near the scene of the notorious Watts riots of the 1960's. From September 1960 he was attached to the Society’s seminary in Washington DC. Five years later he was assigned to the headquarters of the American Province, at Tenafly, New Jersey. While living at Tenafly, he organised all night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in New York churches. He died while on vacation in Ireland, having celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination a year before.

Pat was before his time in many ways, but especially in his estimation of the value of the media as an instrument of promoting the missions. He made many broadcasts over the years on the BBC and Radio Eireann. In one broadcast on the BBC in 1936 he stated that true poverty was unknown in Africa, and that the average European was safer there than in London. He was interviewed at length by the well-known broadcaster, Maura Laverty, on Radio Eireann on February 15, 1936. In January 1941 he was again interviewed on a programme called 'Microphone Parade' by Niall Boden. The texts of both interviews are preserved in the archives of the Irish Province at Blackrock Road. And there were other broadcasts. During the civil rights struggle in America Pat received some notoriety in the Irish press, being quoted in the Catholic Standard for comments made while home on vacation. Among his remarks (made after he had been received by the Taoiseach, Mr. De Valera, and before he returned to America), was that Little Rock (the scene of forcible integration) 'would have been integrated in due course without any use of force'; and that it was only in seven or eight of the Southern States that desegregation had not yet been completed, but that the problem would be solved in time. Pat had strong views on many subjects, leaning more to the conservative side. In particular, he found the changes which came with the Second Vatican Council difficult to accept and implement.

He died while visiting relatives in Ireland.

He is buried in Clonown, Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland.