Société des Missions Africaines – Province d'Irlande

né le 10 janvier 1923 dans le diocèse de Ross, Irlande membre de la SMA le 1er juillet 1945 prêtre le 14 juin 1949 décédé le 20 novembre 2005

1949-1973 missionnaire au Nigeria 1949-1952, vicariat d'Asaba-Benin 1954-1965, diocèse de Benin City 1964-1973, diocèse de Warri 1973-1975 Dallinafad, collège 1976-1981 diocèse de Clifton, Angleterre 1981-2001 au service de la Province britannique paroisse de West Green 2001-2005 Blackrock Road, Cork, retiré décédé à Togher, le 20 novembre 2005 à l’âge de 82 ans

Cornelius Christopher O’Driscoll was born in Aughadown, Co Cork (the family address was at Drumnacaharough [Droumnacara], Church Cross, Skibbereen), in the diocese of Ross, on 10th January 1923.
He died at the Church of the Way of the Cross, Togher, Cork, on 20th November 2005.

Cornelius (Con) O’Driscoll was the third boy of five boys and one girl born to Michael and Katherine (nee McCarthy) who farmed in West Cork. Con attended Lisheen National School, situated two fields away from his house. Reflecting on childhood, later in life, Con commented: ‘we didn’t know much about the world outside our district or our country. So it was extraordinary when one day I saw an aeroplane and also a Zepplin – a big balloon – which really astonished me. Even to this day if I hear an aeroplane overhead I instinctively look up in wonder.’ Con’s vocation had its roots in his contacts with many SMA priests from his district, several of whom were relations. As an altar boy he served Peter and Stephen Harrington, Patsy and Florence McCarthy, John Cadogan and his first cousin, Tim Cadogan, also Florrie O’Driscoll and Jeremiah Sheehan. In 1936 Con applied to enter the Sacred Heart College, Ballinafad, Co Mayo, the SMA’s intermediate secondary school. However, his application was unsuccessful as the College was full. At about the same time a rumour (it proved true) had reached the district that the De La Salle Brothers were going to establish a secondary college in Skibbereen. So it was decided that Con should stay on for his final year in the national school and then go to the De La Salle Brothers (St Fachtna’s) for secondary education. Con was in one of the first classes of the new school remaining there until 1943 when he obtained his leaving certificate and went on to the SMA novitiate and house of philosophy at Kilcolgan, Co Galway.

At St. Fachtna’s Con revealed a talent as a footballer. As well as playing for the school team he represented Skibbereen at minor level in 1941 and 1942, and played for Carbery Rangers in 1943. In his final year at school he was awarded a pocket watch as best all-round athlete. While in St. Fachtna’s his mother died unexpectedly, just four days after Con’s 17th birthday. It was a bad blow since Con was very close to his mother who was only 48 years old at the time of her death. Con commenced his theological formation in the major seminary at Dromantine, Newry, Co Down, in September 1945. He became a permanent member of the Society on 11th June 1948. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Eugene O’Doherty of Dromore diocese, in St. Colman’s Cathedral, Newry, on 14th June 1949. He was one of a group of seven ordained on that occasion.

After ordination Con was appointed to the Vicariate of Asaba-Benin, created in 1943 from a division of the old Vicariate of Western Nigeria (it became Benin City diocese in 1950), under the leadership of Bishop Patrick J. Kelly. Con reached Nigeria in November 1949 and was appointed to Warri mission. At that time missionary tours of duty lasted five years, but in December 1952 Con was invalided home with a suspected duodenal ulcer. In fact it turned out to be a troublesome appendix. He returned to Benin City diocese in February 1954 where he was appointed to Ashaka. He was to serve in this region of mid-Western Nigeria until September 1973 when he was invalided home unsuitable for further work in the tropics.

Con took up his appointment to Ashaka on 7th March 1954 remaining alone in that mission until 21st January 1955 when he was joined by a Nigerian priest, Bernard Elah, who had been ordained at the Marian Congress held in Nigeria in 1954. One of the most pressing needs in Ashaka was a new church. Finally, in 1957, after much preparation, the foundation stone of St. Leo’s Church, Ashaka, was laid. While on vacation in 1958 Con obtained the precious marble altar of the old Drimoleague church and had it transported to Ashaka, for the new church. It is still in use to this day. Con’s third tour of duty, commencing in February 1959, saw him appointed parish priest of Agbor. In October 1962, after returning from his next home leave, Con was appointed to Sapele, where he took over from Dick Beausang. Up to this time all his postings had been in the heartland of the Niger Delta region, replete with its streams and creeks, and where travel by canoe was the norm. Sapele, situated more on the fringes of the Delta, was different in that most out-stations could be reached overland.

In 1964 the Warri district of the diocese was detached and erected as a separate jurisdiction under a Nigerian, Lucas Olu Nwaezeapu. Con became Vicar General of the new diocese. In 1966 he went to America to arrange for a fund-raising trip by Bishop Lucas and in April of the following year, four months before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, the Bishop travelled to Boston. When the Federal Troops recovered the mid-western region from the Biafrians, it became impossible for Bishop Lucas, who was a Western Igbo, to return home from America. In part his difficulties were with the Federal Government but, more significantly, he could not be sure of the support of several of his priests and those of his flock who were non-Igbo. Con spent much time and energy smoothing the way for the bishop’s return. Eventually, in March 1968 he felt sufficiently confident to arrange the Bishop’s return to Warri. In the event the bishop’s stay was short-lived and some years later he was compelled by circumstances to resign his diocese, taking up residence in Rome. Finding the strain of the previous few years telling and having had his own difficulties with the bishop since the latter’s return, Con resigned as Vicar General early in 1969, going home to Ireland on leave.

On his return, late in 1969, Bishop Lucas appointed Con to a newly-created parish, Ushi Efron. There he built a two-storey house and had it partly roofed when nervous strain reasserted itself and he was invalided home in October 1973. The next few years were extremely difficult for Con as he sought to come to terms with the effects of the Civil War and the tensions within Warri diocese. In November 1973 he was posted as assistant farm manager in Ballinafad. But he continued to be unwell. Finally, in November 1975 he went to England for treatment and responded well, regaining his strength, although it was clear that he would no longer be able to work in Africa. From February 1976 he worked in Clifton diocese, briefly in Brockworth parish (near Gloucester) and then in the parish of Charlton-Kings, Cheltenham. In 1981, as a result of a request by Cardinal Basil Hume for priests with missionary experience to take responsibility for a parish in North London where a large number of Africans had taken up residence, Con accepted a transfer to Saint John Vianney’s parish, West Green, Tottenham. Con’s ministry flourished in this multi-cultural setting. In 1988 Con took sabbatical leave, spending three months visiting Liberia and Nigeria. His Golden Jubilee, celebrated after eighteen years in West Green, was marked by three days of celebrations, a token of the high esteem in which he was held by all.

Con retired from St. John Vianney’s parish in April 2001 (shortly before the Society handed it back to the diocese because of lack of personnel to staff it), taking up residence at Blackrock Road. In West Green he had been very active in the Legion of Mary. Back in Cork he made himself available as a spiritual director to the Legion. He also became chaplain to the Knights of Columbanus. He took on other chaplaincies and was always ready to supply when requests were made both within Blackrock Road and outside. On Sunday, 20th November 2005, Con went to the Church of the Way of the Cross, Togher, to celebrate Mass for the Knights of Columbanus. Before Mass was due to begin he felt unwell, sat down on a chair and died almost immediately. His funeral took place on the feast of St. Columbanus.

Con’s missionary career was long and fruitful. Although he spent most of his life outside Ireland he was extremely proud of his Irish roots. He was a storehouse of knowledge on Irish history, especially of the ecclesiastical genre, and had a particular interest in the origin of place-names, names of saints and proper nouns in general. Genealogy, too, was a subject dear to his heart and he loved nothing better than to trace the ancestry of the SMA priests from West Cork, or the lineages of his own tribe and family. It was typical of Con’s interest in history that in the year of his death he dictated his memoirs, which are now deposited in the Archives of the Irish Province of the Society. Con had a capacity to relax in company, tell a good story and laugh heartily. In debate he could be tenacious and passionate. In Nigeria he is best remembered as a builder of churches and schools and as an administrator in difficult times. In Cheltenham he is remembered as a pastor always available to those who needed him. In West Green his work among the ‘down and outs’ and his dedication to the sick (both in St. Ann’s hospital and in their homes) was remarkable. Everywhere – perhaps his own life’s difficulties made him especially sensitive - he sought out and helped the mentally ill. One of his parish priests remarked that Con had a quality of hardiness and toughness which would see him heading out in all kind of weathers and into difficult situations, all for the sake of the kingdom. His piety was primarily Marian and this was reflected in his attachment to the Legion of Mary and his love of Marian Pilgrimages. Con was particularly proud of his nephew, Michael Waters, who became a member of the Society and currently ministers in Nigeria.

He is buried in Wilton Cemetery.