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“WE ACTUALLY got a lot of a lot of help from Frank Sinatra would you believe? He became one of our benefactors.”

Missionary priests and religious sisters have an uncanny ability to downplay extraordinary titbits or stories from their time on mission, but this one took the biscuit and when interviewing Spiritan Father, Fr John McFadden, I had to get him to elaborate on this particular anecdote about Old Blue Eyes supporting the Church in Nigeria.

“Bishop Donald Murray of Makurdi was an Irish Spiritan Father in the British Province and he sent one of our priests, Fr Tom Rooney, from the North-East of England, to the United States to fundraise for projects,” Fr John explained. “He wanted to build three hospitals in three strategic places in the diocese and Fr Tom somehow came into contact with Frank Sinatra, who he became friends with. I don't know all the details, but that friendship saw Frank Sinatra give us thousands and thousands of dollars to build our hospitals.

“Now, of course this is something that never hit the headlines, but he also made huge contributions for us to build a new cathedral—a modern cathedral—because when our German brothers went to Makurdi in the 1930s, they built the first cathedral there out of burnt brick, as they called it, using mud from the River Benue. It is still standing, but it’s a parish church now. By the 1970s-80s we needed a new cathedral and Frank Sinatra was a very big contributor to it. There was the question as to whether he would come out for the opening of it, but in the end, he thought it was too much of a security risk, so he didn't come. But yeah, there you go, there’s something you wouldn't know about a man who was in the spotlight all his life, but he helped us a lot in the diocese!”

A future mapped out

It's doubtful that the young John McFadden would have had any idea that he and his fellow Spiritan Fathers would one day enjoy the support of a Hollywood megastar when he was drawing maps of Africa in his geography class growing up in Leicestershire. However, something that was being mapped out, was his path to becoming a missionary priest. With the Rosminian Fathers nearby, being an avid reader of missionary magazines and having an uncle who tried his vocation with the Mill Hill Missionaries, it’s no surprise that when the Spiritan Fathers—also known the Holy Ghost Fathers back then—visited his primary school, the dye was cast. First up, was Junior Seminary and an early introduction to the African country in which he would eventually call home.

“All the men who taught us virtually were guys who had been in Nigeria,” Fr John said. “Nigeria was the main mission field where the Holy Ghost Fathers from Britain used to go and so I heard all about the places, the villages, the towns, the tribes, the people, their customs, their way of life, from the time I went to the junior seminary. So when I eventually got there [to Nigeria], I sort of felt very much at home. I didn't suffer in any way from any kind of cultural shock.”

After time spent on Novitiate in Ireland, it was off to the Missionary Institute in London, which was set up by seven missionary societies in Britain at that time, which gave him an even more rounded view of life on the missions.

“It was a wonderful preparation for life in a country different to your own, because in all the lectures—whatever subject they were teaching us—the influence of their life on the missions in many parts of the world came into everything that we learned and it helped me when I eventually got to Nigeria.”

Looking back on discerning his vocation, Fr John admits that it was likely pre-destined due to his interest and curiosity in other cultures and peoples, but he says he really only realised how special being a missionary priest was after the fact.

“Obviously vocation is a call and it's a call to a certain way of life as a priest,” he said. “You know, it’s a vow of poverty and chastity, obedience as well, and the readiness to meet people of other cultures and other languages and in totally different circumstances. Only afterwards did I realise that that it was a special vocation.

“I remember one of our vocation directors here in Scotland used to go around and give talks to the to the universities and wherever he could. One time, he got a group of young men together and when he sat down to interview them and talk to them about what their idea of priesthood was, not a single one of them wanted to be religious and not a single one of them wanted to be a missionary. They all wanted to be priests in Scotland and that's when I realised that  to be a missionary, it's quite a significant difference.

“It’s a different vocation. It's a different calling. Even from the moment we went to the junior seminary, we knew what was waiting for us, what kind of life it was going to be, what kind of people we might encounter and the problems we would meet. We also knew the sort of talents, gifts and aptitudes we’d need to survive, including things like being a car mechanic, to keep the parish car going in very difficult circumstances where you might not easily be able to get a mechanic or somebody like that.

Strength through Faith

However, while these youthful Spiritans had some insight into what life on the missions would be like, nothing would prepare them from being in the country itself and when a missionary priest or religious sister begins working with people who may be poor, disabled or living on the margins in some way, there needs to be an inner strength present in a missionary to serve the people to the best of their ability. In Fr John’s case, that strength came from three main sources: scripture, inspirational figures and his prayer life.

“On my ordination card, there’s a scripture passage that I chose from St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, which says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It speaks to me in terms of feeling and recognising my own inadequacies and you know, not knowing the answers to everything, not being capable in many areas of life, then giving it over to the Lord and praying that with His help and with His grace, you know we can face many problems and know how to deal with them,” he said. “So, that's been an inspiration for me since the time of my ordination.

“Speaking of inspirations, in my early days in seminary I read about Fr Francis Libermann—our ‘second founder’ and a convert from Judaism—and it had a profound effect on me. I remember as a young boy reading The Star of Jacob and I admired the man from that moment—his commitment, his vision, his sense of sacrifice and his gifts of spiritual direction, insight and knowledge. He never went to Africa. He never set foot on the African continent, but he was able to direct a missionary congregation from Paris through sending letters. He just had natural gifts that many Jewish people seem to have in some ways. People say that Edith Stein had the same kind of aptitudes and gifts and insights into people's characters and knew how to deal with people the same as Fr Libermann did. So, he was a profound influence and I still go back to much of his writings, even now. I always thought that there was a real natural wisdom in the advice he used to give to his missionaries.”

“I believe also that whatever one has to do as a priest, you know, whatever gifts you have and whatever positions and responsibilities you might be called to, underpinning all of it must be your spiritual life and your closeness to the Lord, your commitment to prayer,” Fr John added. “I enjoy praying the Psalms. I pray the Rosary every day. I've always received strength from the Rosary.”

Upon their arrival in the country—long before Fr John arrived there—the Spiritans found themselves working with the Tiv, Idoma, Igede and Hausa peoples, and focused on providing those in their care with an education, initially through schools, but when those were taken away from them, they used the churches to educate people both in general terms, but also in their Faith. That would pay dividends in time with the number of Catechists and vocations that would arise from those lessons.

“One of the groups of people that are so important in the life of the Church in Nigeria are the parish catechists—the catechists play a crucial role,” Fr John said. “They are very close collaborators with the priest.

“Our aim and our goal was to create a self-sufficient Church and I think in Nigeria, we have achieved that by the grace of God. I can't say it was all our own work, but God's grace was there and also the people eventually responded with great generosity. When you’ve worked yourself out of a job you know that the mission has been successful.”

A new home

However, before reaching that point. Fr John’s own personal mission was not without its peaks and troughs. He experienced the often expected linguistic and health challenges faced by many missionaries, and even contracted TB which saw him spend eight weeks in hospital and lose two stone. However, he recalls that the positives greatly outweighed any minor negatives. One such highlight was working with the people themselves, who he described as ‘extremely welcoming, respectful and lovable, good-humoured with a positive optimistic outlook on life.’

“It was a real positive to be able to witness and being part of people living in a way that's completely in contrast to what you might be used to in Western Europe, people who are living in ordinary mud huts and with grass roofs that they've built themselves with the bamboo structures and seeing how the people managed to survive and are very happy, and are able to lead very simple lives. They have everything they need. And that’s what being a missionary is about, a desire to be challenged by a different culture and to bring the Good News of the Gospel into that culture. Now, you’ll need to be patient, tolerant and understanding of that culture, and be willing to go out of your comfort zone. If you do that, you’ll grow to love and appreciate the people and the place and in the end I started to call Nigeria ‘home.’ It really is a special vocation.”

That ability to be adaptable would come in handy one memorable night when, during an Easter Vigil, Fr John had to perform the Asperges in a rather unorthodox way, which brought a smile to his face as he recounted the story.

“The Easter Vigil ceremony every year became a real whopper!” he said. “It was five hours long and ran through the night, but it was wonderful. Everybody played their part. On one particularly memorable occasion I remember we had a 44 gallon drum of water—an oil drum that was filled with water for the Baptisms—and at the point when they came to me to do the Asperges, one of the altar boys gave me a one pint mug, a beer mug with a handle on it. So, I poured a whole pint over everybody in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and people were soaking wet, but you know this was them being born again to a new life in Christ. It was actually quite wonderful, you know.”

Spiritans' impact

Reflecting on the impact that the Spiritans made in Nigeria, Fr John feels that they managed to make a big difference to the lives of the people that they served. He also pointed to the ingenuity that existed among missionary priests there and praised Missio Scotland for supporting missionaries and projects too.

“One of our Irish priests, Fr Paddy Foley, was there for more than 50 years and he worked out how to how to make tyres would you believe it?” Fr John said. “Tyres for tractors that weren't rubber, but that were made out of aluminium because he couldn't get the tyres for the tractors. Every tractor had metal tyres with ribs on them to grip the soil because the tyres were extremely expensive. So, he created his own tyres and they worked very well. He used to give tremendous help to people in their farms.”

“I think the Spiritans made a big difference to people's lives,” he continued. “We stimulated growth. We stimulated the place where we stayed. We built the school there at the crossroads of two roads. There was nothing there when we established the school, but when we started building the school, builders came, contractors came and very soon a market grew up there and we built a hospital there too, and the late Fr Jeffrey built another hospital, which has served the community very well. And of course, you know, we didn't make any distinctions between the people who used to come to the hospital, everybody from any tribe who came along was looked after.

“And missionaries undertaking such projects are bolstered by the support from Missio Scotland. We’re members of a worldwide Church and Missio Scotland, in its work, helps us to see beyond Scotland or beyond Britain and play a role in the worldwide effort of bringing the Gospel to the peoples of the world. I think that's really important, not to become too self-obsessed and too inward looking.”

Reviving lives

Indeed, Spiritans like Fr John, have continued to make a difference even upon their return from countries such as Nigeria and that ties in with what he considered mission to mean, namely being someone who bears the love of Christ and brings the Good News of the Gospel to people,’ wherever they may be. One such poignant instance of that relates to the congregation’s Revive project in Manchester, which was actually founded by lay associates to support immigrants and asylum seekers. Fr John shared a heartwarming story that sprung from that project that showcases not only the strength of the universal Church, but the humanity at the heart of lay people living out their own mission.

“One guy arrived in the city from Congo,” Fr John explained. “He arrived in Manchester Airport and he was befriended by Anne Marie Fell who runs the project. He was desperate to try and get in touch with his wife and children. He was involved in politics in Congo, in the opposition party, and he was told that he should leave the country immediately, because people were coming to get him and his family. So they fled, but in the confusion, he went one way and his wife and children went another.

“He arrived in Manchester, was helped to claim asylum and received information that his wife and children were in a refugee camp in Malawi. So Anne Marie phoned me, she said: ‘John, do we have any missionaries in Malawi?’ I said: ‘Yes, we do.’ She then said to me:

“Would they ever go to any of the refugee camps and see if they can find his wife?’ So I gave her the phone number of one of our guys there—a Nigerian priest called Fr Emmanuel—and she asked him if he would visit some of the refugee camps to see if he could find her and the children. And lo and behold, he did, he found them. He found the wife and children in the refugee camp in Malawi.

“So, the next step was to try and reunite them because the husband was given refugee status in England, meaning he had the right for his wife and children to join him. Anne Marie did some fundraising in the local parishes in Manchester, telling the story and explaining how money was needed to pay the airfare for the wife and children to come. Eventually they raised enough money for the airfare and they finally arrived into one of the London airports and had a wonderful reunion.

“The family had been divided, but here they were together again. They moved up to live in Lancashire. The two daughters only spoke French at the time, but then Anne Marie told me about after three years or so, they were all speaking English with broad Lancashire accents! So that just goes to show that we all have our mission to live out, whether we are religious or lay, and living out that mission can bring great joy and hope.”

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