Fr. Kevin Callaghan C.Ss.R. - Beyond my wildest dreams!
More often than not, the best things in life happen by chance, rather than by design, human design that is. A misunderstanding between myself, a schoolboy and my headmaster, a diocesan priest, sent me off, not to the diocesan seminary, as I had planned, but to life in the Redemptorist Congregation which even now, fifty years later, fascinates me. Preparation for priesthood and religious life pre Vatican II was light years away from our present experience however I remember that time with gratitude and appreciation.
My first assignment after Ordination was to our London community to engage in Parish Missions and Retreats. This apostolate had been the principal work of the Redemptorists. Though physically very demanding, it was hugely rewarding. Preaching still, to a largely traditional church, it took me to almost every part of the UK and gave me a broad experience of the church, its life and introduced me to many varied Religious communities. In between times I was assigned the task of vocation recruitment and organising our presence at Vocation’s exhibitions, then in vogue. It was an ideal existence, doing what I had been trained to do, but it couldn’t last forever; nothing does.
To my surprise, at a comparatively early age, I was appointed Superior and Parish Priest to our parish in Sunderland, still at that time a thriving mining and shipbuilding community. It was a wonderful time for me. The church was stirring; the calls of the second Vatican council were challenging; there was a new spirit of confidence and hope.
Six years on and I was on the other coast in Merseyside, in a more affluent suburban parish, very different: but warm and caring and trying to move forward in a new way as a Christian community. Six years in Liverpool made me realise the importance of football as a quasi religious experience!
As Redemptorists, we too had to look afresh at the world around us, re-discover our roots, and freshen our approach to mission and ministry in a rapidly changing world and church. All this came home to me forcefully when I was elected Provincial Superior in 1981: my parish and my ministry now would be the Redemptorists of the London Province and the Vice Province of South Africa. Being present at three general chapters – when Redemptorist representatives from all over the world gathered in Rome – gave me a real sense of the universal worldwide mission of our Congregation, breathtaking in its expanse and variety of mission. I was privileged to travel to many countries and see for myself the amazing work being done by our confreres.
After nine years I was relieved of, what some might call a burden, though I never regarded it as such, and was asked to do something different, I could never have imagined it – to join my confreres to work in a black township outside Harare, Zimbabwe. It was back to the classroom, to learn to know the customs and ways of the people. It was tough but it was fun and I loved every minute of it; a beautiful country with beautiful people; a time for learning and living different values. It was a fruitful time as we received and trained young Zimbabweans to be Redemptorists for the future.
Now, some years later, I find myself in semi-retirement in our Pastoral Centre, Hawkstone Hall, welcoming our guests from all over the world coming for a time of rest and renewal. This is where I studied, this iswhere I was ordained. Having gone full circle, still the story goes on. So to avoid all the clichés, I will just say its been a long journey for the Yorkshire schoolboy, deflected by chance, but how glad I am that it was so.
No regrets.
