Archbishop Eamon Martin has paid tribute to the Society of African Missions (SMA) as it marked a century at Dromantine, Co. Down, saying the anniversary should inspire renewed mission rather than nostalgia.
Preaching at a centenary Mass in the Cathedral of St Patrick and St Colman, Newry, on September 19, the Archbishop of Armagh and Apostolic Administrator of Dromore recalled that Dromantine Castle opened as a theological college in 1926, with Bishop Mulhern welcoming the Fathers “to their new College in the Diocese”.
The first eleven priests were ordained in Newry in June 1927, the start of annual ordinations. Archbishop Martin estimated that some 20,000 Irish men and women gave their lives to mission between 1920 and 1970.
He thanked the SMA for its pastoral help to nearby parishes, its retreat centre and summer schemes for young people, and its “unstinting witness to the centrality of mission in the life of the Church”.
