St. Patrick's Missionary Society (

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''Societas Sancti Patritii pro Missionibus ad Exteros''; also known as the Kiltegan Fathers) is a

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of pontifical right for men composed of

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. Its headquarters is at

Kiltegan Kiltegan () is a village in west County Wicklow, Ireland, on the R747 regional road close to the border with County Carlow. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. The civil parish extends into County Carlow. Accordin ...

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. Its members add the nominal initials SPS after their names to indicate their membership in the Society. The motto in Latin and English of the Society is and ''Christ's love compels us'', (

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5:14), respectively.

History

The Kiltegan Fathers origins stem from an appeal by Bishop Joseph (Ignatius) Shanahan of the Holy Ghost Order, in 1920 to the seminary students in

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...

for missionaries to Nigeria, Africa, where he was bishop; later that year Fr. Whitney accompanied Bishop Shanahan to Africa. The society was founded officially on

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, 17 March 1932 by

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Patrick Whitney (1894 - 1942) at

. Its original aim was the

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Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. In 1951, the society expanded its missionary activities outside of Nigeria. In the 1950s the society expanded, building a new college in Kiltegan, and opening a House of Studies in Sutton House, Rochestown, Douglas in Cork, with seminarians attending lectures in

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. In 1997 the Kiltegan Fathers, with the drop in vocations from Ireland, officially decided to open up internationally and set up houses of formation in Nigeria and Kenya. In 2000 trainee priests began studying philosophy in St Joseph's Institute in Cedara, South Africa, and KwaPatrick house was setup. 2002 seen students study theology at the Kiltegan House in Nairobi, as the Society joined other orders in Tangaza University College. Also in 2002 a house of formation was founded in Lusaka, Zambia. As of 2024, the society has 253 priests and 70 students on formation on four continents including the countries of Nigeria,

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

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Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

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, the

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and

St. Patricks Missionary College - High Park, Kiltegan

The Society moved to High Park, about 2 km from Kiltegan County Wicklow the former home of the Westby family, and named it St. Patrick's. It had been donated by a catholic businessman John Hughes to Fr. Pat Whitney in 1929. Fr. Whitney took over the building in 1930. The High Park residence had been rebuilt after it had been damaged in the 1798 rebellion.

People Associated with St. Patrick's College, Kiltegan

Bishop James Kavanagh, taught in Kiltegan. Seán J. White the writer, academic, broadcaster and journalist and Don Mullan the humanitarian and media producer, studied in Kiltegan.

Timeline

* 1920 - Appeal by Bishop Joseph (Ignatius) Shanahan * 1929 - Donation of High Park, Kiltegan to Fr Whitney * 1932 - Formal Foundation * 1934 - Kiltegans take charge of Calabar when the Diocese was divided * 1951 - First Mission outside Nigeria was to Kenya * 1956 - Kiltegan Fathers took over

Kitui Kitui is a town and capital of Kitui County in Kenya, 185 kilometres east of Nairobi and 105 kilometres east of Machakos. it covers an area approximately 30,496.4 km squares and lies between latitudes 0°10 South and 3°0 South and long ...

, Kenya from the

Holy Ghost Fathers The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (officially the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary; ) is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are often known as Holy ...

* 1961 - First mission to Brazil * 1967 - Outbreak of the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a Secession, secessionist state which had declared its independen ...

* 1970 - Kiltegan Fathers went to West Indies * 1970 - Kiltegan Fathers went to Malawi * 1983 - Mission in South Sudan * 1989 - Seen Missions to Cameroon, South African and Zimbabwe * 1993 - Society first sought members from outside Ireland * 1997 - Society opened houses of formation in East, West and Central Africa * 2015 - Headquarters moved to Nairobi, KenyaKiltegans relocate to Africa due to lack of vocations
by Cathal Barry, Irish Catholic, October 1st, 2015.

Abuse cases

In May 2011 allegations of sexual abuse by a member of the society in Africa were made on the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

programme

Prime Time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

Investigates. Jeremiah McGrath, SPS was convicted in

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in May 2007 for facilitating abuse by a paedophile named Billy Adams. McGrath had given Adams £20,000 in 2005 and Adams had used the money to impress 12-year-old Jade Critchlow whom he then raped over a six-month period. McGrath denied knowing about the abuse but admitted having a brief sexual relationship with Adams. His

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

in January 2008 was dismissed. In 2003 the society paid €325,000 for abuse committed by Fr. Peter Kennedy, SPS in 1982.

Notable members of the Society

* Bishop Derek Byrne, SPS - Bishop of Primavera do Leste–Paranatinga, Brazil (2014- ), Bishop of Guiratinga, Brazil (2008-2014) * Bishop Edmund Fitzgibbon, SPS - Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Warri in Nigeria. * Bishop John Magee, SPS - Bishop of

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne The Diocese of Cloyne () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel (also known as Munster). History The diocese has its beginnings in the monastic settlem ...

, Ireland (1987–2010), Master of Papal Ceremonies, The Vatican (1982–1987), Papal Private Secretary, The Vatican (1978–1982). * Bishop William Dunne, SPS - Bishop of

(1963-1995) * Bishop John Christopher Mahon, D.C.L, SPS - Bishop of Lodwar, Kenya (1978-2000), * Bishop James Moynagh, SPS (1903 - 1985) * Bishop John Alphonsus Ryan MA PhD, SPS * Bishop Thomas McGettrick, SPS, first Bishop of Abakaliki, Nigeria * Bishop Maurice Anthony Crowley BSc, SPS, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitale, Kenya (1998- )

Current organisation

In 2014 St Patrick's Missionary Society held a General Chapter meeting which elected a new leadership team. In 2015 the society commenced moving its headquarters from Kiltegan in Ireland to Nairobi in Kenya. The Society produces the ''Africa - St. Patrick's Mission'' magazine. The Society has installed a wind turbine in Kiltegan. There is also a retirement home in Kiltegan for its members. The Kiltegan Fathers in association with Sisters of the Holy Faith in 2013, worked to set up a primary school in Riwoto, South Sudan.what we do
Sisters of the Holy Faith

References

External links

*
Kiltegan Fathers UK website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions Patrick Missionary Society Christian organizations established in 1932 Societies of apostolic life