(source: Fr Aylward Shorter)
White
Fathers and White Sisters You May Have Known
We start with the parish priests:
Fr Joseph Laane
The first Parish Priest at Heston (1929 - 1931)
(source: White Fathers & White Sisters magazine)
This photo was sent to the WF/WS magazine by Mrs Barbara Sexton of Taunton,
Somerset.
She wrote: "We have always been very close to the White Fathers, as we
were, with our parents,
the first parishioners at the house where the first Mass was said at Heston,
Middlesex."
Fr Joseph Laane, from Holland, was no stranger to new ventures. Following his
first arrival in
Uganda in 1895, he started many parishes. He returned to Europe and founded
the
White Fathers' community and parish at Heston in 1928. he remained there for
two years
before returning to Uganda, where he died 9th September 1941.
(source: Fr Aylward Shorter)
The Chapel at Heston, during Fr Laane's time as Parish Priest (first left).
(source: Fr Aylward Shorter)
The 1930 community of White Fathers at Heston
(L-R) : Back :
——, Fr. Relftenmaier , ——, Fr. Ludwig Haag, ——, Fr. Otto Mors, ——, Br Frederic (Hoogland)
Front: Fr Arthur Hughes (later Archbishop), Fr Joseph Laane (Superior), Fr Peter.Striefenhofer
Return to Top
Fr A E Howell WF
Parish priest from 1931 - 1935
(Source : "Leaves from a White father's Diary",
c/o
Tony Smyth and John & Margaret Morton)
(See Page 37 of the HISTORIES section
for an account of his travels in Africa)
Return to Top
Bishop Owen McCoy MAfr
(Bishop Emeritus
of Oyo)
Parish priest at Heston 1935 - 37
The following is taken from a newspaper cutting, dated some time in July
1988
— kindly supplied by Andrew Rampling, a parishioner at Heston:
Bishop Owen McCoy WF, the first Bishop of Oyo,
Nigeria, died suddenly in London last week, aged 81. He was about to celebrate
his Silver Jubilee as Bishop.
Born at West Derby, Liverpool, he entered the White Fathers in 1926 and was
ordained in 1933.
His first appointment was to the White Fathers' parish
at Heston, west London. In 1937 he was sent to the missions in northern
Gold Coast (now Ghana). Six years later he was posted to Western Nigeria where,
in 1949, a new mission territory was carved out by the Vatican department for
missions (Propaganda Fide), and was entrusted to the White Fathers. It
comprised two-thirds of the Oyo Province of Nigeria and was designated by Rome
asa Prefecture, the first stage in the development of a new mission territory.
Fr McCoy was appointed by Rome as its ecclesiastical superior.
At that time the new Prefecture, one-and-a-quarter times the size of Wales,
had only four mission stations and a total of 14,000 Catholics in a population
of upwards of four million. By 1963 things had developed so well that the Prefecture
was made into a diocese, with Bishop McCoy as its first bishop.
Under Bishop McCoy, new mission stations were founded, hospitals and rural clinics,
mothercrafts and women's social training centres were opened as well as a wide
range of boys' and girls' schools, vocational training units, agricultural settlements
and self-help projects.
He opened a junior seminary with 125 places for Nigerian students for the priesthood.
Aware that the Church would only take permanent roots if there was eventually
an African bishop, in 1971 he obtained from Rome the nomination of an auxiliary
bishop, who, however, was taken from him to be Bishop of Lagos two years later.
But a second Nigerian auxiliary succeeded Bishop McCoy in 1973.
Returning to England that year, Bishop McCoy offered his services in several
dioceses until his retirement to White Fathers' communities in 1982, first at
Rutherglen, Glasgow, and latterly at Ealing, West London. He was buried at the
White Fathers' corner, Kensal Rise Cemetery, London. (see the OBITUARIES section) |
Information gleaned from the Catholic Hierarchy website
| Date |
Age |
Event |
Title |
| 27 Sep 1907 |
|
Born |
Westderby, Great Britain |
| 29 Jun 1933 |
25.8 |
Ordained Priest |
Priest of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) |
| Sep 1935 |
27 |
Appointed |
Parish Priest at Heston, Middlesex |
| August 1937 |
30 |
not known |
|
| 1 Apr 1949 |
41.5 |
Appointed |
Prefect of Oyo, Nigeria |
| 18 Jan 1963 |
55.3 |
Appointed |
Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria |
| 28 Apr 1963 |
55.6 |
Ordained Bishop |
Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria |
| 13 Apr 1973 |
65.5 |
Resigned |
Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria |
| 28 Jun 1988 |
80.8 |
Died |
Bishop Emeritus of Oyo, Nigeria |
Bishop McCoy was parish priest at Heston from September 1935 to
August 1937.
He was a priest for 55 years and a bishop for 25 years.
|
Return to Top
Fr Thomas Tye,
Parish Priest at Heston (1937 - 1945)
(Source: White Fathers & White Sisters magazine — lent
by Mike Byrne)
Father Tye spent his first 8 years as a priest at Heston parish for about
8 years,
covering the whole of the war period, in fact. When I saw this photo of him
and
read the accompanying article, it dawned on me that I was probably looking
at the man who baptized me in 1942. A quick check in my 'archives' showed it
to be true.
Click here to read "Meet Fr. Thomas Tye,
WF "
Return to Top
Fr John Maguire
Parish Priest at Heston 1945 - 48
There are not many photos of Fr Maguire on this website
but if you do a 'Quick Search' (see left) you will find
many references to him. This photo was taken at a particularly
bad time in his life : along with 17 seminarians, he was
interned at the St Denis POW camp (Paris). His health never
recovered
from the rigours he endured during that period..
Clict here to read Fr Kevin Wiseman's
personal account of this imprisonment.
Return to Top
Bishop Francis Walsh
Parish Priest at Heston (1948 - 1951)
(Source: White Fathers & White Sisters magazine — lent
by Mike Mearns)
The biography of Bishop Walsh can be read on Page 10 of the Histories
section.
Return to Top
Fr Antony Hames
Parish Priest at Heston (1951 - 1957)
(Source: Mrs Sheila Steggal, née Tolman)
Peter Briody writes :
"I knew Fr Hames from the date of his appointment as Parish Priest
at Heston up to September 1953 when I departed for St Columbas as a student.
Father, later Bishop Wash was Fr. Hames's predecessor and a hard act to
follow, because he was idolised by all the parishoners . Fr. Hames, however,
was in every respect a worthy follower and was indeed very popular (as said
in hisobituary) - mainly because he was the perfect gentleman and an active
business-like parish priest. He was also a doer: I remember how he used
to put a belt around his habit, so that he could hammer and paint things
or do repairs on the huge chicken run behind the parish hall.
He took me to London in the Summer of 1954 to be innoculated before going
to visit my parents in Uganda. On the way back he decided we should go see
a film ( The "Malvary Queen" ). I thought that was the greatest
thing since sliced bread - going to the "flicks" with the parish
priest ! It was the only time I ever saw him relax and do nothing - otherwise,
he was always active . . .
John and paul Tait will probably be able to tell you more.
Incidently, I think there is a parish priest missing from the list at Heston
. I seem to remember a Father Lee being there before Fr. Walsh in 1948 or
thereabouts."
|
For further information, read Fr Hames's entry on Page 4 of the Obituaries Section (or click here)
|
Return to Top
Fr Lawrence Jones WF
Parish priest at Heston 1957 - 1960
(Source: Mrs
Sheila Steggal, née Tolman)
Fr Lawrence Jones (left) with his successor, Fr Peter Moore.
This was probably taken during at the time when the
parish was handed over to the diocese in 1960.
Fr Jones was the last White Father to act as parish
priest at Heston(from November 1957 to February 1960)