F E AT U R E MISSION SUNDAY CELEBRATION – ST PATRICK’S, LISBURN Back row : Fr John O’Donoghue M.Afr, Fr Conor McGrath, Fr Liam Dunne SVD, Fr Martin Cushnan CSsR, Fr Gerald Doyle MHM, Fr Francis Ahern OSA, Fr Fergus Tuohy SMA, Fr John Brown CSSp, Fr Eddie Deany SMA Front row : Fr Terence McGuckin CP, Fr Billy Fulton SPS, Fr Aloysius Lumala, Mary McGrath, Bishop Noel Treanor, Geraldine Goodall, Fr Fonsie Doran CSsR, Fr Kevin McHugh SSC, Canon Brendan Murray, Josephine O’Boyle
APOSTOLIC WORK
32
APOSTOLIC WORK WAS FOUNDED IN BELFAST IN 1923, FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES AND THEIR WORK IN MANY COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD, WHETHER THEIR NEEDS ARE FINANCIAL, MEDICAL, STRUCTURAL OR EDUCATIONAL. BY JOSEPHINE O’ BOYLE
Although
it is now 96 years in existence, the aims and ideals of the founder, Agnes Mc Auley, are still the basis of the Apostolic Work Society today. Agnes Mc Auley, born in Enniskillen, moved to Belfast in 1903 and eventually after various jobs she finally began working in the office of the Franklin laundry. In her private life she displayed exemplary Christian attitudes, offering both spiritual and material assistance to others, especially those on the missions. As well as attending many Masses each week, she also was involved in the sale of missionary magazines including The Far East, African Missions and other forms of fundraising. Such was her commitment and powers of persuasion that her friends and
REALITY MARCH 2020
indeed the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Joseph MacRory all helped in her work, providing spiritual, financial and material aid for the missions. This work included providing vestments for Fr O’ Connor, a missionary priest in Africa; helping Mother Marcella (a Franciscan nun) to finance the building of a leper hospital in Kamuli, Uganda; and providing a bursary of £500 for the education of students for the priesthood through the African Missionaries in Cork. The Bishop’s approval for this project was secured when he was blessing vestments for dispatch to the missions in Africa. BEGINNINGS Agnes, with a few like-minded friends, organised themselves into a group to provide funds for missionaries. When Bishop MacRory was
Agnes Mc Auley, founder of Apostolic Work
