This comes through to5 the deepest part of my heart and soul where having the opportunity to spend time in Jamaica from a very young age with my uncle Father William Whelan CP who was a Catholic missionary up in the cool and beautiful Blue Mountains in pretty and deeply non tourist place called Mandeville. My uncle is buried there in the Garden of Saint Paul of the Cross Church and School. This landmark place of education and worship was non existent in the early 1950s when my uncle arrived on the island of Jamaica. A place and a people he came to love and devoted 25 years to ministering to Jamaicans, getting the education options open and starting track teams and girls softball teams which he loved to Coach himself while he still had time. I attended his funeral in 1976 where three Catholic Bishops said Mass and I stood in the rectory while people came in after standing on very long lines to say thank you and express their sympathies. It was near midnight that day when the last group of people finally reached up to say goodnight. For 12 hours people came up and many spoke directly to me as they remembered seeing me during the previous 12 summers that I had visited with my uncle on summer vacation. Almost everyone shared a personal recollection or story about Father William and how he always found a way to help with the problems that are always present in a community where money was always a scarce resource. I will always be Jamaican in a part of my heart and soul and whenever I am in Jamaica I feel like I am in my second home and the music moves me so powerfully.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 12:08:22 +0000