Namilyango's Fr Sweeney takes a bow

May 13, 2020

The reigning headteacher of Namilyango College, Constantine Mpuuga expressed remarkable admiration for Fr Sweeney.

LIFE  OBITUARY

The Very Rev. Fr. John Sweeney, a Scottish Catholic missionary priest of the Society of St Joseph (Mill Hill Fathers) had an interesting priestly calling. When he was still a boy, he despised and ridiculed the Catholic sacerdotal ministry to the extent that when his brother Martin joined the Mill Hill Missionary Seminary, he wondered what had gone wrong with him. He saw priesthood as a meaningless occupation. 

But as he advanced in maturity, the inquisitive Sweeney started to think about the Catholic clerical order in a positive manner. Interestingly, he was not influenced by priests, but by a teacher, who gave his class a talk about priesthood. Sweeney got his lasting priestly aspiration from the Mill Hill seminarians, who were studying with his brother Martin at Freshfield in England. 

"The seminarians would meet in our house during the holidays. I never joined them, but I used to study them, and I thought they were the happiest group of people I had ever met. They talked about Freshfield and their professors with great admiration and love. They made a deep impression on me," he said. 

Information from the archives of the Mill Hill Fathers indicates that Sweeney had always had the desire to work in Uganda. His desire saw the light of the day in 1965 when he was appointed to the famous Namilyango College as a chaplain and teacher of academics. 

 r weeney standing left shares a light moment with r amian rimes seated and other ill ill colleagues at erbert ouse in the Fr Sweeney (standing left) shares a light moment with Fr. Damian Grimes (seated) and other Mill Hill colleagues at Herbert House in the UK

 
Dr Pellegrino Kibuuka, a senior alumnus and past headteacher of Namilyango College, was a student at the school during the early years of Fr Sweeney's tenure. 

"When I was a student at Namilyango, in 1966-67, the school was manned by the Mill Hill Fathers and Fr John Sweeney was one of the members of staff then. He was also the chaplain of the school. Later, when I became the headmaster of the school in 1986, I again found him there and I got the privilege of working with him. He was still a member of staff and also, the representative of the Mill Hill Fathers." he said. 

"He was at Namilyango from 1965 to 1989. He subsequently moved to Jinja Diocese, where he worked until he retired and went back to Europe. The fraternity of Namilyango College will always remember him for his enormous contribution to sports and academics. He was a wonderful tennis player. He was also an influential teacher of Christian Religious Education. He was a typical Scottish cleric who maintained the expected European behaviour." 

The reigning headteacher of Namilyango College, Constantine Mpuuga also expressed remarkable admiration for Fr Sweeney. 

"He was an exemplary Catholic chaplain. He loved his students and helped them to attain holistic development. He would entice us to attend the early morning Mass, during which he would feed us with the Word of God in an interesting manner. 

 

 r weeney right enjoys a moment with one of his friends at erbert ouse in the Fr Sweeney (right) enjoys a moment with one of his friends at Herbert House in the UK

 
"He had extra-ordinary zeal for co-curricular activities, more particularly sports. He was most interested in lawn tennis, which he played and tutored with great skill. Every evening he would put on his sparkling white sports-wear and play the game with the students. 

"He always looked attractive in his white t-shirt, white cap, white shorts, white stockings and white sneakers. He popularised lawn tennis among the students. In fact, many of the alumni who play the game acquired their skills from him. He was indeed a seasoned sports tutor and umpire. 

"Fr Sweeney was also a great footballer, who always gave his opponents a hard time as he manned the right back position on the football pitch. Whenever we had a tricky football match, he would be the one to judge the game because he was ever steadfast and never biased in his judgment. 

"Fr Sweeney was also a superb teacher. He would endeavour to create a comfortable study environment for his students. He was passionate about the welfare of his students, which he believed was vital for their academic excellence. He would check on them in their dormitories to ensure that they had had enough sleep. He would also check on their diet and if he found it was not good, he would put the issue to the attention of the school's administration." 

DEPARTURE AND DEMISE 

After a life of great love and service in Uganda, Fr Sweeney went back to Europe. He worked as a chaplain at Nazareth House, near Edinburgh, Scotland. Later, in 2013, he retired to Herbert House, Freshfield, Merseyside in the UK. 

Until this year, Fr Sweeney was in good health. But unfortunately, when the COvid-19 pandemic struck, he fell victim to the disease and died on April 9 at Southport Hospital, Merseyside. His demise broke the hearts of many. 

However, many people were also happy that the great Christian soldier of flowery sacerdotal disposition also died on Holy Thursday, the very day on which Jesus Christ his redeemer, whom he served with such admirable devotion, instituted the Sacrament of ministerial priesthood. 

TRIBUTES 

The death of Fr Sweeney sparked off a remarkable traffic of sweet tributes on social media. Emmanuel Mbe of the Mill Hill Missionary Society wrote: "What a truly humble priest shaped by years of working with condescending and always right colleagues in mission! What a non-threatening fragile person and priest; always altruistic, affectionate and affirming! What a questioner and a listener, with such child-like curiosity and wonder! And of anything said of Fr John Sweeney, none equals the man of prayer I know; fervent with the community rosary every day, fervent with meditations before Mass, in offering and exonerating Masses." 

Heartfelt condolence messages also came from Ugandan Catholic Prelates including the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kampala Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Antony Zziwa, chairperson of the Uganda Episcopal Conference and Bishop Charles Wamika of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jinja.

PROFILE

Fr Sweeney was born in the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen in the south-east of Glasgow, Scotland on December 24, 1930. His parents were Martin Sweeney, a labourer, and Catherine Sweeney nee McKenna. He had two siblings, Martin and Roma. 

Both John and Martin became Mill Hill Missionary priests. He attended St Columbkille's Parochial School and St Mary's High School in Motherwell, where he received a Senior Leaving Certificate, in 1947. When he eventually felt the call to priesthood, Sweeney followed his brother Martin to the clerical training of the Mill Hill Fathers at Roosendaal (Philosophy, 1947-1949) and later St Joseph's College, Mill Hill (Theology, 1949-1953). 

 

 r weeney standing left as a youthful ill ill issonary priest ith him are his colleagues ohn raughan standing right evin cee seated left and the roel anrahan seated right Fr. Sweeney (standing left) as a youthful Mill Hill Missionary priest. With him are his colleagues John Fraughan (standing right), Kevin McKee (seated left) and the Fr.Noel Hanrahan (seated right)

 
After his training, his superiors had to secure for him special ecclesial permission to be ordained because of his young age, which did not meet the requirements of Canon Law. He took his perpetual missionary oath on May 1, 1952.

He was ordained priest by the imposition of the hands of Cardinal Griffen of the Archdiocese of Westminster on July 12, 1953. Shortly after his ordination, he was appointed to do a Master's degree in French and economics at the University of Glasgow in 1956. At the same time, he taught at St Peter's College, Freshfield, Merseyside. 

He was appointed to Uganda in 1965. He spent a greater part of his missionary service at Namilyango College in Mukono district where he was a teacher of Christian Religious Education and also chaplain of the school. 

In 1980, he volunteered as prisons chaplain. He worked on the National Justice and Peace Commission of Uganda. 

In 1989, he relocated to Jinja diocese, where he served as the Vicar for the Religious as he also continued with his prisons ministry in the diocese, until 2007, when he went back to Europe.

 

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