Fr Mark Kavanagh (1926 – 2014)
This photo was taken at a meeting of Columbans in 1988 in Scala Retreat House, Bacolod City.
St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin [Wikipedia]
Father Mark was born in the St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Parish in Dublin on 27 January 1926 and lived on the North Circular Road. He grew up in a family of five sisters and three brothers. He received his primary and secondary education in O’Connell Schools.
Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice and Daniel O’Connell
He entered the Columbans in 1944 and spent the next seven years in St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Navan. Ordained on 21 December 1950 he was appointed to the Philippines.
Mount Kanlaon, Negros [Wikipedia]
The island of Negros, specifically the southern part of Negros Occidental, then part of the Diocese of Bacolod and now the Diocese of Kabankalan, became Father Mark’s home for most of the next fifty years. The place sugar workers were to play in his life and ministry began with an early assignment as chaplain at Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company, known as ‘Biscom’.
Cut sugarcane [Wikipedia]
Along with pastoral roles Father Mark soon found himself as part of the Columban leadership team in the area, a position he held for the rest of his time there. This was surely a testament to the kind of man Mark was and in the turbulent times of the 1970s his wisdom, humor and human kindness helped maintain the bonds among the Columbans in Negros. This was particularly true during the saga of the Negros Nine when Fr Niall O’Brien, Fr Brian Gore and others, were jailed on trumped-up charges of murder. The violence and intimidation of those times was linked to the struggle of the sugar workers for a life beyond a feudal serf.
Kabankalan City [Wikipedia]
Father Mark was a friend and mentor of all young Columbans arriving in Negros at that time. Most of these served with him in either Kabankalan or Binalbagan. He was very supportive of new initiatives like Fr Niall O’Brien’s Retreat Movement for men and the decision of Fr Brian Gore and Fr John Brazil to move out from the parish of Kabankalan to live in the Barrio of Oringao in the mid 1970s to set up Basic Christian Communities in neighbring villages. These were later developed into 16 parishes in Southern Negros.
The visit to Negros of his brother Bishop James Kavanagh, then an auxiliary bishop of Dublin, his sister Breda and her husband Michael Mangan in the early 1980s was deeply appreciated by Father Mark. He constantly kept in touch with his family and when he retired to Ireland he chose to live with Breda and Michael until illness necessitated a move to the Columban Nursing Home in Dalgan Park. He will long be remembered for his humor and his supportive and caring role for all that continued until he died in Blanchardstown Hospital on 23 December 2014.
May he rest in peace.
Clerys, O’Connell Street, Dublin [Wikipedia]
Many Columbans bought their suits and other clothing here.
Homily for Funeral Mass of Mark Kavanagh
Fr Donal Hogan, 26 December 2014
My abiding memory of Mark is when as Superior in Negros he lived in Batang, HImamaylan City, our HQ, welcoming us from the parishes and having the interest and the time and the concern to listen to each of us with all our concerns. He was a man of presence – being there for us. He didn’t feel he always had to be doing things. He was more for Being. Being present to – like Mary in the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was anxiously doing things for the Lord and complained that Mary was just sitting there doing nothing. Jesus said Mary has chosen the better part. For she was not distracted with many things but sat at the Lord’s feet listening to him and being with him. Mark was like that for us.
Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Vermeer c.1654-55
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh [Web Gallery of Art]
What a gift he was to the Columbans in Negros and to the and to the people of the parishes in which he served especially Kabankalan, Binalbagan and Cauayan. There will be much weeping in Negros for their beloved parish priest. The Filipino priests too will mourn him for he was always supportive of them and of the Sisters in all their initiatives.
Young Columbans always found him open and supportive of of new apostolic initiatives. Those in difficulties found him a rock of support. I think especially of Niall O’Brien, Brian Gore and all the Negros Nine when in jail on false charges. He constantly visited them and attended the court case – being present in the front row. Again his presence was a source of comfort and strength for them.
His sense of humour so often helped us to see things in their proper perspective and not take ourselves too seriously.At that time there was talk of the possibility of all of us being deported if we continued with our actions on behalf of justice. At that time Mark’s close friend Eugene McGeough had not come down from his mountain parish for a few months. Mark quipped, ‘If we are all going to be kicked out I hope someone remembers to go up and tell McGeough.’ Jerry O’Connor’s comment was, ‘If you see a blur at Manila Airport, that’ll be me.’
Malahide, County Dublin [Wikipedia]
The visit of his brother James, the Bishop, and his sister Breda and brother-in-law Michael meant so much to Mark. It gave him a great boost. For like St Paul he also had a thorn in the flesh – for Mark this was recurring depression. And the words of the Lord to Mark were the same as to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’. And I think this cross helped Mark to better understand the human frailty of others and to be compassionate to all. In 1997 when this illness became acute I accompanied Mark home to Ireland. When we arrived at Dublin Airport I knew everything was going to be alright. For there to meet him with a warm embrace were his brother Jim, sister Breda and Michael his brother-in-law. No wonder he chose to spend his retirement with them in Malahide, until eventually illness necessitated transfer to our Nursing Home here in Dalgan. The staff here loved his wit and banter and cared for him as if he was one of their own family.
As Redemptorist Pat Horgan said of Mark, ‘He was a great character, a great priest, a great Columban and a great leader.’
Jimmy Martin too described him as ‘a really great man whom we were blessed to have as Superior during the difficult times of Martial Law.’ He added ‘I am sure Brendan O’Connell, Ned Gill, Niall O’Brien, and Eugene McGeough are all jostling to greet him in the house of the Lord.’
Mark, thank you on behalf of all whose lives you have touched.
May you now rest in Peace.
Finally, as we used to pray in Ilongo, the language of Negros Occidental, HATAGI SIA, GINOO, SANG PAHUWAY MO NGA DAYON, Grant him eternal rest, O Lord.
O’Connell Monument, O’Connell Street, Dublin [Wikipedia]
A number of people described Father Mark to your editor as ‘a real Dub’. ‘Dub’ is the nickname for Dubliners. Like Father Mark, your editor is also a ‘Dub’ and went to the same school as he did, though some years after him. The school, and Dublin’s main street, are named after Daniel O’Connell, ‘The Liberator’.
The unofficial anthem of Dubliners is the song ‘Molly Malone’, also known as ‘Cockles and Mussels’. Here is a version in Dutch by Ancora, which your editor came across only the other day. I’m sure that Father Mark would have enjoyed it. I know that he wasn’t averse to a party!