SCARBORO MISSIONS GOES SOUTH

In 1943, invited by Archbishop Pittini of Santo Domingo, Scarboro missioners began a long and fruitful relationship with the Dominican people

By Dario Taveras, M.S.C.
September 2005

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Scarboro Missions was founded to bring the Gospel to China. Unable to travel to China during World War II, this mission Society accepted the invitation of Archbishop Pittini of Santo Domingo to serve as missionaries in the Dominican Republic.

On March 28, 1943, the first two Scarboro priests, Robert Hymus and Desmond Stringer, landed in "Trujillo City" (Santo Domingo) en route from Miami. After spending five days getting to know the capital city, they got a ride to Moca and from there took a train to Sanchez in the region of Samana. There they were happy to meet up with other Canadian Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who had arrived in 1936.

After only a few months, having learned some Spanish and experienced some local pastoral training in the parish of La Altagracia in Santiago city, the two new missionaries continued on to Monte Plata and Bayaguana. There they received from Frs. Carlos Guillot and Bernardo Ruel, both Sacred Heart Missionaries, the parishes of Monte Plata and Bayaguana. Brother Cleofas Leverdiere, also a Sacred Heart Missionary, helped the new pastors settle in over the first few months.

The Scarboro Fathers continued to arrive, little by little, until they reached the impressive number of 80 priests who went on to occupy, one after another, parishes in a state of abandonment because of a lack of priests in areas of poverty and misery: Monte Plata, Bayaguana, Yamasa, San José de Ocoa, Guerra, Bani, Matanzas, Hato Mayor, El Seibo, Sabana Grande de Boya, Ingenio Consuelo, Miches, Boya, Azua, Padre las Casas, Haina, Los Alcarrizos, Villa Altagracia, El INVI, Pedernales and Rancho Arriba.

In 1946, given the increasing presence of Scarboro priests in the Dominican Republic, they decided to rent a house at 50 Bolivar Avenue in Santo Domingo. This house would serve as a community home for the missionaries as well as the residence for the regional superior. Six years later they bought land along the coast of the Caribbean Sea in a village named Haina and there they built a regional central-house. In this house also would take place the retreat days for the Canadian Sisters who would come to the country over the years, invited by the Scarboro Fathers: Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Pembroke (Ontario), Hospitallers of Saint Joseph (from Kingston, Ontario), and the Sisters of Charity of Halifax. Lay people and priests from the Latin American Mission Program (LAMP) of the Diocese of Charlottetown also called this centre home.

Out of 80 Scarboros who passed their time "doing good amongst us," only two are still living here: Pedro (Joe) McGuckin in Matanzas, Bani; and Louis Quinn in San José de Ocoa. Seven are living in Canada: Joseph Curcio, Lionel Walsh, John Walsh, Gerald Donovan, Gerry Sherry, Pierre Richard and Victor Vachon. (Linus Wall is serving in Guyana. And Ambrose MacKinnon, who is now a monsignor, and Ron MacFarlane are in the Bahamas.) Four Scarboros are buried here in the Dominican Republic: Lawrence McAuliffe in Yamasa, Arthur MacKinnon in Monte Plata, William McNabb in Fundacion and Robert Hymus in Las Tablas, Bani.

All worked unselfishly, sowing abundantly the seeds of the Good News, promoting catechesis and youth pastoral as well as family and social pastoral. Their way of speaking Spanish was not perfect, but what good fortune and success they had in practical areas and in their dealings with the people.

A few really stood out: Fr. Alphonse Chafe who became the first regional superior of the Scarboro Fathers in this country; Fr. Francis Diemert who later would go on to become Scarboro Missions' superior general (in Canada); Fr. Paul McHugh who worked in El Seibo and later became a bishop in Brazil; and Fr. Paul Ouellette who after having served as regional superior also later became superior general.

Before such an array of dedicated and affable men such as James Walsh and Joseph Curcio, it is difficult to pick and choose just a few. Some may remember Pat Moore with Our Lady of Fatima pilgrimages. Others remember Jack McCarthy as the "Spiritual Father" of many university students from Azua and Hato Mayor. Dan MacNeil in Consuelo was a precursor of pastoral ministry to Haitians (working as sugarcane cutters in the Dominican Republic). Frank O'Grady was the vicar general to Bishop Reilly during the difficult time of the dictatorship. In Yamasa we remember especially John Joseph McIver and Lionel Walsh; and in Villa Fundacion, William McNabb.

The Scarboro Fathers stood out in social justice concerns, starting with the "Social Justice Week" held in the capital in 1947. With the complete support of Fr. Alphonse Chafe and Archbishop Pittini, Fr. Harvey Steele began the promotion of the cooperative movement that he learned about from his home diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Frs. Basil Kirby and Joe McGuckin worked with Fr. Steele in the cooperative movement.

From this movement came the cooperatives of Yamasa, San José de las Matas and La Altagracia of Santiago, and many others, as proof of the value of the cooperative movement that had as its school of formation the Workers' Cooperative Centre in Villas Agricolas near the city of Santo Domingo.

Another Scarboro priest who stood out in the struggle for social justice was John Robert (Buddy) Smith, especially in Bani. And, shining with the light of his own blood, shed in Monte Plata the night of June 22, 1965, was Arthur MacKinnon.

Fr. Louis Quinn merits a special chapter with his social works in San José de Ocoa. This work has had an evangelizing influence on many people in the whole country who love and admire "Padre Luis". Limited today with health problems, Fr. Quinn continues working in the highlands of Ocoa, a spot of light and a symbol of what the Church has done not only for the poor but with the poor in various parts of this country.

The above article has been adapted and reprinted with permission from the Dominican publication, Amigo del Hogar (A Friend of the Home). We thank Scarboro missioner Fr. Joseph McGuckin and Shawn Daley for translating the article from Spanish to English.

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