IN MEMORY

Rev. Donald Boyle
1932-2000

By Fr. Gerald Curry, S.F.M.
April 2000

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Fr. Don Boyle passed away on March 19, in a hospital in Kamata City, part of the greater Tokyo area. Fr. Boyle had not been well and was taken to the hospital where he lapsed into a coma from which he did not regain consciousness.

Born in Edmonton, Don studied for the priesthood first for that Archdiocese. However, he felt called to the missionary priesthood and joined us here at Scarboro Missions. Ordained in 1959 by Archbishop Anthony Jordan, he was appointed to Japan where he served almost all of his life. His widespread interests and active imagination coupled with considerable writing skills led him to write many fine articles on life in Japan as he saw and experienced it.

For four years Fr. Don was editor of Scarboro Missions magazine. Indeed, at the time of his death he was coordinating an issue on Scarboro’s mission in Japan which we intend to publish in 2001. It is our intention to share with you some of his articles in that issue.

During his long missionary life in Japan, Fr. Don served in several parishes, primarily in Osaka. He had just completed 15 years at Our Lady Queen of Angels parish in the port area of Osaka. This was the last parish built by our founder, Monsignor John Mary Fraser, in the late 1950s. It was also the parish in which the Monsignor passed away in 1962.

Recently Fr. Don was temporarily assigned to the Church of St. Philip in Kamata and after Easter was to move on to a more permanent posting in a parish in Asakusa, Tokyo.

Fr. Don’s funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Philip’s parish, Kamata, by Bishop Mori, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Tokyo. In Canada, a memorial Mass was celebrated in the chapel at Scarboro Missions headquarters in Scarborough, Ontario. After cremation, Fr. Don’s ashes were placed in the repository of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Takanawa, Tokyo.

Fr. Don is the fifth Scarboro missionary in Japan to pass away over these past three years. All of us feel the loss of our Japan colleagues and we know this is especially true of those who are serving in Japan. We are once more in silent solidarity with them. We offer special condolences to Fr. Don’s family with whom he kept very close ties as he lived out his vocation to mission in Japan. May he rest in peace.

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