IN MEMORY

Rev. Michael Thomas Cox, S.F.M.
1923-2003

By Fr. Gerald Curry, S.F.M.
Summer 2003

Return to Table of Contents
Print Article

Fr. Michael Cox passed away on April 9, 2003, as a result of cancer. Born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, he attended St. Anthony's primary school and St. Anne's high school, graduating in 1942. In September 1944 he entered the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society and was ordained to the priesthood in December 1950. In 1951 he was assigned to the Society's recently opened mission in Japan, a nation just beginning to recover from the devastation of World War II.

Fr. Mike gave 50 years of service to the Church in Japan and was respected and loved by the people he served. Proficient in Japanese, he served in parishes in Nagasaki Archdiocese on the southern island of Kyushu, as well as in Nagoya Diocese in central Japan. However, for most of his missionary life he worked in parishes in the Archdiocese of Tokyo.

Along with full-time pastoral duties, Fr. Mike also served his Scarboro community in Japan. He was a member of the coordinating council-the leadership team of Scarboro's Japan mission. He also served as community treasurer on several occasions and he coordinated the Society's headquarters in Tokyo. He undertook these responsibilities with a joyful dedication that endeared him to his fellow missionaries.

In 2001 Fr. Mike returned to Canada having completed 50 years of overseas service. He was not well and spent time between his family in Glace Bay and his missionary community in Scarborough, Ontario. While at Scarboro Missions, he offered his services in the Treasurer's Office and also served as chaplain to a small Japanese Canadian Catholic community. All the while he was receiving medical treatment.

Early this year his condition worsened and he returned to Glace Bay to spend his final days with his family. They welcomed him and joyfully celebrated his presence among them, caring for him at the home of his sister-in-law Kay.

Fr. Mike was predeceased by his parents John and Catherine, his sisters Elizabeth, Mary, and Sr. Martha Mary of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, and his brothers Joe, Neil, George, and Fr. William Cox who was also a member of Scarboro Missions and died in February 1955.

Wanting to keep things simple and without undue praise, Fr. Mike wrote his own obituary and made arrangements for his funeral and for the funeral Mass of the Resurrection. The mass was a celebration of Fr. Mike's constant faith in God and his profound thanksgiving for God's goodness, with special gratitude for the gift of priesthood.

Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony's parish in Glace Bay by Fr. Jack Lynch, Superior General of Scarboro Missions. Concelebrants were Scarboro members Fr. John Carten, Fr. Frank Hawkshaw, and Fr. Gerald Curry, all of whom served with Fr. Mike in Japan. Fr. Peter LeBlanc, pastor of St. Anthony's parish, and Fr. Angus MacDougall, interim administrator of the diocese, and 12 other diocesan priests also concelebrated.

Many family and friends attended this final celebration of Fr. Mike's life, including Sr. Agnes Burrows and Sr. Martha Eileen Burrows, members of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax and relatives of Fr. Mike's, along with other members of the Sisters of Charity. Memorial masses were also held at Scarboro Missions central house in Toronto and in Fr. Mike's former parishes of Takanawa and Kamata in Tokyo.

Fr. Mike was laid to rest at St. Anthony's parish cemetery beside his parents who had given him life and nurtured his faith, a faith he witnessed by his love for others. May he rest in peace.

Return to Table of Contents
Print Article