The road less travelled

It seems as though the spirit of Fr. Hugh Sharkey has led me here to share life and faith with the people of the Dominican Republic

By Shawn Daley
September 2005

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In my small uni-colour semi-rural parish in Saint John, New Brunswick, dedicated to a Latin American saint, Rose of Lima, Scarboro missioner Fr. Hugh Sharkey began his retirement in 1974. After his ordination in 1929, Fr. Sharkey was one of the early missionaries to join Monsignor John Mary Fraser, founder of Scarboro Missions, in his quest to convert "the heathens of China." However, the communist revolution put an end to that. Chairman Mao literally chased the missioners out of the country.

As a small boy I remember Fr. Sharkey's yelling and banging his glasses against the lectern during his sermons. His stories remain in my mind. He spoke of fleeing for his life from China aboard a ship, hidden in a large crate of vegetables. The Chinese soldiers ran their swords through the crates. The swords passed close; so close he could feel them. When he finally got to shore and away from the ship, he realized that he was covered in blood: "But wait! It wasn't blood! It was tomato juice! I had hidden in a crate of tomatoes!" You can imagine how a story like that would stick in a small child's imagination.

Scarboro Missions came into my life when I was very young. When the "two roads diverged in a wood...I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference" (Robert Frost). After high school I went on to become a Trappist monk. Why leave a contemplative order to walk with a mission community like Scarboro Missions? After all, in these post Vatican II times are we not all known to be missionaries by the grace of Baptism?

I am here for two simple reasons: the first – Jesus said, "Go out to the whole world..." (Mark 16:15). The second – I learned from the monastery to enjoy and value the earth and the simple things of life. Now walking among the poor here in the Dominican Republic, I have found that they, too, share this vision of life. Yes, we are all missionaries, but without organizations like Scarboro Missions it is difficult for Canadians to have a long-term experience of accompanying others in another land.

I am in Matanzas, a rural parish of nine churches served by Scarboro Missions. This part of the island is very dry – water is scarce – and the people are very poor. Living here helps me to understand the value of water.

Fr. Sharkey's spirit must be moving me because I find myself assisting Fr. Joe "Pedro" McGuckin who had asked Fr. Sharkey to give the homily at Joe's first mass here. Fr. Joe arrived in 1959 (Fr. Sharkey seven years earlier) and, except for eight years spent in Panama, Fr. Joe has been serving in the Dominican Republic ever since.

In my very first week in Matanzas I saw him add a bathroom and an extension on a small one-room house, perform weddings and baptisms, and celebrate numerous masses. Not to mention the many people who come to his door each day for a bit of food or some assistance, or maybe just to talk with "el Padre". He tries to help the people take pride in themselves and their country, to make and keep it beautiful, to care and be good to themselves and others, and to be truthful by paying off debts and granting just wages.

Most Canadians at 72 years of age would be retired or at least collapse under the Dominican heat and humidity, but Fr. Joe is up every morning literally with the cock's crow. (The cocks and hens roam freely here and seem to be just under your window at first light.)

Fr. Joe has asked me to accompany the youth in the parish. His many years of experience will surely help me. I am working to build a human development program for youth focusing on spiritual and social needs. With less than half attending high school, young people in the parish are not receiving the training and education that would help them to maintain a community or society for the future. It is a huge undertaking but the need is so great I cannot stop working towards this goal of integral human development. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Sharing the Gospel message – evangelization – is announcing the Good News of the Reign of God here and now, not just in a world to come. Three things have inspired me throughout my life – the three ways of seeing the invisible God. They are what the medieval scholastics called the transcendentals: Goodness, Truth and Beauty. I have found them here in Fr. Joe and in the Dominican people of Matanzas. It's a long way from my childhood in New Brunswick when I first heard Fr. Sharkey's strong words in the rural parish of St. Rose of Lima.

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