Time to move on

By Fr. Lionel Walsh, S.F.M.
September/October 2009

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After his ordination on December 21, 1957, Fr. Lionel Walsh was assigned to the Dominican Republic and served there for 41 years. He now resides in Canada.

God must grow greater, I must grow smaller.” With these words found in the Gospel of John, chapter three, John the Baptist recognizes that he is not the Messiah but rather the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. Now that Jesus has come, John accepts that his own mission is nearing completion.

The words of John give a beautiful example of humility that may well be imitated by all disciples of Jesus and especially by those of us who are called to serve in Christian ministry. We are disciples of Jesus; it is his message we are sent to preach, not our own. It is for him that we are working, not for ourselves.

Something of the attitude of John the Baptist must have been active in the spirit of Fr. Miguel Hernandez as he prepared to leave his parish in the municipality of Yamasa in the Dominican Republic. For reasons of advanced age and failing health, the old priest was to be replaced by two Scarboro missionary priests from Canada who had arrived in the country to help. He himself would retire from the parish and go to live with relatives in a town some miles to the north.

Fr. Hernandez had served for many years in Yamasa and the parish was like home. He knew that the bishop was right in naming a new pastor to replace him. Still, we may suppose that the old priest was a bit sad that his years of service to the people were coming to an end. It was not easy to leave, but the time had come for him to move on. The year was 1943.

One day, some 30 years later, Victoriano, an old farmer, told me this story about the coming of the Scarboro Fathers to Yamasa. Victoriano and a friend stayed with the old priest one evening while two other men went on horseback to the neighboring town of Monte Plata to bring back the new pastor, Fr. John Fullerton, and the assistant pastor, Fr. Michael Dwyer.

“I still remember,” said Victoriano, “something Padre Miguel said to me that night as we waited for the Scarboro Fathers to arrive: ‘Victoriano,’ he said, ‘be good to those Canadian priests who are coming here to take my place in the parish. They are good men, Victoriano; they are better men than me. Treat them well.’”

I was deeply impressed by this little story about Fr. Hernandez. Whatever sadness he may have felt about leaving Yamasa, he showed something of the spirit of John the Baptist as he spoke kindly about the Scarboro Fathers and encouraged his people to make them welcome.

The people of Yamasa were very pleased when some years after his death the remains of Fr. Miguel Hernandez were brought back to his former parish and interred in the town cemetery. A building in the parish centre and a street in the town bear his name.

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