Guyana

January/February 2013

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Fr. Linus Wall

The following is excerpted from an article in the Catholic Standard, Guyana, July 22, 2011, about Fr. Linus Wall who died on July 13, 2011, in Canada at the age of 92 after serving 52 years in Guyana, 42 of those years at Our Lady of Fatima Church.

When moves to train the laity to take on more responsibility within the Church began to gain momentum here in Guyana, Fr Linus Wall sent the largest group of people to be trained. From time to time he himself even came to the training sessions mainly because he wanted to support the lay people. It was ascertained that this was something he was very keen on, namely the training of a good core of lay people to take a cen-tral place in the development of the Church. This was one focus of Father Linus Michael Wall which led Monsignor Terrence Montrose to conclude that in many ways Fr. Wall was “always a little ahead of his time.”

Lay missionaries Kate O’Donnell and Estrela De Sousa attend a Hindu ceremony. Georgetown, Guyana.

Mgr. Montrose was the preacher at a special Mass of Thanksgiving at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Bourda, for the life of Fr. Wall. In his homily Mgr. Montrose noted that even before the shortage of priests began to be felt, when Fr. Wall was going on holiday not only would he call to say that he would be away, but also that there was no need for a priest to stand in for him. So well had he trained and organized the laity in his parish that they took care of everything...

Mgr. Montrose expressed gratitude to Scarboro Missions for the contribution made by Fr. Wall to the local Church.

Since 1953, Scarboro priests and laity in Guyana have worked in parishes in Essequibo/Pomeroon, Berbice, Corriverton, Georgetown, Linden, and West Bank Demerara, serving in indigenous, rural, and urban parishes as well as responding to the needs of both Catholics and non-Catholics in this multicultural, multifaith nation. For several years two Scarboro lay missioners served in a remote section of the South Rupununi. In all these areas, missioners tried to cooperate with the thrust of the local Church from the 1960s to the present: namely, faith formation and renewal of the laity, and encouraging and promoting vocations. Scarboro missioners have worked alongside Our Ladies Missionaries and Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity.

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