By Jennifer Carr Allmon, Associate Director, Texas Catholic Conference

The "Texas Delegation"--Father Juan, Jennifer, and Bishop Duffy

During this past year, the church lost a leader of great humility and compassion when Bishop Paul Duffy, OMI passed away in August.  While this African Bishop was not officially a member of the Texas Catholic  Conference, we still think of him as a Texas Bishop because of his strong ties to Texas.

On December 22, 1962 he was ordained to the priesthood in San Antonio, Texas, by Bishop Stephen A. Levin. His first assignment in 1962 was as professor at St. Anthony Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. On October 1, 1971, he was assigned as Pastor of St. Mary's Church in San Antonio, Texas. In 1977 he became Director of the Oblate Madonna Residence, which is where he died in August 2011.  After the funeral mass in San Antonio, he was buried in Zambia at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral.

In 1984 he was assigned to Zambia as one of the first Oblate Missionaries from the Southern Province of the United States, and our own Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI, Bishop of San Angelo joined him in that initial missionary exploration trip and helped to select the western province of Zambia as a new Oblate mission.  The next year Bishop Pfeifer was called back home in Texas to become Bishop in San Angelo. Bishop Duffy remained in Zambia as a missionary, and was eventually ordained as the first Bishop of Mongu in Zambia.  Bishop Pfeifer said of his good friend, “Bishop Paul was known for his outspoken advocacy of the poor, fighting for their rights and laying a strong foundation of faith among the people of the diocese.”

I had the blessing of traveling to Zambia with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in 2007 and witnessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Populorum Progressio, On the Development of Peoples, in action through the ministry of Bishop Duffy.  Prior to that time, my understanding of this encyclical was theoretical, but it came to life for me in seeing Bishop Duffy call the people of Mongu to serve God and fight for justice.  He did not do for people what they could do for themselves, but instead inspired and called the faithful to service.  Despite strong opposition by government leaders, Bishop Duffy lived the call to faithful citizenship in a developing democracy.  I remember well the dark sands and black dust of Mongu. Despite living with an illness in the heat and dust of Zambia, Bishop Duffy still had a sparkle that showed the joy of living for Christ.

Bishop Duffy had close ties with CRS, and it’s not just because CRS president, Ken Hackett, happened to be the paper boy for the Duffy family as a child in New England.  Michele Broemmelsiek of CRS worked closed with Bishop Duffy when she was the country representative for CRS.  She recalls, “Bishop Duffy was the Bishop Director for the Development Commission of the Zambian Episcopal Conference.  CRS was new to Zambia in 2001 so Bishop Duffy was instrumental in helping us develop the right relationships with the Church especially as there was huge growth in our program over the five years that I worked as the Country Representative.  Bishop Duffy was a wise and compassionate man.  He did everything he could to make sure that our programs were reaching those most vulnerable and in need.  He was an incredible champion of the great work that the Catholic Church in Zambia was doing every day – mostly with volunteers.”

He will be missed in the United States.  Father Juan Molina of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also said, “I was honored to visit Bishop Duffy. He was truly an example of solidarity and faith as he walked with his sisters and brothers in Zambia. His memory will remain with us who knew him.”

He will be missed in Texas.  Bishop Pfeifer offered the following prayer  for him. “May our heavenly Father grant eternal rest to this great missionary, who loved the poor and generously gave himself so that dedicated Oblates could make the Oblate Mission in Zambia one of the strongest of the world-wide congregation.”

He will be missed by his Oblate community.  In a tribute letter printed on Post Zambia’s web site, Billy Morrell, OMI reflected that Bishop Duffy “spent his first Oblate years in Texas teaching from behind a desk. He spent his later Oblate years teaching by example at the table, in the dugout, on the sand; by voicing the needs of the poor to powerful ears and hard hearts, and by proclaiming Christ in an outstation as loudly as in a cathedral. We addressed him as ‘Your Lordship’ but we spoke with him as brother.”

During this octave of All Souls Day, we pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, especially Bishop Paul Duffy.

Donations for the missions in Zambia in memory of Bishop Paul Duffy, OMI, may be made to Oblate Missions, P.O Box 659432, San Antonio, Texas 78265-9432.