Born: 27 February 1934, Buncrana, Co Donegal
Entered: 06 September 1952, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1966, Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 19745, Final Vows at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 02 August 2023, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park Community (Cherryfield) at the time of death

FFS
Born : 27th February 1934 Buncrana, Co Donegal
Raised : Buncrana, Co Donegal
Early Education at St Columb’s College, Derry, Northern Ireland
6th September 1952 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
8th September 1954 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1954-1957 Rathfarnham - Studying Science at UCD
1957-1960 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1960-1963 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Regency : Teacher; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1963-1967 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
28th July 1966 Ordained at Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
1967-1968 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1968-1971 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Teacher; Spiritual Father & Counsellor
1971-1973 St John of the Cross, San Diego, CA, USA - Doctoral Studies in Human Behaviour at Alliant International University
1973-1976 Rathfarnham - Research into Social Conditioning especially in Northern Ireland
1974 Research on Conflict in Northern Ireland and Workshops on Human Relations in Zambia with Jesuits
5th November 1975 Final Vows at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
1976 Working in Nigeria with St Patrick’s Missionary Society
1976-1981 Tabor House/Belfast - Research into Northern Ireland; Writer
1981-1989 Iona, Portadown - Works in Social Renewal in Northern Ireland; Manresa Associate; Writer (till Jan 89)
1989-2003 Asunción, Paraguay - Advisor to ADEC;Assists in CEPHSI; Community Education Organisation and Pastoral Renewal at Collegio Tecnico Javier
1991 Community Development (April - September 1991 - 1993) & London (Oct - Mar, 1991 to 1993)
1992 Secretario y Profesor en el CEPHSI, Assists in Parish Trinidad y de la Sagrada Familia
1998 “Out from the Centre” Project; Vice-Superior; Advisor to ADEC and Paraguay Japotiva; Co-ordinates Department of Humanities; Teaches Social Psychology at Department of Philosophy at ISEHF; Assists in Parishes of Trinidad and Sagrada Familia
2001 Commission Member of “Paraguay Japotiva”; Assessor ADEC
2002 Co-ordinates Parishes of Trinidad and Sagrada Familia
2003-2023 Milltown Park - Academic Tutor Milltown Institute; Writer
2005 Academic Tutor to students in SJ Communities
2007 JUST Ballymun coaching students for Third Level Learning; Writer
2009 JUST Advisory Group
2017 Academic Tutor to students in SJ communities; Writer
2020 Tutor Emeritus
2021 Cherryfield Lodge - Prays for the Church and the Society

Jesuitas del Paraguay

• P Henry Grant SJ
  27-02-1934 - 02-08-2023

(Translated from thenSpanish by Michael O’SullivanSJ)

Fr Henry Grant, SJ, was born on 27 February 1934 in Buncrana, Ireland. He joined the Jesuits in the Novitiate of Emo Park on the 6th September 1952. After the Novitiate he did the customary studies of Jesuits. In the Society he studied chemistry, geochemistry and maths, then philosophy, and taught for three years while studying education and doing pastoral work with young people. He studied theology for four years. He was ordained on 28 July 1966 in Dublin, Ireland.

After his priestly ordination, he went to the US during summers, and there he studied counselling at the University of Fairfield, Connecticut.
On finishing in Fairfield, he went to San Diego, California, where he studied social psychology with special reference to intercommunity conflicts y leadership. At the same time he used to travel to Northern Ireland in order to work with groups who were working for peace in the midst of the conflicts. There he also did research for his doctoral thesis, centring it on the action of leaders of moderate positions in the inter-community conflicts. While working in Northern Ireland he also collaborated in the South of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, the US, Zambia and Nigeria in Africa.

He arrived in Paraguay for the first time in October of 1988, encouraged by his Jesuit companion, Fr Kevin O’Higgins. In February of 89 he returned to Northern Ireland to carry out a work there. In October 1989 he returned again to Paraguay.

From October 1992 as a result of a request of an inter-church agency made through the Provincial in Ireland he began to divide his time between Paraguay and London, spending six months of the year in each place. In Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland he worked with leaders of various churches (Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, etc), facilitating the planning of their work and especially their efforts to act together. Also, he researched with CABE (UNIAPAC in England -The International Christian Union of Business Executives or UNIAPAC is an ecumenical organization for Christian business people (the meaning of UNIPAC was added by MOS)) and other business organisations in St George’s House at Windsor Castle about how to create wealth, and how to utilise and distribute it. On weekends he was involved in ecumenical pastoral work.

In Paraguay he was for a number of years advisor/consultant to ADEC (Association of Christian Businesses). And he was an active member and a great inspirer of the Paraguay Jaipotáva Project (MOS: as far as I know this was a project addressing the need for ethics and accountability in Paraguay because of the corruption of the Stroessner regime – K O’Higgins could be asked about that); he taught at and coordinated the Dept of Humanities of ISEHF (The Higher Education Institute of Humanities and Philosoph)y being very sensitive to the difficulty of Guarani students to express themselves in Spanish; in spite of not knowing Guarani he looked for creative ways to help them. Henry also offered his assistance at Javier Technical College and collaborated in the parishes of Trinity and Holy Family. During the time he was in Paraguay he lived in the community of “Taita Róga” Javier in Asunción. Due to where he came from he was more accustomed to a cold climate, and so had to make great efforts to adapt to the heat of Paraguay, but his self-giving did not lessen because of that. In the end he returned to his province in 2005 in order to stay definitively in Ireland.

Heny Grant went to the house of the Father on 2nd of August 2023, in Dublin. From the Province of Paraguay we give thanks to God for the generosity and dedication of this companion who, being an academic of great quality and high level studies, came as an ordinary man, as a missionary disposed to collaborate with the mission of Christ, giving his great knowledge and his human quality to the Paraguayan people, sharing their faith and their hope like one companion more among us.

On Friday, 4th August, a Mass will be held in memory of Ft Henry Grant, SJ, in the Parish of Christ the King in Asuncion, at 7pm. We are sending a very wide invitation to all Jesuits and friends in Paraguay.

In order to read more (in Englsih): Interview with Fr Henry Grant, SJ https://www.iji.ie/2012/04/12/interview-with-fr-henry-grant-sj/

https://jesuit.ie/news/death-of-a-much-loved-jesuit/

Death of a much-loved Jesuit

Henry Grant SJ, a much loved Jesuit, uncle, brother, and friend, died peacefully in St Vincent’s Hospital on Wednesday 2 August. He was 89 years old. His funeral Mass was held in Gonzaga College chapel and was followed by his burial in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin. on Friday 5 August 2023.

Henry was born in Bucrana Co Donegal and all his family from there travelled to Dublin for the funeral. Other family members from various parts of the world either attended the Mass in person or were able to watch it live-streamed by one of his nephews.

Bill Callanan SJ, former rector of Milltown Park (Henry’s community before he transferred across to Cherryfield nursing home) presided at the Mass attended by Jesuits, family, friends, and Cherryfield nursing staff.

In his homily, he spoke of the long and varied years of work that Henry carried out so willingly and competently as part of his Jesuit vocation. The work was underpinned by Henry’s expertise in sociology and group dynamics and his doctoral research in those fields. His training was particularly useful in the wake of Vatican II when many religious orders were seeking to implement the council’s changed and renewed vision of ‘church’ and their role within it. Henry worked with many groups and congregations helping them to negotiate the type of change that would last and bear fruit for them.

Henry also spent many years in the North during the worst of ‘The Troubles’. There his primary concern was trying to help communities in conflict either with each other or with the state. He wanted to help them work out the often unconscious dynamics and processes that fuelled their separation and antagonism so that they could work together for justice using peaceful means. He facilitated ecumenical groups, cross-community groups, and paramilitary or ex-paramilitary representatives.

What he learned up North was also put to good use in his next place of work – Paraguay. He took a crash course in Spanish and tried to learn some Guaranían so he could work with the indigenous people there and over time they set up local community groups who worked together to secure their basic human rights.

On his return to Dublin after almost 15 years in South America, he continued to work in the broad field of adult education. He was a mentor for students in JUST, the Jesuit University Support Trust, situated in Ballymun and which works in partnership with Dublin City University in order to encourage the participation of the local community in the educational opportunities offered by the university.

As Bill Callanan noted, even to his last days, Henry was always interested in the future and how to change life for the better. He would acquire a mammoth book like Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age and digest the whole 500 pages by talking to anyone he met about it, said Bill. And many a visitor to his room in Cherryfield would be presented before leaving with an article photocopied from The Guardian or the latest book he was reading, about protecting the environment, or good gut health, or the latest scholarly research on the Christ of the gospels.

Above all, it was Henry’s deep faith that was the bedrock of his lifelong work. “Henry read widely on many topics, but there was always a book about spirituality theology on the go,” said one of his friends when people gathered out in the chapel grounds after the funeral Mass. “He loved the work of biblical scholar and theologian John Shea. For years he read his wonderful commentaries on the Sunday gospel readings, and of course, photocopied them and shared them widely with his friends and fellow Jesuits. He was so young at heart, so forward-looking, even in his faith. He welcomed change, it never scared him”

There were tears shed as Henry was laid to rest in Glasnevin. Tears of sadness but also of gratitude for having had the privilege of knowing such a good and caring man. As all his family said, ‘He will be sorely missed’. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Born: 11 January 1856, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 06 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1898, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 25 March 1909, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 19 July 1945, Mungret College, County Limerick

Youngest brother of Robert I - RIP 1929 and T Patrick - RIP 1918
Cousin of Joseph McDonnell - RIP 1928

by 1894 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1895 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1908 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1919 at LLandrindod, Wales (ANG) working

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Youngest brother of Robert I - RIP 1929 and T Patrick - RIP 1918
Note from Robert I Kane Entry :
“Father Robert Kane SJ, well known as ‘the Blind Orator’ died at Milltown Park.... The son of William J Kane of Dublin and his wife Mary MacDonnell of Saggart ... he was a nephew of Sir Robert Kane, distinguished Irish scientist, author of “The Industrial Resources of Ireland”, and first cousin to the famous Admiral Henry Kane.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 20th Year No 4 1945

Obituary :

Fr. William Kane (1856-1891-1945)

On July 19th, 1945, at Mungret College, Limerick, Fr. William Kane peacefully died in the 90th year of his age and the 54th year of his religious life.
Fr. William Kane was born in Dublin on January 11th, 1850. He was a nephew of the celebrated scientist Sir Robert Kane, F.R.S., and first cousin of Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Kane, world-famous as commander of H.M.S. "Calliope," which by his skill he saved from destruction in a tornado that swept over Apia Harbour, Samoa, on March 17th, 1889. Having completed his secondary education at Stonyhurst College and at the Oratory School, Birmingham, then under the direction of Newman, he studied law at Trinity College, Dublin, taking out his degrees of B.A, and LL.D. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1879. In 1888 he accompanied Sir James Marshall to the Niger Territories as a Junior Judge, and subsequently succeeded Sir James as Chief Justice. He resigned this post in 1889; and on his return to Europe, was called to the English Bar. Two years later he joined the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, of which two of his brothers, Frs. Robert and Patrick Kane were already members. He studied Philosophy at Jersey and Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. He was ordained priest in 1898, and made his solemn profession in 1909.
Having spent two years at Milltown Park as Professor of the Short Course of Theology, Fr. Kane joined the staff of Mungret College in 1901. With the exception of his year of tertianship at Tronchiennes, another year as Professor of Philosophy at Milltown Park, and a short period of parochial duty at Llandrindod Wells after the death of his brother Fr. Patrick, Fr. Kane was a member of the Mungret community until his death last July. He taught in the secondary school and in the classes preparing for the Arts and B.A. degree examinations of the Royal University. He was Editor of the Mungret Annual for several years. But the greater part of his life in Mungret was devoted to the intellectual and professional training of the Apostolic students as Professor of Philosophy. Advancing age obliged him at length to retire from active life, but to the end he was an assiduous reader, and retained his faculties unimpaired to within a day or two of his death.
Fr. Kane's acute and vigorous mind embraced a variety of recondite branches of learning-Philosophy, Theology, Physics, Astronomy, Botany, higher Mathematics. Anything ke knew, he had thoroughly mastered ; and his memory, even in extreme old age, was amazingly fresh and accurate. Ever eager to impart the rich stores of his knowledge, he was prepared at a moment's notice either to range at large over wide fields of knowledge or to discuss some abstruse problem in minute detail. A year or two before his death I was taking a stroll with him on the Philosophers' Walk in Mungret. It was the month of May, and the Philosophers were seated here and there under the trees preparing for the oncoming examinations. Two of them approached us and said to Fr. Kane: "Father, we have a difficulty which we would like you to solve for us"; and they stated it. Fr. Kane replied at once “Schiffini deals with that point”, and then and there cleared up the whole matter in a few words. It struck me at the time that if he had received a day's notice in which to consult his authorities, he could not have given a more complete and satisfactory answer.
Yet while his learned ‘sock’ was ever on, Fr. Kane's social gifts made him an excellent community man. He had a large fund of good stories and amusing anecdotes, and was always ready to cap a witticism with one better. He took part in concerts and entertainments, singing with great go, and biretta pertly cocked on the side of his head, a Latin version of "Father OʻFlynn." He was a keen cricketer, fielding brilliantly at "point" with quick eye and sure hand. He took a prominent part in the activities of a villa, especially in mountaineering. I have often heard him say that he had climbed to the summit of Carrantuohill on four different occasions. Few, I think, have made the ascent so often.
Not the least pleasing features of Fr. Kane's character were his harmless drolleries. Lacking to some degree in a sense of humour, he would take almost any statement literally, a fact wbich laid him open to much "leg-pulling.” He had made a careful study of the topography and antiquities of Limerick, and misstatements, usually deliberate, I fear, regarding the streets and bridges of the city, invariably elicited from him a vigorous and uncompromising correction. On such occasions you took your life in your hands, for when the interests of truth were at stake, Fr. Kane gave no quarter. His previous legal training manifested itself in the cross-questioning to which he subjected you on apparently unimportant details connected with some incident you were relating. Or again, if you proposed some problem calling for lengthy explanation, you might expect to be served with sheets-usually the backs of envelopes-filled with facts, references, charts, etc., more or less undecipherable.
But these foibles of the “old Judge”, as we loved to call him, were but the surface of things. Beneath was the man of high intelligence, wide and deep culture, a gentleman in the full meaning of Newman's analysis of that term, a religious in accordance with the Institute of the Society. Of the virtues with which he was adorned I shall mention but one, the greatest of all, namely his charity. Fr. Kane was a man of strong character and convictions ; yet though I have lived with him for over twenty years, I cannot recall having ever heard him say an unkind word of anyone, or speak with disparagement either of his religious brethren, or of the general body of the clergy or laity, or of men in public life. Eternal rest and light to his soul; and may God continue to bless our Province with men endowed with the eminent talents and solid piety of Fr. William Kane.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father William Kane 1856-1945
Fr William Kane, the third of the famous Jesuit trio of the Kanes, was commonly known as “The Judge” for the fact that he had been a judge in Nigeria before entering the Society.

Born in Dublin on January 11th 1856, he received his early education at Stonyhurst and The Oratory Birmingham. At rthe suggestion of Newman, he studied Law at Trinity College Dublin, taking his BA and LLD degrees. He was called to the Irish Bar in1879, and ten years later to the English Bar. Meanwhile he held the post of Chief Justice iun Lagos Nigeria. In 1891 he became a Jesuit.

He professed the short course at Milltown for two years, and then in 1901 he went to Mungret, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was so long there that he became a symbol of the place, being especially dear to generations of Apostolics to whom he professed philosophy for so long.

He was a man of deep, one might almost say rigid religious conviction, a scholar and a gentleman, in the full meaning of Newman’s definition of that term. He was never known to criticise anybody publicly though he could inveigh with vehemence what he thought was improper or incorrect.

As Spiritual Father his Triduum to the scholastics at Christmas was always on the Three Wise Men, and especially on the mysterious star. Indeed, more often than not, like the Wise Men, he used lose the guiding star of his discourse.

Active up to the last two years of his life, he passed on to his reward on July 19th 1945, after a strenuous life of faithful service.

Fr Kane’s Memento for the Living was always made at length and aloud, and included even those in high places with whom he disagreed in politics. It is hoped that his many pupils all over the world will remember him in their Memento for the Dead.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1926

Mungret Jubilee

Father William V Kane SJ

It is twenty-five years since Father William Kane was placed on the staff of Mungret College, and since then his connection with the School has been practically continuous. It would be very ungracious - to say the least.. to let such an anniversary pass without some acknowledgment.

Fr Kane has given to Mungret the service of a quarter of a century. He has expended generously, without counting the cost, his talent and energy; he has laboured long and unselfishly in a field where the sower does not. always-nor often-see his harvest. For some years past he has not been teaching the Intermediate classes, and thus has not been in direct contact with the Lay School. He no longer plays the games - “old boys” wlio are not yet too venerable will remember how steadily he batted in Community matches and whát a dangerous man he was at point - but he has still the deepest interest in all that concerns the Lay School.

But his principal work has been done in the Apostolic School. For over fifteen years as the chief teacher of Philosophy, he has been the constant and principal influence in the intellectual and professional training of the Apostolics; and scarcely less considerable has been the influence he has exerted by his activity and interest in the debates and academies.

The Philosophers have been not merely his pupils; they have also been his friends. They write to him from all parts of the world, from All Hallows, Dalgan, Genoa, Rome - if they are at their studies : from America, South Africa, Australia, India, China, where they are at work on the mission. It is scarcely an injustice to anyone to say that for the great majority of the Apostolics who have passed through Mungret since 1900, Fr Kane is the figure that first springs to their mind at the mention of their “Alma Mater”. He is the one figure, too, that they have been certain to find before them when they came back on a visit. Rectors and Moderators have come and gone, but Fr Kane was permanent.

His work for the “Mungret Annual” can not be left unmentioned. He has been connected with it as Editor or Manager for nearly twenty years. What it has cost him in time and worry and labour, only those can guess who have some experience of such work.

The service which Fr Kane has given for 25 years to Mungret is not the service which men usually notice and reward; but there is One Who seeth in secret and will repay. And in the meantime, the “Mungret Annual”, which owes so much to him, speaking for the authorities of the College and expressing the sentiments of his many Mungret pupils and friends, in Ireland and in other countries, wishes to make here a simple acknowledgineot of esteem for his character and of gratitude for his services. May he be long spared to give himself to God's work

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1946

Obituary

Father William V Kane SJ

The death of Father William Kane, I which took place on July 19th, 1945, has broken a golden link with Mungret's glorious past, and taken from amongst us a saintly priest whose personality and influence are closely entwined with generations of Mungret's alumni, priests and laymen, both at home and in distant lands.

Father William Kane was born in Dublin on January 11th, 1856. He was a nephew of the celebrated scientist, Sir Robert Kane, FRS, and first cousin of Rear Admiral Sir Henry Kane, world-famous as commander of HMS “Calliope”, which, by his skill he saved from destruction in a tornado that swept over Apia Harbour, Samoa, on March 17th, 1889. Having completed his secondary education at Stonyhurst College and at the Oratory School, Birmingham, then under the direction of Newman, he studied law at Trinity College, Dublin, taking out his degrees of BA, and LLD. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1879. In 1888 he accompanied Sir James Marshall to the Niger Territories as a Junior Judge, and subsequently succeeded Sir James as Chief Justice. He resigned this post in 1889; and on his return to Europe, was called to the English Bar. Two years later he joined the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, of which two of his brothers, Fathers Robert and Patrick Kane were already members. He studied Philosophy at Jersey and Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. He was ordained priest in 1898, and made his solemn profession in 1909.

Having spent two years at Milltown Park as Professor of Theology, Father Kane joined the staff of Mungret College in 1901. With the exception of his year of tertianship at Tronchiennes, another year as Professor of Philosophy at Milltown Park, and a short period of parochial duty at Llandrindod Wells after the death of his brother, Father Patrick, Father Kane was a member of the Mungret community until his death last July. He taught in the secondary school and in the classes preparing for the Arts and BA degree examinations of the Royal University, and was Editor of the “Mungret Annual” for several years.

But the greater part of Father Kane's life in Mungret was devoted as Professor of Philosophy to the intellectual and professional training of the students of the Apostolic School. A man of keen and subtle intelligence, and profoundly versed in many recondite branches of knowledge - Theology, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics - he was fully competent to deal with the great problems of Metaphysics, and to appreciate their bearing and influence on other sciences. As a result, Father Kane imparted to his pupils a thorough grasp of first principles, as well as habits of clear and orderly thinking. To his training was due, in no small measure, the success achieved in Rome, Louvain and other. centres of theological study, by Mungret men, so many of whom gained the highest academical distinctions, gratefully acknowledging the debt which they owed to Father Kane.

While devoted to Philosophy and Science, Father Kane at the same time took a prominent part in the activities of College life. He attended and spoke at the boys Debating Societies; and at House Concerts he delighted all by the verve and “go” with which he sang a Latin version of “Father O'Flynn”. He was a keen cricketer, fielding brilliantly at “Point” " with quick eye and sure hand. These manifold contacts with the everyday lives of his pupils, his sterling qualities, and his charming if uncompromis ing personal character, endeared him to all, When past Mungret students from distant parts of the globe revisited their Alma Mater, one of their principal objects was to meet Father Kane and talk over old times, with him.

Advancing age at length obliged Father Kane to retire from active life. During the placid evening of his days, spent at Mungret under the devoted care of Nurse Corrigan, the College Matron, Father Kane maintained his interest in the many depart ments of learning of which he had obtained so thorough a mastery. To the end he retained all his faculties unimpaired. Death came peacefully. On a quiet night during the summer holidays he passed to his eternal reward. RIP

JM SJ