Fr Patrick Joseph McCaffrey SSC

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Fr Patrick Joseph McCaffrey
1944- 2010

Fr Pat McCaffrey was born on 18 March 1944 in Ballyreagh, Tempo, Co Fermanagh. Educated in Mullanaskea PS and St Michael’s College, Enniskillen, he came to Dalgan Park, Navan, in 1961 and was ordained at St Columb’s, Derry, on 20 December 1967. His first assignment was to Fiji, where for ten years he immersed himself in the life and culture of the Fiji-Indian people in parishes of Vanua Levi and Taveuni.  He was vice-Director in Fiji when he was asked to join the Society’s new mission to Pakistan in 1978. He served initially in the Archdiocese of Lahore, and took advantage of a vacation break to pursue Islamic Studies in Rome before returning to Matli in the Diocese of Hyderabad.

In the latter diocese he worked among the Parkari Kohli, a tribal group, where there was a great deal of tension and violence.

In 1994 he engaged in graduate studies at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago and completed a doctoral thesis on “The status and role of the missionary among the Parkari Kohli in Sindh, Pakistan.”

From 1998 until 2004, Pat was appointed to Britain.  His principle work was with Interfaith Groups, initially in Birmingham and later in Bradford  at Columba House.  He also made himself available for promotion work at weekends.

In June 2004, he was assigned once again to Fiji and in January 2009 he received his final appointment back to Pakistan.  Pat was a gifted missionary, a man of deep spirituality,  always close to the people and totally unsparing of himself. He was an extraordinary linguist, fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Parkhari, Punjabi, Fijian and Arabic and because of this capacity was able to switch between countries as different as Fiji and Pakistan. He found it hard to rest and to take proper care of his health.

He died after suffering a heart attack in Murree, Pakistan, on 18 May 2010.

May he rest in peace.