Society of African Missions -Province of Ireland
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Born on 19 June 1915 in Ballinrobe in the diocese of Tuam, Ireland Member of the SMA on 29 June 1937 Ordained priest on 22 December 1940 Died on 5 January 1990 |
1942-1943 missionary in the vicariate of Lagos
1943-1952 Vicariate of Ondo Ilorin Died in Cork, Ireland, on 5 January 1990, |
Father Luke Jarlath CARNEY (1915 – 1990)
Luke Carney was born in ‘the Neale’, Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, in the archdiocese of Tuam, on 19 June 1915. He died in the Bon Secours hospital, Cork, on 5 January 1990.
Luke was educated in the colleges of the Society. He studied at the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad, Co Mayo and St. Joseph’s college, Wilton, Cork, between 1929 1935. Luke was promoted to the novitiate and house of philosophy, at Kilcolgan, Co Galway, in the autumn of 1935. He became a member of the Society on 29 June 1937. Luke studied theology in the Society’s major seminary, at Dromantine, Co Down, and was ordained a priest, by Bishop Edward Mulhern of Dromore diocese, at St. Colman’s cathedral, Newry, on 22 December 1940. He was one of a group of nineteen ordained on that day.
After ordination Luke was assigned to south western Nigeria, to the vicariate of the Bight of Benin. However the difficulty in obtaining a passage to Africa in wartime delayed his departure. Finally, in February 1942, he received information that a passage had been secured. Luke travelled in one of the wartime shipping convoys which made the dangerous trip down to West Africa. This was the first of twelve journeys he was to make to Nigeria during the course of his long missionary career (1942 1978)
The vicariate of the Bight of Benin, erected in l870, extended over much of south western Nigeria, including the Lagos hinterland, Ijebu country, Ibadan, Oyo, Ondo, Ilorin, and Ekiti country. Luke’s first posting was to Holy Cross mission in Lagos. A year after his arrival, in 1943, the Ondo and Ilorin districts were detached from the vicariate (henceforth named the vicariate of Lagos) and erected into a separate jurisdiction: the vicariate of Ondo Ilorin. Luke was incorporated into the staff of new vicariate. With the erection of the Nigerian hierarchy in 1950 and the formation of Ondo as a diocese (Ilorin was detached and became a diocese in 1969), he became a valued member of the diocesan staff. Luke served in Ondo diocese until 197l when he was invalided home. However he made a good recovery and returned to his mission in November 1972. In that year the Ekiti region of the diocese was erected as a separate jurisdiction (under Bishop M.O. Fagun) and Luke was assigned to the new diocese of Ekiti. He ministered there until June 1978 when he made his final journey home. Over the thirty-six years Luke spent in Africa he became known and loved in all of the Ondo-Ilorin region, but he is especially remembered in the districts of Ado-Ekiti, Okitipupa and Ilawe where for many years he served as parish priest.
For the last l0 years of his life Luke worked in Achonry diocese, as curate in Bohola parish. He had a fine rapport with the parishioners. In November 1988 he sustained a stroke and was hospitalised in Castlebar County hospital and in the Bon Secours hospital, Tuam. When he began to improve he joined the patients in Castlemacgarrett nursing home, Claremorris, run by the O.L.A. Sisters. In the autumn of 1989 he transferred to the Society’s house at Blackrock Road. Bishop Flynn of Achonry, the parish priest of Bohola and a goodly number of his former parishioners were present for Luke’s funeral Mass in St. Joseph’s church, Wilton.
Luke was an outgoing man, a great lover of his Co Mayo and an ardent supporter of its footballers. He was a great man to enliven a gathering, or to breathe life into a parish.
He is buried in Wilton cemetery.