“After a very happy childhood and adolescence in the countryside on the south coast of Ireland, I entered the Spiritan novitiate in September 1966.” Thus begins a missionary story that would take John Kingston, an Irishman, to Angola, Rome, Dublin and Mozambique, the country where he now lives.
‘Martyr’ mission in Angola
He recounts: “Three days before my ordination to the priesthood (13 June 1976), I received my missionary appointment. I was to be part of an international team of young Spiritans in Angola, a country that had gained independence the previous year and was already in the throes of a brutal civil war.” Angola was his first love and the place where he suffered the most. On Pentecost Day in 1985, in the Malanje area, the car he was driving was ambushed: “Fr Jean Étienne (French) died instantly. I, seriously wounded, was taken by the rebels into the bush, where I walked for 10 days with them before being released and handed over to the local people. It took me a few months to recover”. But his missionary zeal never left him and, against all odds, after a spell in Ireland, he returned to Angola, having been appointed to work in the Spiritan formation programme in Huambo. It was there that I met him in 1990…
Reflecting on this challenging time in Huambo, Fr John shares: “The war continued to have a profound impact on people’s lives. It was a privilege to accompany young people who wanted to be missionaries as they grew in knowledge and faithfulness”.
Francisco Viti, Archbishop of Huambo, appointed Fr John as Episcopal Vicar for Religious. However, the most memorable moment of his mission in Huambo was yet to come: “My mission came to an end with the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1992”… for in that year he was to be appointed Master of Novices for the Spiritans in Europe, at an international novitiate based in Dublin. He remained there until 2000, a Jubilee Year that marked another major change in his missionary journey: he was appointed to Mozambique!
From Mozambique to Rome
Fr John admits that his deepest desire was to return to Angola, but the Superior General asked him to strengthen the Mozambique Group, which was very young and in need of a more experienced confrere. He accepted, packed his bags and set off for Chimoio, on the border with Zimbabwe. He explains: “The Inhazónia Mission Parish was very large geographically, encompassing four districts: Báruè, Macossa, Guro and Tambara. I spent four very interesting years there, facing various challenges, dealing with several languages, covering great distances, encountering a diversity of peoples, and dealing with chapels in need of reconstruction”.
But the future belongs to God. He was invited to serve as a translator at the General Chapter held in Torre d’Aguilha (Cascais) and was elected General Councillor. He therefore moved to Rome, where he carried out this new mission, on a global scale, from 2004 to 2012.
He admits: “Those eight years, which at first seemed as though they would be endless, passed quickly. One of the things I noticed during my many visits around the world was that the Spiritans work very hard and, in general, are close to the people and approachable. It was yet another delightful experience”.
As soon as his term in Rome ended, he returned to Mozambique in 2013: “I went back to Inhazónia, where I have remained to this day”.
Golden Jubilee
His 50 years of priesthood were celebrated on three fronts. It all began in Ireland, his native country, together with the priests who were ordained on the same day. He then travelled to his mission in Inhazónia, where the people had organised a grand celebration. Finally, the Assembly of the Spiritans in Mozambique, gathered at St Augustine’s Seminary in Matola, surprised him with a solemn Mass during which he was able to recount his long missionary history.
He confessed that he would also have liked to celebrate in Angola and in Rome, where his mission had written some of the most memorable chapters of his missionary life. Despite his age and the scars that the war left on his back, he remains strong and determined to give of himself until the very end.
Tony Neves, in Matola – Mozambique
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