This article is from page 33 of the 2008-01-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 33 JPG
THE JESUIT COMMUNITY has been saddened by the passing of a much loved Ennis colleague.
Phillip O’Keefe spent most of his life as an SJ in Africa and came home just weeks before his recent olor hdee
He worked with his community in Mazabuca in South Africa, returning to Ennis to see his family every three to four years.
He was a student in Clongowes Wood before entering the Society in
1963 at the age of 17.
He studied Philosophy and Theol- ogy in Milltown Park, and was or- dained in 1975. Though Fr Phillip entered the Irish Jesuits, he subse- quently transferred to the Zambian province.
He worked at Maamba Catholic Church, Maamba and also St. Mary’s Parish, Monze.
His most recent appointment was as Superior and parish priest of Na- kambala Catholic Church, Parish of St Paul, Mazabuka, Zambia.
He was a keen golfer and wrote
little religious instructional books for the African children he worked wel80
At his funeral, Mass in Milltown Park, ex Jesuit Provincial, Fr Colm Brophy, paid tribute to Fr Phillip and his faith. He said that Fr Phillip, normally a shy man who didn’t like the limelight, “is awe-struck today, lying here listening to us, with what- ever ears death has, to find himself the root and centre of an enormous number of conversations of people who knew him. People in Zambia who admired and respected him,
people in Zambia who loved him.
Friends who are no longer in Zam- bia, many who are here. His cher- ished Jesuit family and his treasured own flesh and blood”.
He added that Fr Phillip was “very honest with himself” and had a “wry sense of humour which didn’t desert him, even at the end.
Fr Philip passed away peacefull in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin aged 62.
He is survived by his brothers, Dan Rory, William and David and his twin sister, Molly.