Irish Pallottines Director Brings Ministry to Wyandotte

The Irish Pallottines have appointed a new national director for mission promotions, and he’s bringing a wealth of experience from halfway around the world to the group's headquarters in Wyandotte.

The Rev. Noel O’Connor, who came to the U.S. in March after spending 27 years serving as a missionary in Tanzania and Kenya, will travel around the country doing mission appeals to raise money for the order’s work in east Africa.

He’ll travel to churches throughout the U.S. for the mission appeals, and so far, he’s pleased with the results.

“What has amazed me so far is the generosity, the hospitality and the openness of the people of America,” he said.

During his time in Wyandotte, O’Connor will also assist at local churches when needed.

“It’s a lovely area here,” he said. “Wyandotte’s a beautiful city.”

The Pallottines, who were founded by St. Vincent Pallotti, have more than 2,500 priests and brothers serving in more than 50 countries, O’Connor said. Currently, there are 35 young men in Africa and Ireland studying to join the Pallottine order, which has its promotion center in Wyandotte.

Pallotti’s goal was to bring people together to physically and spiritually care for those in need, thus giving laypeople an active role in carrying out God’s work, O’Connor said.

“Vincent wanted to educate the laity and to collaborate with them,” he said.

He has a vision of fulfilling Pallotti’s goal though the cooperation of local churches for the benefit of society.

“For example, if you had all the different churches here in Wyandotte, you’d have many different churches,” he said. “And if you had all the different churches in Detroit itself, and if all of us came together … and worked together, we would cause a great effect in society, but as it is, we all work separately.”

O’Connor, who went to Africa in 1983, learned the local language and worked at a wide variety of tasks during his time there, including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and well-digging.

One of the Pallottines’ farms in African borders an animal reserve, which means that they have to protect their crops from wild animals: elephants, deer, wild pigs and more.

“I had my encounters with the wildlife,” he said. “If you were to ask any missionary, ‘Did you see a lion? ‘ Yes. ‘Did you meet a lion?’ Yes.”

Interacting with nature was one of the biggest parts for O’Connor during his time in Africa.

“I remember having pet monkeys and … pet deer around the place,” he said. “We were (an) out-in-the-bush mission. We would have visits from the snakes; that would be part of life. And bees coming in, that was a big thing, and the termites because the house was made out of mud brick.”

After a short respite at home in Ireland, O’Connor has come to the U.S. to ask for support for the Pallottines’ work overseas.

“My aim now here is to seek funding that all our good works in relation to spreading the Gospel (and) in relation to education, medical areas that we work in (and) empowering the people,” he said.

All of the money the order raises will go back to east Africa to build schools, hospitals, sports facilities, churches and other structures for the people.

“There’s a need for a lot of funding for that work to continue,” he said. “The more we raise, the more effective is our work in Africa.”  

The order holds several events throughout the year to raise funds, including a golf outing and a dinner dance. By participating in these events, O’Connor said, people can take an active role in helping the order with its good works. One major part of this mission is to provide funding for the seminaries in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya to educate young men who wish to join the priesthood.

“As Vincent said, things done together are far more effective and lasting than (when) they’re done individually, so our aim through these dances, the golf outing and the mission appeals is that people get involved in the formation of young men to the priest(hood),” O’Connor said.

His time working with the people in Africa will serve as his inspiration, though, during his mission to raise money for the Pallottines’ missionary work.

“You’re very close to people because you’re talking about things that matter to them: food, crops, animals. That’s their life,” he said. “Really you had their confidence. You’re not only preaching, but you’re acting.”