Language courses were followed by Parish ministry in the present day Malindi Catholic Diocese; he taught at St. Mary’s Kwale Junior Seminary until 1978, when he was transferred to the Queen of Apostles’ Minor Seminary at Ruaraka of the ADN. There, he first served as Vice Rector; he was Rector from January 1982 – July 1987, when he took a sabbatical in his native country, Ireland.
He returned to Kenya in 1989 and offered lectures at Tangaza University College (TUC), now Tangaza University (TU), the Nairobi-based Catholic institution of higher learning that is jointly owned by some 22 Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL).
In a note to ACI Africa, the Provincial Superior of the Spiritans in Kenya and South Sudan, Fr. Frederick Elima Wafula, has recalled that beneficiaries of Fr. Paddy’s generosity “have risen to very important positions in society among them Bishops and professors in universities.”
Superior General of the Spiritans, Fr. Alain Mayama (left) and the Provincial Superior of Kenya and South Sudan, Fr. Frederick Elima Wafula. Credit: ACI Africa
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Fr. Wafula has given the example of the Local Ordinary of Malindi Diocese, Bishop Willybard Kitogho Lagho, who he said has eulogized the late Fr. Paddy as “a talented mentor of all his former students” at the two Kenyan Minor Seminaries.
For the Provincial Superior of Spiritans in Kenya and South Sudan, his late Irish confrere “left an indelible mark of his missionary work in Kenya.”
“He spent all he had for the education of the young both in the seminaries where he taught and amongst the communities he ever served in Kenya,” Fr. Wafula says in his note to ACI Africa on Friday, March 21.
Fr. Paddy, he goes on to eulogize, “wasn't just a scholar and a teacher but a helper of the youths; he advanced their dreams.”
The late Spiritan Priest had a keen interest in Scripture, the leadership of the Irish Province of the Spiritans has noted in the death notice ACI Africa obtained in which it is further noted that Fr. Paddy obtained a Doctorate in Divinity (DD) in 1998 from Maynooth University in Ireland.
Superior General of the Spiritans, Fr. Alain Mayama (left) and the Provincial Superior of Kenya and South Sudan, Fr. Frederick Elima Wafula (Right). Credit: ACI Africa
He returned to Ireland in mid-1990s to the year 2008, during which he offered lectures at Kimmage Mission Institute, headed the institute’s department of Mission Theology and Cultures, and became the pioneer Director of Spirasi, Ireland’s national centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture; he also served as Bursar of the Spiritans in Ireland Province.
Fr. Paddy then returned to Kenya and based at the Spiritan Theologate in Nairobi, continued to offer lectures in Scripture and Systematic Theology at TUC. From 2009-2012, he served as the Principal of the institution that was then a constituent College of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). He retired in 2021 and left Kenya for Ireland, first settling at Laval House in Kimmage, and then moved to Nazareth House in 2023.
In his tribute to late Fr. Paddy, TU Vice Chancellor and Rector, Fr. Patrick Mwania, has highlighted the virtues he exemplified, including humility, justice and truth.
Fr. Patrick Mwania
“Fr. Paddy remained a humble and amiable priest whom everyone admired and who touched lives of so many,” Fr. Mwania has said, adding that his late confrere “was eloquent in speech and thought.”
Fr. Paddy, the Kenyan Spiritan Priest has recalled, was “a man of immense generosity and love for truth and justice.”
Credit: Institute of Social Communication - Tangaza University
“As Tangaza Fraternity, we are heartily grateful for the selfless service of Fr. Roe to Tangaza and immense contribution he made to the institution as an educator and a principal. We remain greatly indebted to him and to the Spiritan family for the gift Fr. Paddy was to Tangaza,” Fr. Mwania says in his tribute to Fr. Paddy that he shared with ACI Africa on March 21.
In the tribute, he describes his late confrere as “a giant tree”, and explains, “There is a sense in which the African wisdom likens towering personalities in fields of human endeavours to a giant tree in the forest and their death expressed using the metaphor of a fallen tree. Rev. Dr. Patrick Roe, CSSp is such a personality.”
“Let us pray that this ‘giant tree’ that has fallen will remain alive to benefit many people through its shade and fruits,” the VC of TU has said, and added, “The management will plan an appropriate way and time to celebrate Fr. Roe’s life and communicate accordingly.”
Fr. Paddy is to be laid to rest on Monday, March 24 at Dardistown Cemetery in Dublin after a Funeral Mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Kimmage Manor.
In Kenya, a Requiem Mass in his honour has been slated for the same day, March 24, at Queen of Apostles’ Minor Seminary, from 2 p.m. local time.
Messages of condolences are being submitted and viewed virtually here.
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Fr. John Ndikaru Wa Teresia
