Page 20 - Salesian Bulletin 2016 [01] January-March

SR ÉILÍS BERGIN RIP
Presentation Sister Éilís Bergin, friend and co-author with the late Fr Eddie Fitzgerald of a series of booklets on Stress and the Enneagram,
THE LATE
FR JOE BORG
Fr Joe Borg (right),
died in Dar tal-
Kleru (House of
the Clergy) in
Birkirkara, Malta,
26 November. His
funeral took place
two days later
after Requiem
Mass in St Gregory’s Parish Church, Sliema. Born at Cospicua 21 April 1920, he started with the Salesians at St Alphonsus School in 1933, began his novitiate in 1939, made perpetual vows in 1946 and was ordained in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin, 3 July 1949. He worked in Australia for ten years (1955-65), first as headmaster in Adelaide and then in Port Pirie. On his return to Malta he was rector in several houses and was Provincial Delegate for Malta 1975-1982. At his death he was 95 and oldest Salesian in the Ireland-Malta Province.
going strong today. He also had such great determination, and would never give up, as could be seen how he overcame his disabili- ties inflicted on him by the stoke. When I was in Africa, I used to remind myself of his will-power, to be able to get the strength I needed. He was caring about confrères; once I visited Fr Joe Fenech in Canada, the ex-Maltese Salesian who had joined the diocese. Fr Fenech showed me a letter which he had received from Fr Borg and which he still cherished very much after so many years.” Ar dheis Dé ro raibh sé.
died 23 October at South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel. Her ministries included teaching, admin- istration, workshops on the Enneagram, Stress Management, and later work with emotionally deprived children in St Bernard’s Group Homes, Fethard.
NIGERIA: THREAT OF TERRORIST GROUPS
The first Salesian work in the north of Nigeria has opened its doors in Kontagora, Koko, a vast desert area, characterised by a lack of education- al alternatives and by the dominance of fundamentalist religious groups in all sectors of life, with a marked intolerance toward Christians.
Following diagnosis of Parkinson’s seven years ago, she found she had to go deeper and find meaning in a whole new situation. It made her more aware of world situ- ations, pain and suffering, the need to pull on our resources, the beauty of God’s creation, the mystery of being human, the isolation of illness and the resilience of people. Her many interests included music, art, people, fashion and design.
Fr Richard Ebejer, administrator of Dublin’s Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Sean McDermott Street, penned these few words on hearing of Fr Joe’s death. “My condolences and sympathies for the death of Fr Borg. He will indeed be a great loss, and even though he has been invalided for so many years, he was still an inspiration to so many... I am very sorry to see Fr Borg go. He used to love the (Scouts) brigade, especially the camp-fire and the sing song around it. He brought so many innovations when he came back from Australia, one of which was the Summer Camps which are still
The Salesians arrived in Nigeria in February 1982 and opened technical schools, oratories, youth centres, parishes and chapels in various places, all in the south of the country in areas predominantly Christian.
Attached to Presentation Convent, Thurles, Sr Éilís was buried in her native county of Laois in the ceme- tery adjoining the Church of the Holy Trinity, Durrow.
In 2008 they were invited to the northern part of Nigeria, to work in education and pastoral ministry . That was not possible until October 2014, when three Salesians, all Nigerians from the south, went there. Before opening a new house in the city, the first thing they did was visit the local emir. “When we told him who we were and who Don Bosco was, and that we already have
Ar dheis Dé go raibh sí.
20 SDB