Report on Parow and Athlone Parishes
Report on the prospects of the South African mission by Fr. Edward Walsh OFM Cap. and Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap., St. Mary’s, Cape Town for Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. The report refers to a meeting with Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, to discuss the areas (Athlone and Parow) which have been offered to the Irish Capuchins. A description of both districts and their populations is given. The financing of the proposed mission is also
Details
- Level of description
- Item
- Date
- 15 Feb. 1929
- Reference
- 1
- Extent and medium
- 11 pp; Manuscript
- Scope and content
- Report on the prospects of the South African mission by Fr. Edward Walsh OFM Cap. and Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap., St. Mary’s, Cape Town for Fr. Kevin Moynihan OFM Cap., Provincial Minister. The report refers to a meeting with Bishop Bernard Cornelius O’Riley, Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, to discuss the areas (Athlone and Parow) which have been offered to the Irish Capuchins. A description of both districts and their populations is given. The financing of the proposed mission is also referred to. The report notes that ‘there is a well-disposed Catholic in Athlone, a Mr. Murphy, who came to the Cape during the Boer War, and settled here’. The report also affirms that ‘the people seem to want us badly in Athlone – there certainly is a hunger for a priest there’.
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- Irish Capuchin Archives
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- Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of the Irish Capuchin Missions in Africa > South Africa > Visitations and Reports
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Extracted Mentions
People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.
Sample passages
- In Ast Wednesday Bishop O'Riley motored as the and came to see the places which he wishes us to take over. As you are already aware, one of these places is called Athlone (after th…
- future before them in the way of development, because, as was pointed out in the Logge Times of the 14th Feb. last, it is only along the Flats that the extension of Loggetown can t…
- But the Bishop is anxious for us to take up Parow first-
Full Transcript (OCR, 11 pages)
Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.
Page 1
+ CATAM 1/1/31 PHONE CENT. 4086 ST. MARY'S, Bouquet St., CAPE TOWN. THE REPORT. Feb. 15. 1929. My dear Mr. Provincial, In Ast Wednesday Bishop O'Riley motored as the and came to see the places which he wishes us to take over. As you are already aware, one of these places is called Athlone (after the Earl of Athlone); previously it used to be known as a more recently West London. The other place is called Parow. He is very anxious for us to start work in his latter place as soon as possible. There is a little zinc church there already, a priests' house, and a large Erphanage with about 250 children (mainly coloured coloured) in it; a school as well, attended by about 500 children. The Erphanage & school are managed by the Holy Cross Nuns who have been eminently successful in this district. They own the priests' house. But the Vicarials owns the little Church and a good portion of land adjoining. When one says 'land' we means 'sand', because the Cape Flats is a luze district extending for a scores of miles with nothing into sand and watter (a strubby kind of tree brought from Australia & planted by the Government in the Flats some years back), — sand and watter and dwellings, here and there, and fairly good roads. The Flats lie to the South East of Capetown; they are about 20 miles long and about 16 miles broad. There would seem to be a great
Page 2
PHONE CENT. 4086 2. ST. MARY'S, CAPE TOWN. future before them in the way of development, because, as was pointed out in the Logge Times of the 14th Feb. last, it is only along the Flats that the extension of Loggetown can take place. At the present moment there is a good deal of building going on there in different places (notably at Attlone) and ground is very sheap. A Railway runs through the Flats, called the Logge Flats Railway, and there is also a Bus Service to different places. There is a very high percentage of coloured people in the Flats: that is the reason why the Bishop would like to see the whole district in charge of the Loggeshins with a central Longwent in either Parow or Attlone. [We we mentioned about the extension of Loggetown a moment ago. In the last 29 years it has almost tribled its population. If it keeps on extending then there will be great possibilities in the Flats] Parow is within ten minutes walk from a station called Elsie's River on the Loggetown-Tohannesdorfurg Line. Attlone is a Railway station on the Logge Flats Railway. There is no railway connection between Attlone and Parow. They are about 9 miles apart. The road is fairly good. Attlone is at present being served by the Salesian Fathers who have an Agricultural College a few miles away. Attlone is about 6 miles from Loggetown, and Parow is about 10 miles also from the city. We were both impressed by the great opening that there seems to be for spiritual work at Attlone. The little children, coloured and white, crowded around us when we arrived at the half-built
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