December 5
FR. JOHN O’CARROLL was born at Dromahair, County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1898. He died at Dalgan on December 5, 1972. Fr. Jack did his secondary studies at St. Patrick’s College, Cavan [1913-17], Ireland before going to St. Patrick’s College, Carlow, to study for priesthood. He entered Dalgan in January 1918 and was ordained priest there in 1923 and assigned to Hanyang, China. He was a delegate to the 1947 General Chapter after which he did promotion work in Ireland [1948-49] and parish work in England [1949-53]. He was appointed to the Philippines in 1954 but failing health forced him to return home in 1965. Fr. Jack was an uncle of Columban Fr. Harry O’Carroll. Fr. Jack is buried at Dalgan.
December 6
FR. FRANK CAREY was born in Caulfield, Melbourne, Australia on August 19, 1937. After attending local primary schools and Christian Brothers College he joined the Columbans and was ordained on December 13, 1962. Assigned to the Philippines, he supplied in several parishes in Mindanao before four years with Fr. Peter Steen in Iligan. From 1969 to 1976 he was in Australia, chaplain to overseas students, promoting Columban mission and priesthood. When he returned to the Philippines, he had a year in Tambulig, Mindanao before he went to Manila and did campus ministry work, with terms as chaplain in Philippine Women’s and Far Eastern Universities. In 1991 he was assigned to Australia, as coordinator for lay mission and vocations, and in the mission awareness ministry. Back in the Philippines, he reveled in the Center for Ecozoic Living and Learning (CELL) in Silang, Cavite. In 2011 he became house manager in Baguio. There he became ill with cancer and on December 6, 2014 this calm, gentle priest died in Manila Doctors’ Hospital. Fr. Frank is buried in Loyola Cemetery, Parañaque.
Fr. Frank Carey (leftmost) with Frs. Michael Doohan and Dave Clay during their 50th Jubilee Celebration in 2012
December 9
FR. RICHARD GRIMME was born in 1915 at Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on December 9, 1994 at St. Columban’s, Silver Creek, New York. Having studied at Altoona Catholic High School he went to St. Columban’s Bristol, in 1934. He studied philosophy in Silver Creek, theology in Nebraska and was ordained priest in 1940. His appointment to China in 1941 was not fulfilled due to war conditions, so he did promotion work in the Midwest of USA until his appointment to the Philippines in 1945. With the exception of brief assignments to the U.S. Region, Fr. Dick ministered in Mindanao until 1971 when he was appointed to the U.S. He retired to his sister’s home in 1983 and to Silver Creek in 1990, where he is buried.
