Fr PATRICK AHERN (MATTIE) 25.04.1920 - 11.10.2004

Fr Mattie Ahern passed away peacefully at about 05.30 on 11 October 2004, feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII. He was resident at Nazareth House, Cape Town. Born in Kilbrittin, south of Bandon (Co. Cork) on 25 April 1920, Mattie made his first profession as a Salesian on 24 November 1942, one of the first group to make their novitiate in Ballinakill, Co. Laois. He taught in Pallaskenry Agricultural College from 1944. He began his study of theology in 1949 and was ordained a Salesian priest with his companion, the late Fr Peter Campbell, in Copsewood on 20 July 1952. He was made Bursar in Ballinkill after his ordination, and from 1953 to 1961 he was "on the roads" in Ireland as Vocation Promoter. He headed for Southern Africa in 1961 and served the Church and Don Bosco's mission to needy young people as Bursar in Manzini (Swaziland) (1961-66) and Cape Town (1966-73). He then entered parish work in Lansdowne (1973-80), Hanover Park (1980-86) and Robertsham (1986-89). He was Hospital Chaplain (1990-91) and then at Greenpoint (1992-95), Newlands (1995-97) and Lansdowne (1998-2004). A free spirit with great Cork charm, Mattie will long be remembered with affection by all those who knew him. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam!