Priest kidnapped by African rebels celebrates 50 years

Fr Brian O’Kane with his nieces Joanne Daly, Theresa Killoran and nephew Seamus McCaughey.

AN Omagh clergyman who was kidnapped while serving in Nigeria in the 1960s has just marked his 50th year in the priesthood.

Surrounded by family and friends, Fr Brian O’Kane celebrated the milestone with a get together at St Enda’s GAA Club earlier this month.

The son of Michael and Teresa O’Kane (nee Barrett) of Deer Park in Omagh, Fr Brian was one of nine children.

He received his early education at the Christian Brothers School before moving to Dromantine in Newry where he began studying to join the Society of African Missions (SMA).
Fr Brian was officially ordained on December 20 1965 and the following year accepted a post in Nigeria. The decision was the beginning of a 50 year love affair with Africa that in more recent years has seen him bring Christianity to the people of Zambia.

AFRICAN EXPERIENCE
It all could have been very different though but for the timely intervention of a fellow priest back in 1966.
“I left in October 1966 to travel  to Nigeria by boat and it took me two weeks to get there. That was really the start of my African experience,” Fr Brian recalled.
“I landed in Lagos before a seven hour journey up country. There I began working with my brother, Fr James who had been in Nigeria since 1963.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time because just as I was getting into my first parish the Biafran war started and it lasted four years.
“I was at the war front and I was taken hostage one day when a battle broke out around the church. They fought for an entire day and I was laying on the floor the whole time.
“I thought when I was captured that I was going to be killed and they fired bullets under my feet and told me to dance. It was terrible and they held me for 24 hours until I was rescued by another priest.”

Fr O’Kane, centre, with his brothers Michael, Oliver and PJ and his sister Marie Begley during celebrations to mark his 50 years in the priesthood at St Enda’s GAA Club. Missing from photo is Fr James O’Kane who is currently in Africa in missions.

RETURN
Fr Brian remained in the parish for another year before returning to Omagh in December 1968, a short time before his mother passed away.
He would soon return to Nigeria however where he spent a further 15 years. In 1982 he opened a new city parish before being transferred to the south of the continent to Zambia.
There he was appointed parish priest of Francesdale in the country’s Ndola region. After six years he returned home however and worked across the Derry Diocese in Buncrana, Derry, Eglinton and Strabane.
In 2008 though Africa called again, this time in the form of Ndola’s Divine Mercy parish.
It has been transformed since Fr Brian arrived and constructed an impressive new church which remains a focal point for the people of the area. In the last few months the Tyrone man has handed back the Divine Mercy parish to the Zambian church and to current parish priest, Fr Moses.

CELEBRATIONS
On October 2 Fr Brian’s efforts were celebrated with a special Mass and function in his native Omagh.
“It doesn’t seem like 50 years,” he told the Ulster Herald.
“At the Mass in Drumragh church I said that if it had not been for the support of family and friends I could not have done 50 years. That support has been so important as has the support and faith of the people of Africa.”

Next month the 73-year-old embarks on yet another African adventure when he returns to Zambia and to a new parish.  All the money raised from Fr Brian’s 50th anniversary will go towards the education of children in Zambia and he said it was very much appreciated.

“I also have to take this opportunity to thank the clergy of Omagh who have always been so supportive. Monsignor Donnelly has been a great help as have the priests of Omagh who have always been there as have the people of the parish and the people of Tyrone in general.”