Celebrating 50 years

26.11.2009

Fr Roderick (Derrick) Long celebrated his Golden Jubilee of ordination with classmates on August 15 at St Columbans, Dalgan Park, the headquarters of the Columban Fathers in Ireland.

Fr Derrick was ordained on December 21, 1959 at Dalgan Park. His first missionary appointment was to Burma where he worked from 1962 until  the government  ordered him  to leave Burma  in October 1966. His next mission appointment was to the Republic of the Philippines where he worked for the next 28 years. He was assigned to the diocese of Lingayan-Dagupan, Pangasinan in the northern part of the Philippines where Columbans have worked for many years.

He was then appointed to the Region of Australia/New Zealand in 1995 where he  conducted mission appeals and mission awareness programs in Western Australia and Queensland. Currently he resides at St Columban's, Sandgate, Queensland.

We congratulate Fr Derrick on reaching 50 years of missionary priesthood.

Read more stories from the The Far East, November/December