Columban Fr Jim Mulroney, goes home to the Father

Fr Jim Mulroney. Photo: St Columbans Mission Society

Columban Father James Ignatius Mulroney—or ‘Jim’ as he preferred to be called—passed away early on October 11 in Melbourne, Australia. He was 75 years old, and he had been based at the Columban house in Essendon since leaving Hong Kong in 2018. Born on 3 March 1947, Jim was a gregarious raconteur with a ready joke and a glint of mischief and laughter in his eyes.

He recounted that he studied at a Jesuit school and, when he sensed his vocation, approached them about entering the Society of Jesus. He tells that he was advised that his talents might be better suited to the Columban Missionaries.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1972 and, in addition to a stint as a US Navy chaplain, worked for many years in Japan, becoming fluent in the language and was well-loved by those he pastored. Between 1985 and 1987 he ran the Columban vocations promotion and worked in youth ministry in Sydney. He was appointed region vice director in 1990 and Manager of the Columban Mission Centre in Essendon.

In the mid-1990s he became involved in mission education and school ministry, working in Canberra, Australia, and Dunedin, New Zealand. He was later appointed director of the Columban Mission Institute in Sydney (and was again regional director) from 2000 to 2002.

Among Jim’s many recollections was his encounter with Pope St. John Paul II during the latter’s visit to Australia in 1986.

His other involvements included working part-time for the diocesan Mission Office in Sydney, working as part-time chaplain to Sydney’s Refugee Detention Centre, and as part-time chaplain to the Australian PALMS Lay Missionary Association. From 1994 until his recent illness he was the Publishing Editor of the South Pacific Journal of Mission Studies now known as the Australian Journal of Mission studies.

He arrived in Hong Kong in July 2002 and in 2003, among many other tasks, he took up the deputy-editor-in-chief seat at the Sunday Examiner, succeeding Maryknoll Father John Casey. He completed a 15-year stint at the diocesan English-language newspaper in early 2018, handing over the reins to Claretian Father Josekutty Mathew.

Upon his resignation from the Sunday Examiner in January 2018, owing to persisting health issues, Jim jotted down these lines: “An issue of the Sunday Examiner goes out and in the words of the poet, John Kelly, ‘… the word, released, rooted and roaming now, God knows what streets, hearts, homes…’ And it cannot be taken back. But on January 1 this year, it was not just the paper going out, but myself as the editor as well. After 15 years at the helm of the diocesan newspaper in Hong Kong, fresh blood is coming in to fill the position and take up the challenge of putting out Hong Kong’s Catholic News of the Week.”

On the occasion of celebrating his 50 years of life as a priest, he was asked about his thoughts as a priest and missionary and Jim responded in his inimitable style, ‘I resonate with Mikhail Gorbachev describing his life with the simple words: We tried!’ 

Heading back to Australia, he landed in Melbourne and worked out of the Columban Mission Centre in Essendon. He continued contributing to the Sunday Examiner—as recently as August 7 with a short piece on the Ten Days of Peace celebrated in Japan, marking the anniversaries of the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 on August 6 and 15. 

Jim also worked on Columban media, including the online YouTube series, Meet a Columban, where he would interview confreres and lay missionaries in his ubiquitous jacket and tie. He was also a member of The Far East Columban mission magazine editorial committee.

He was also a fan of the Collingwood Football Club Australian rules team and rejoiced—or bemoaned—its triumphs and flops. He also greatly enjoyed Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong.

Remembering Jim, a fellow Columban missionary, Father Michael Cuddigan said, “a vivid memory of Jim is him sitting on the steps of the Diocesan Centre in the evenings and smoking his cigarette, which not many dare to do!” 

Father Tim Mulroy, the Columban Superior General, said, “It helped all of us that Jim accepted his decline and approached his death so peacefully.”

Jim, you will be missed! 

May he rest in peace. 

Written by Editor in Chief, Sunday Examiner, Hong Kong.

Related links

• Read more from the current Columban eBulletin