Our Dear Fintan
by Phil Little, Cedar, BC
Fintan
One of the good guys has gone. We, who have been schooled in a theology that stresses that death has lost its sting and that resurrection is the promise to all those baptized in faith, should be more joyful. While I know that Fintan lived the good life, he literally “ran the good race”, he was a “saint” in the best sense living the hope of the gospel message, I feel a sadness that such goodness could end, be taken, escape from our grasp.
My wife Anne Marie and I drove down Island to Victoria in November of 2005 to meet Fintan who was there to receive the prestigious Lewis Perinbam Award in International Development. The award highlighted Fintan’s 55 years as a “teacher” in the fullest meaning of the word. When we met Fintan at the hotel it was obvious that he was struggling and he spoke of his illness which had been
Fintan at Mile Zero, Victoria BC
diagnosed shortly after receiving from O.E.C.T.A. the “Marion Tyrrell Award for Merit”, the highest honor given to a teacher by the Catholic teacher’s association in Ontario. Fintan had met an opponent who would not relent – cancer. He survived a plane crash when he was taking medical supplies into the troubled region of Biafra, activities which eventually got him expelled from Nigeria. But before he left he succeeded in building a teaching college, a number of schools and a 50 bed hospital. Even in his absence his good work would continue.
Fintan was a member of “the Spiritans”, and it was through those connections that now as a married priest he came to Canada to teach in a Catholic high school of Toronto. He was a teacher who inspired not only his students but also his fellow
Fintan in Sidney-by-the-sea Nov 14, 2005
teachers. For Fintan teaching was more than a job – it was his purpose. He was forced to retire at 65 which is when most people realized that he was actually that old. He had the stamina and agility of a much younger man, as he proved continuously in international racquet ball tournaments defeating athletes in lower age groups. More than once he won the North-American seniors championship.
I first met Fintan through Teachers for Social Justice, a small group of Catholic teachers who at that time still thought that Vatican II was going to happen. I was a member of E.N.D. (Educators for Nuclear Disarmament) as I was teaching in the public board at that time. When in 1985 I was transferred to the Catholic board I found myself “at home” with this group of activists who sought to live and teach gospel values. Fintan was more than a colleague to most of us – he was a mentor.
Fintan
In his blog B. Scott Currie also calls Fintan his “mentor” as does Craig Kielburger, an internationally recognized youth activist from “Free the Children”. Craig admits that meeting Fintan “altered the course of my life” and that he was “the inspiration behind the movement to abolish child labour around the world.” Another teacher, Jodie Guillemette who was a participant in “Students Crossing Borders”, an international educational experience directed by Fintan, describes this contact as “life-altering”.
Ted Schmidt in his blog titled “Theology in the Vineyard” wrote a beautiful memorial titled “Fintan the Unforgettable”. Ted ends his beautiful remembrance saying “The quote from Francis of Assisi on Fintan’s mass card perfectly summed up his rich life.” Go teach all nations – if necessary use words.” Fintan was not all work, he was life and it was a life shared with his beloved – Kenise and their two daughters Siobhan and Ciara, and their extended families. Would it be wrong to be a little bit jealous of these who lived so close to Fintan – our “mentor”, “friend” and “brother”.
Fintan and Anne Marie Nov 14, 2005 Sidney
So if we still experience this loss of someone so precious, and accept that he is now at rest, we know that all that he has done continues in those whose spirits have been set on fire. In a Catholic New Times article in 2003 Fintan was called “God’s marathon runner”. In his obituary the family calls him “our dear Fintan”. To the creator spirit and Kenise and the family, we can only say “thank you for sharing”.
(originally published in CORPUS Journal, No.1 Jan-Mar 2007)
*************************************************************************
obituary for Fintan published in the Toronto Star
Published in the Toronto Star (Dec. 23/06).
****************************************************
Founder of Students Crossing Borders
http://studentscrossingborders.ca/index.php/home/fintan-kilbride
****************************************************
Fintan the Unforgettable by Ted Schmidt
http://theologyinthevineyard.wordpress.com/2007/01/05/fintan-the-unforgettable/
