Dominicans in the North The journey from 1951 has not been an all-too-easy one for the Dominican Apostolate in Nigeria. Fanning out from their take-off base at St. Dominic's Yaba, it was the lot of the Dominicans not only to reach out to all the nooks and crannies of the country but also to train catechists, build churches and translate the liturgy and the Bible.
The most difficult area to make an inroad was the North of the country, particularly the seat of the Caliphate, Sokoto. But by a combination of perseverance and delicate religious diplomacy, strong footholds were established in the Prefecture and, later, Diocese of Sokoto. As city parishes began to emerge and as a diocesan' clergy began to grow in the Sokoto Diocese, the Dominicans gradually turned over the parishes, retaining solely the House of Our Lady of Fatima, Gusau. Consequently, Gusau became the fulcrum of Dominican evangelical activities in the North. A mixture of organisational efficiency, quality of preaching, regularity of service, liturgical awareness and closeness to the people, readily guaranteed success.
From the onset, the Dominican Sisters threw themselves into the project with no less a zeal than that of the Dominican Fathers. As early as 1965 they had young girls staying in their guest quarters in Gusau to observe their life, prepare them for secondary school education and ultimately train them for the sisterhood. Certain inadequacies in Gusau, however, compelled the Dominican Sisters to fan out to Jos, in their evangelical work. Today, the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena in Gusau, stands out, a testimony to one of the fruits of the efforts of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend (from Kansas in America) and their Nigerian colleagues. .
And so, in chronicling the history of the Dominicans in Nigeria, appropriate mention must be made of the. contributions of the Dominican Sisters. Together with the indefatigable Dominican fathers, they have, in a period of 50 years, registered a dazzling piece of evangelization in Nigeria. In sheer doggedness and craftsmanship, they all are perhaps comparable only to the master workman, the spider, at work on it's web.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA, GUSAU
From April 1950 until November, 1952, there was no resident Father and Gusau was an outstation of Zaria. Fr. Peter Gilroy then took over in November, 1952 at the present site in Gusau with Funtua and Sokoto attached as outstations. A Fathers' house now guest quarters on the present property was built in 1953. In February 1953 Frs. Ed Hughes and Pete O'Brien, with Mother Aloysia Rachbauer (superior 1940-1958) and Sr. Benigna visited Gusau.
On, 13 November, 1954 Monsignor Lawton OP arrived in Gusau and took over as prefect Apostolic for Sokoto and Katsina Provinces. In January, 1955 foundations were poured for a new church and a new two-classroom school block. On Easter Sunday, 10 April 1955, Msgr.. Lawton blessed the cornerstone of Our Lady of Fatima Church.
On 30 June 1955. Fr. Bert Mahoney, who was teaching in Rome, came to help Msgr. Lawton in Gusau. Fr. Mahony stayed until September and then returned to Rome. While Msgr. Lawton and other Fathers were busy touring and ministering to Catholics throughout the Prefecture, Bro. Tom was busy building. He had the church usable by July; he added the west room to the old house, and in June began a new two-story house nearby. This house was ready for occupation when the first Sisters, Raphael, Frances Joseph and Charlotte, arrived on 20 September, 1956. They moved into it until their convent was ready. On April 1956 the Certificate of Occupancy was obtained for the sisters' compound about a mile away from the church. In May of 1956 construction of the convent, dispensary and maternity hospital began. On 26 Aug. 1957 the Sisters moved into their new home, and the Fathers into their own vacated house. The Sisters began operating the dispensary on 23 Sept. and the maternity hospital on 5 Nov., but the ceremony of opening did not take place until a few months later.
Gusau was made a formal Dominican House by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in January 1959. The deed for the house and the church was given to the Order so that this place could be a Dominican center for the diocese and the North. The work in Gusau through the years has been principally the town parish work and the Sisters' medical work at their dispensary and maternity. This work of the Sisters has been the main form of outreach to the Hausa people of the town. The Fathers also served from time to time in Funtua, Katsina, Maiinchi, Kaura Namoda and Shinkafe. Gusau was the regular centre for the annual retreat of Dominicans in the North.
The Sisters also had additional work helping in the dry-season, teaching religion in the primary school and sewing to women, and in conducting periodic clinics in Funtua. At the same time, Sr. Imelda came to Gusau to be occupied full time with the Zumuntar Mata women's organisation. In 1968 Aquinas Secondary School, long on the drawing-board and the first secondary school in Gusau, began to go up, and was in operation in 1969. It was taken over by the government in January 1973.
At the beginning Msgr. Lawton was effectively the pastor while Victor Nadeau was religious superior for the house and all the Dominicans in the Diocese. By 1961, Colum Daley was made local superior-pastor, a post which went among others to James McHatton in 1962, Richard Farmer in 1963, Bertrand Ebben in 1967, Justus Pokrzewinski in 1969, and Giles Klapperich in 1972. The offices of pastor and superior were later separated in 1992.
Other associated with the early pastoral work of Gusau in the 50's include Lewis Shea, Philip Cantlebary, Victor Nadeau and in the 60's Carson Champlin, Columba McGarry and Clement Tyulen, and Sisters Raphael, Frances Joseph, Charlotte, Bernadette, Germaine, Helen, Francita, Alexia, Cornelia, James, Virginia. Marietta, Georgene, Francine, Lillian, Victor, Terrence, Imelda and Clara Ann. Of the lay volunteers, Kay Gallagher worked in the dispensary of Gusau from September 1962 until her departure in September, 1963. Another volunteer nurse, Francine Floris from Holland worked in the dispensary from September, 1963 until June 1964, when she moved to Malumfashi. A house was put up next to the Sisters and used first by volunteers, then by the Aquinas School principal, and later as the Sisters' novitiate.
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