Papal ‘stamp of approval’ a mark of Paddy’s life
DURBAN’S Paddy Kearney, 75, is the proud recipient of a magnificent golden medal from Pope Francis. Nestling in a white box bearing the papal emblem, the Benemerenti medal is one of the highest honours accorded within the Catholic Church.
It is particularly meaningful to Kearney as he has a high regard for Pope Francis.
To put it into context, the medal’s various recipients have dedicated a lifetime to the church. They might have been a choirmaster, organist or altar server. Some have served their church for 80 years or longer.
The first medal, awarded in 1775 by Pope Pius VI, was presented to recognise military achievements by those men who fought in the papal army.
Kearney earned his accolade for a fight of a different sort. He wears no suit of armour; nevertheless, he has taken to the South African field of battle for social justice and uplifting the poor.
He is self-effacing, attributing the recognition to his being “involved with Diakonia for 30 years, then spending years publishing Hurley’s memoirs in two volumes, as well as the first full biography titled Guardian of the Light, and spending 10 years helping to establish the Denis Hurley Centre – as well as helping to raise the R32 million required for its construction”.
Even so, some of his career must have flashed before his eyes as he received the medal from Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban.
He was born in Pietermaritzburg, where he attended St Charles’ Marist College in 1950-1959.
“What set me on my path was Archbishop Hurley’s courageous opposition to apartheid, especially after the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. I became a member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Durban archdiocese and was asked by Archbishop Hurley to help him establish Diakonia.”
It was at Diakonia that some of the highlights of his life unfolded – drawing up a workers’ rights statement that was widely distributed in member churches and organising Good Friday services over years.
Helping the residents of St Wendolins, outside Pinetown, oppose forced removals in the 1980s certainly brought a sense of satisfaction.
Inspiration can come from many sources, and Kearney also lays credit at the doors of South African cleric, theologian and leading Afrikaans anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naude, Mahatma Gandhi, former public protector Thuli Madonsela and Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was killed while celebrating mass in 1980.
Life is not all a mountain-top experience and there were walks through shadowy valleys. Kearney was detained for 17 days under the Internal Security Act and his marriage to journalist Carmel Rickard failed. However, being released from detention as a result of a court order by Judge Ramon Leon was a triumphant moment, as was the opening of the Denis Hurley Centre. The date is fixed firmly in his mind: November 9, 2015, “the 100th birthday of Archbishop Hurley” (if he had still been alive).
Finally, Kearney quotes a priest friend, who described the medal as “an affirmation by the local church of the work done by an individual, with the stamp of approval from the pope”.