Catholics in Mindanao mourn death of Irish priest

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Central Mindanao’s Catholic community is mourning the death of an Irish priest who had extensively advocated for co-existence among the region’s Muslim and Christian communities.

The remains of the 94-year-old John Sherlock, a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), who passed away early this week in Metro Manila, will be buried at the congregation’s graveyard at Tamontaka District in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

The OMI, founded by 18th century French priest Eugene De Mazenod, and whose pontifical base is in Rome, has been involved in various missionary programs in far-flung areas in Central Mindanao and the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi since before World War II.

Several Caucasian OMI priests, were, in fact, incarcerated in Japanese concentration camps during World War II, on suspicions they were spying for the Allied powers.

Sherlock joined the OMI at 21 via the Oblate Vocation College in Dublin, Ireland and professed his first religious vows in 1944, just as Allied forces were liberating parts of Europe from occupation by  Germany's Nazi forces.

He was ordained on June 29, 1949 and, subsequently, assigned to Moro-dominated areas on Jan. 16, 1951, while Central Mindanao was barely reeling from the devastation caused by war.

As a “priest-to-the-barrio,” Sherlock worked from one Central Mindanao town to another, serving Catholic and Muslim communities.

Sherlock had authored religious reading materials while propagating religious solidarity among culturally diverse folks in areas where the OMI has various missionary programs.