Warm tributes were given in praise of the ministries carried out and human qualities shown in the life of Marist priest who filled national and parish roles.
Fr Paul Shannahan, SM, died on November 19 at St Joseph’s Court’ Sydenham’ Christchurch. A former leader of the Catholic Enquiry Centre and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Aotearoa New Zealand, Fr Shannahan was aged 88 and was a priest for 59 years.
Tributes were made at a requiem Mass celebrated at Sacred Heart church, Addington, Christchurch on November 24.
Fr Shannahan’s sister Luisa recounted his West Coast upbringing and his education in Greymouth and at St Bede’s College in Christchurch, where he was head prefect.
An initial approach to enter the Society of Mary seminary was unsuccessful because of health issues, and he joined his family in Blenheim, where he worked for the Ministry of Works.
Luisa Shannahan spoke of her brother’s interests in photography, rugby, and his gaining of a pilot’s licence.
A second attempt to enter the seminary was successful and Paul Shannahan started at Greenmeadows, aged 23. His mainly younger seminary colleagues dubbed him “the old man”, Luisa said.
He was ordained a priest in 1954 and did pastoral ministry in Island Bay, Whanganui and Nelson, and was parish priest in Hastings and Manurewa.
For three years in the 1980s, he led the national RENEW programme. In 1988, he moved on to head the Catholic Enquiry Centre in Wellington.
“After three years at the Mt Victoria site, he not only caused the enquiry centre to flourish, but equally a large rose garden, where his passion for the beautiful blooms was indulged,” Luisa noted.
“Even Maggie Barry took a production team . . . to film a segment for her popular garden show.”
Luisa Shannahan noted that her brother tudied to become a national rose judge, and served as president of the Wellington Rose Society from 1998 to 2004. He would later be awarded a life membership, and was a keen competitor in rose competitions.
In 2006, he was appointed New Zealand director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, a role which saw him undertake many trips to Rome and overseas destinations. In 2013, he was appointed pastor at Akaroa, south of Christchurch.
“There has been a pattern I have observed in Paul’s devoted ministry as a priest,” Luisa Shannahan said.
“He was frequently appointed to new and somewhat run-down situations in the Church, to rebuild, or build them, pastorally, physically and financially. This should have been a big enough job for anyone, but not for Paul.”
She noted her brother’s interest in genealogy, and his being the tenth person in New Zealand at the time to gain a diploma in genealogy. He also worked as chaplain on cruise ships. At various times he did courses on Te Reo Maori, bread-making and gourmet cooking.
In his 80s, while living in Akaroa, Fr Shannahan l completed a Bachelor of Theology by distance learning. Eventually, he retired to Nazareth House in Christchurch.
His was “a religious life so very well lived”, Luisa Shannahan said.
Fellow Marist Fr David Kennerley, SM, described Fr Shannahan as “by nature, a real enthusiast, something of a genuine extrovert, for whom engaging with people happened ever so naturally and easily. And these were the same qualities that would become a distinctive mark of his Marist and priestly ministries”.
“When preaching, he also had an easy, personable tone, and a message to nourish people. Paul was also great at visiting homes wherever he was, and also had a certain knack for encouraging people into things, although at times some may have felt rather too compelled to oblige.”
Fr Kennerly also noted the his fellow Marist was “comfortable in an ecumenical setting”.
“While never one to break Church rules, Paul still made a point of knowing all the rules and working with them to good pastoral effect. Less than a decade after Vatican II, Paul was leading Catholic rite weddings in non-Catholic churches and involving other church ministers alongside him,” Fr Kennerley said.
“He also employed his quick wit to great effect pastorally. In 1974, there was a minor fire in our little church in Clive. It happened the morning after a parish mission had ended. Being a small place, anyone who was even remotely Catholic was quickly at the church. Paul had to drive out from Hastings. By the time he arrived, quite a huddle of upset, even weeping folk had formed. On stepping out of the car, the parish priest, full of compassion and sensitivity exclaimed – well, it looks like the mission was a roaring success.” This anecdote brought caused much laughter in the congregation at the requiem Mass..
“But that was Paul,” Fr Kennerley said, “quickly appraising the scene for what it was, and then encouraging others to be positive.”
“. . . There is no doubt about it – you [Fr Paul] had a tremendous openness and warmth for people – matched with a rather irrepressible energy to be out and about in the community – qualities that proved wonderful for a life of ministry.”
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