File 8 - AMECEA Reports

Reference code

IE CA AMI/2/1/8

Title

AMECEA Reports

Date(s)

  • c.1961-1974 (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

21 items; Typescript and printed

Name of creator

(27 May 1905-3 December 1972)

Biographical history

Vincent Flynn, the son of William Flynn and Mary Anne Flynn (née Collins), was born in County Donegal on 27 May 1905. He joined the Capuchin Order in October 1922 and took Killian as his religious name. He was ordained a priest in June 1930 and travelled as a missionary friar to Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) in September 1931. He held the position of superior of the Irish Capuchin mission in Northern Rhodesia throughout most of the 1930s. He was appointed the first Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls (Livingstone) in 1936, a position he would hold for fifteen years. He became General Secretary for Education in Northern Rhodesia and established the Catholic Secretariat for the Bishops in 1951. He was awarded an MBE by the British monarchy for his services to African education in 1958. In 1961 bishops from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia appointed Flynn the first Secretary General of the newly established Association of Members of the Episcopal Conference of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) in Nairobi, Kenya, a post he would hold until his death. He was the principal organizer for the historic visit of Pope Paul VI to Uganda in 1969 for which he received the ‘Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice’ award. Later, he acted as the principal contact for the AMECEA bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962-5). Following a short illness, he died in Dublin on 3 December 1972. He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Baptismal name: Vincent Flynn
Religious name: Killian
Date of birth: 27 May 1905
Place of birth: Killybegs, County Donegal (Diocese of Raphoe)
Name of father: William Flynn
Name of mother: Mary Anne Flynn (née Collins)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 15 Oct. 1922
Date of first profession: 19 Oct. 1923
Date of final profession: 19 Oct. 1926
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1930
Educational attainments: BA (NUI), 1926
Missionary activity/leadership positions: Travelled to South Africa and later Northern Rhodesia in Sept. 1931; Appointed Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls in 1936; Superior of Capuchin Foreign Missions, Africa, 21 June 1935 and reappointed on 14 Oct. 1938 and from 1942-46; General Secretary for Education of the Hierarchy of Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) in 1951; appointed General Secretary to the Hierarchy with the title of ‘Very Reverend’ with privilege of former Provincial Minister as understood in Mission Statue No. 134 granted by the Capuchin General Definitory on 20 July 1963.
Date of death: 3 Dec. 1972
Place of death: Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

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Scope and content

Reports, memoranda, and questionnaires collected and compiled by Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap., secretary of the Association of the Members of the Episcopal Conference in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) principally about priestly formation in the constituent countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. The file includes the following documentation:
• Record of the Inter-territorial Episcopal Meeting held at St. Joseph’s, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 17-26 July 1961. Monsignor Killian Flynn OFM Cap. was the recording secretary.
• AMECEA: A review of the first seven years.
• Extracts from the address by President Julius Nyerere to the Maryknoll Sisters’ General Chapter, New York. 16 Oct. 1970.
• Memorandum on the financial support of local African Ordinaries. 23 Apr. 1971.
• ‘Vocations to the Priesthood, Brotherhood, and Sisterhood in Zambia. 1970. Some factors and considerations’ by R.E.S. Tanner.
• Discussion document on the future of missionary societies by Fr. J. Glynn MM.
• Tanzania Church Inquiry. Memorandum on the pastoral position of the Catholic Church in Tanzania.
• Memorandum of the Association of Religious superiors in Eastern Africa.
• ‘The Church serving Developing Countries’. Extracts by AMECEA from a report sent to a seminar in Rome organised by a group of religious institutes active in missionary work. 15-17 Mar. 1968.
• Opening address by Archbishop Sergio Pignedoli (1910-1980), Secretary of the Congregation for Evangelization, to the ‘Serving Developing Countries’ Seminar in Rome, 15-17 Mar. 1968.
• Agenda and position papers at the plenary meeting of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, Rome, 25-28 June 1968. Distributed by AMECEA.
• Prospectus of the Pastoral Institute of Eastern Africa in Kampala, Uganda (1969).
• Record of the AMECEA Study Conference held at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, Nairobi, Kenya, 14-21 Dec. 1973.

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