Obituary of Fr Donal Halliden

Fr Donal Halliden
1923 - 2011

Fr Donal Halliden was born on 25 May 1923 in the parish of Banteer, County Cork, Ireland, in the Diocese of Cloyne. He was educated at Lyre National SchoolS and St Colman’s College, Fermoy. He entered the Old Dalgan in Shrule, County Mayo in 1940, and along with all the other students, transferred to the new college in Dalgan Park, County Meath, in 1941. He was ordained priest on 21 December 1946.

Father Donal was one of five members of the Halliden family who followed a religious vocation: Father William (Bill) and Father Jerome had joined the Columbans before him; Father Patrick was a priest of Cloyne Diocese, and Sister Immaculata was a member of the Mercy Sisters.

Father Donal was assigned to the Philippines in 1947 and served in that mission for a record sixty-one years until he returned home and took up residence in St Columban’s Nursing Home in 2008.

His initial appointments were to parishes in northern Mindanao: Plaridel, Aurora, Ozamiz City, and Iligan City. His gifts as a teacher and catechist were already evident in those early years. On returning from home vacation in 1964, he was assigned to campus ministry in Centro Escolar
University, Manila, a position he occupied for the next thirty years.

In 1994 he spent a year ministering at Lucan Community College. When he returned to Manila in 1996 he was happy to work in the Region’s Mission Awareness Office until 2008.

Father Donal was extremely conscientious, organized and disciplined. He was deeply committed to young people, urged them to develop their gifts, and continued to support them years after they had left university. He often quoted Cardinal Basil Hume’s vision, ‘We want our people to
walk as if they could see the invisible, and to have fallen in love with God’.

He was not afraid to express his opinions, and was very supportive of anyone whom he felt had been badly treated. He was proud of his Cork roots, and had a deep love of classical music. Kind and courteous, he very much appreciated the care and understanding of the nursing staff during his final years.

He died inthe Dalgan Nursing Home  in the early hours of  1 October 2011.

May he rest in peace.