He was a great gentle giant at that place I called home for five years – Chancellor College. I learned much about the Irish tradition from his passionate personal experience of the closely-knit Irish culture. Although his subject was English, his soft-spoken voice often gave the class nuggets of insight into the subject of his love – the rich Irish tradition and culture.

I was a new student at Chancellor College in January, some years ago, and feeling that I am blending in quietly and without much aplomb; it was Fr. O’Malley who gently nudged me from that false premise: not only did he know me, it appears he was in close contact with my Uncle Ronald Mbekeani (a social development expert); and Fr. O’Malley was a good scholar of civic education – and so, yes he would know the new student with a deep American accent, though she was purporting to be a Ngoni, a claim that was belied by all un-ngoniship. Continue reading Ode to the gentle giant: Father Patrick O’Malley →