Arthur Walter Hughes: He Spent Himself for Maurice Billingsley

tories of poor boys rising to rub shoulders with royalty Kingdom. On one occasion he arrived starving and thoroughly Sare likely to involve a measure of ruthlessness and of wet on a Scottish priest’s doorstep, mistaken at first for a gentle- conveniently forgetting one’s roots. Archbishop Arthur Walter man of the road. Nearer to home, he addressed a distinguished Hughes did not take himself seriously enough to fall for these audience, including the colonial secretary, speaking for an hour temptations. He died aged forty-six as papal internuncio to the without notes on the slave trade but giving copious and accurate Kingdom of , beloved for his openness to Christians, Jews, references from his preparatory studies. and Muslims and his desire to be of service to all. Arthur Hughes was born in 1902 in Clapton in East London, In , 1933–42 an area with many poor residents, including a sizable Jewish com- munity. His parents, migrants from Wales and Ireland, were not In 1933 Hughes received his longed-for appointment to Uganda. churchgoers. England then provided free elementary education His superior, Vicar Apostolic Bishop Michaud, was impressed to the age of fourteen, but the more academic grammar schools when Hughes greeted him in the local language, Luganda, which were fee-paying and beyond the family’s means. Arthur therefore he had studied in London before departure. Michaud gave him left school at fourteen and took a job in a newspaper office, but responsibility for education, where he answered to another Eng- he pursued wide-ranging studies in the local free library. His lish convert, former headmaster Archbishop Arthur Hinsley, the reading convinced him of the claims of the . apostolic delegate, who was determined to see church schools in After being received in the church, he applied to the archbishop East Africa offer a good all-round education. His brief covered of Westminster to train as a priest. institutions ranging from village schools to seminaries and the Cardinal Bourne, wary that a convert’s zeal might not last, teacher training college, which Hughes called his “nine choirs asked him to use the next two years to discern his vocation. of angels.”1 He had responsibility for Catholic students at the When Arthur duly returned, still eager, he was dispatched to national university being set up in Makerere. In 1937 he insisted Bishop’s Waltham in Hampshire, where Fr. Pierre-Marie Travers to the governor, Sir Philip Mitchell, that outside England the ran the junior seminary of the of Africa, or White Catholic Church had the same rights as the Anglican to set up a Fathers. This boarding school then housed French and English chaplaincy: “Your , you can not honestly deprive the boys. Arthur’s time was devoted to learning French and Latin, many believers in Jesus-Eucharist [sic] of his presence in their subjects not taught in elementary schools but required for his midst. He is their bosom friend, their inspiration, their safeguard, continuing studies in France and North Africa. their strength. Without Him their life becomes wasted, bare, dull, Small classes helped Arthur’s gifts blossom. He gained mas- and aimless.”2 tery of both languages, earning himself the nickname of “profes- Church schools in Uganda received grants from the Protector- sor.” He once accepted a challenge to speak on any given topic ate Government, although never enough to meet all needs. When in French for an hour, and he successfully held forth on cheese. Hughes asked for more money, he was told that he belonged Later, it was said that his Latin replies were more fluent than the to one of the richest organizations in the world. “The Church lectures of the seminary staff who used it to teach in Carthage. was founded on a rock, and has been on the rocks ever since,” Once at lunchtime, a salad was sent up dressed in paraffin rather Hughes replied, and won the increase.3 Like Hinsley, an early than olive oil. Priests and pupils pushed it away as uneatable, ecumenist, he cooperated with other churches to achieve benefits only to see Arthur chewing away, apparently quite happily. for all. His respect for other Christians led to his praying with a His sense of humor had already been manifest in Hampshire, Protestant school inspector whose wife was ill, an unlooked-for but the staff in Carthage were less sure about his punning in gesture in those days. three languages and misquoting Scripture, fearing he was not This was a time of rapid change for the church in Uganda, as serious. Eventually, they were convinced that he was possessed the vicariate was divided from 1934, leading to a major reshuffle of a joyful spirit rather than empty levity, and they recommended of personnel, with one area handed over to Ugandan clergy, in him for in 1927 despite some concern for his health. preparation for the time, in 1939, when Joseph Kiwanuka would Disappointment followed when Hughes found himself “in exile became the eagerly anticipated first Uganda-born bishop. All this from Africa,” back at Bishop’s Waltham. Short and stout, he was meant extra work for Hughes, though he still found time to care a popular teacher despite having no sporting talent—other than for boy scouts and other young people. an encyclopedic memory for cricketing statistics. When the Second World War came, Uganda was not far This posting did not last long, as the society had agreed to enough from Europe to avoid the conflict. When Italy declared run a in Heston, West London. From this base Hughes hostilities in 1940, the Italian missionaries in the northern Vicari- could readily travel to speaking engagements around the United ate of Gulu were interned as enemy aliens. At the same time, as the town was close to Italian-held Ethiopia, the British army Maurice Billingsley, who studied with the Mission- requisitioned the main vicariate buildings to provide barracks for aries of Africa at school and senior seminary, teaches troops to counter any Italian aggression from the north. Hughes disaffected young people and has taken an M.A. in was dispatched to take charge, overseeing the evacuation of theology at the Franciscan International Study Centre, buildings so effectively that no losses were reported. Canterbury, England. That his was a temporary responsibility did not tempt —[email protected] Hughes to go easy. He began by writing a sermon and having it translated into each of the four local languages, so that he could preach from memory as he visited each mission. When

158 International Bulletin of Research, Vol. 36, No. 3 he eventually left this responsibility, the vicariate’s work had attending festivals and praying with them.6 He also established doubled in size. cordial relations with the country’s Islamic and Jewish leaders. This was possible only because he was a true missionary, a man In Ethiopia and Egypt, 1942–49 of God before he was an Englishman. Hughes established clinics and schools, open to all, in the Hughes was sent to Ethiopia in 1942 to resolve difficulties for poverty-stricken villages of the Delta and Upper Egypt, sup- the church following the Italian expulsion, and then on to Egypt ported by his contacts at home. It is a tribute to the wisdom of after a few months. The apostolic delegate there was an Italian, Hughes and the Egyptian Church that the schools remained unacceptable to the British, occupiers in all but name. Hughes’s open throughout the Suez crisis and to this day; one of them is appointment was seen as a minor success by British diplomatic named in his honor. They were regarded as Egyptian schools, and propaganda services; his close but critical cooperation with not British. Such enterprises needed government blessing. Hav- the authorities in Uganda may have led them to believe he would ing established his credentials as independent of the British be useful, if not docile, in Egypt. government so forcefully on his arrival in Egypt, Hughes won Earlier in the year the British had parked their tanks outside the ear of the young king. (Farouk, notorious for his sensuality, the palace to intimidate King Farouk into changing a government respected Hughes enough not to bring on the dancing girls till seen as favorable to Italy and Germany. Hughes was well aware Hughes had left his company.) of the outrage this action had caused. From the outset he asserted Hughes also had a ministry to foreign Catholics in Egypt, his independence from the British. When the embassy offered to mainly troops, including Italian and German prisoners of war. effect an introduction to the twenty-two-year-old king, Hughes Although the British Army supplied a staff car for his use, he insisted on flying the Vati- can flag rather than that of the British. He continued to pray with clergy of other denominations, endearing himself to the army chap- lains by insisting on meeting their wives before an official reception. He once disap- peared from dinner with the chief of staff to make his way to the kitchen, where he delighted the Maltese cooks by thanking them for the meal. In the POW camp he helped set up a seminary for Germans who had sensed a call to ministry or, in the expression of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Arthur Hughes who sought to try their as internuncio in Egypt vocations. and his nunciature As the war drew to a close in 1945, Hughes was declined, saying confirmed in his position as apostolic delegate and ordained that he did not bishop, but Egypt now sought full diplomatic relations with the represent the king Vatican, the first Muslim-majority state to do so. In 1947 Arthur of England, but the Hughes was named the first internuncio to Egypt and became Prince of Peace.4 archbishop. He still lived in community rather than the his On this point he position might have afforded. His hard work continued unabated, was following the despite concerns for his health among those close to him. Well injunction of Pope Benedict XV, who had warned in Maximum aware that he was spied upon and that the diplomatic bag was illud (1919) of the dangers to Christian witness of missionaries tampered with, he would post confidential letters himself at the being identified with their home nation. local mailbox. On a journey to Jerusalem he allowed the spies Determined not to be “dust on the hem of Egypt,”5 Arthur following him from Cairo to steal his suitcase, while walking Hughes found ways to succeed in the many ministries open away with the important papers on his person. Another visit to before him. His task was to represent the pope to the Catholic the Holy City found him among the many who were caught up Church in Egypt, a delicate task in which he succeeded, bring- in the turbulence surrounding a terrorist bomb outrage. ing together the six sometimes mistrustful rites, each with its own traditions. They still work together today. When Hughes Final Days and Summary was made bishop, his ring was presented by the Greek Catho- lics, his pectoral cross by the Coptic Catholics. Most Egyptian In 1949 Hughes was due to take a home visit. He said below Christians were Coptic or Greek Orthodox, and Hughes worked decks onboard his steamship for crew members, finding himself toward unity with them, most notably by the unheard-of step of briefly “a missionary again.” Visits to the junior seminary and

July 2012 159 other White Father houses showed his confrères how exhausted Hughes’s burial was another homecoming, for he was laid to he was; he once slept for thirty hours straight. He had remained rest beside Father Travers, “who had first fostered his missionary close to his family, despite vocation and guided him to the altar.”7 The Egyptian Embassy his rise to fame. The society attended in force, bringing a wreath from King Farouk, while treasured the story of a visi- another came from the British armed forces. tor scandalized to encoun- Amid the tensions of the Middle East, the schools and ter an archbishop drying hospitals he founded are still Egyptian and still open to all. the dishes as his mother The Egyptian Catholic Church remains small but bears witness washed them. When at to God’s love “without directly speaking about Christ,” in the home, he would rise first words of one bishop. and light the fire before Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr., today’s Vatican leaving to say Mass at the , attended the same school in Hampshire as Arthur local church. Hughes only Hughes and continues his predecessor’s work of friendship, reluctantly agreed to see a supporting a church with roots in apostolic times. doctor—but he never kept Hughes’s motto—Licet plus diligens minus diligar—was the appointment; on July 12 drawn from 2 Corinthians 12:15: “I will most gladly spend and he died at home of a massive be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” heart attack in the arms of Hughes’s coat of arms Arthur Hughes spent himself, for he loved greatly, and was his brother. with his motto greatly loved by those whose lives he touched.8

Annotated Bibliography Ayrout, Henry Habib. “Panégyrique prononcé par le Réverend Père material from the , memories of Egypt from John H. Ayrout S.J. en L’Église S. Joseph au Caire le 19 Juillet 1949.” Ramsay-Fairfax, and an unidentified contemporary newspaper. Available from the Missionaries of Africa, London. Father Ayrout, Kittler, Glenn D. The White Fathers. New York: Harper, 1957. An Ameri- an Egyptian Jesuit, worked with Hughes in developing poor can who traveled through Africa researching his portrait of the Christian villages in Egypt. Translated by the present writer, 2007. Society; he also tapped oral tradition no longer available. Cavalli, Dimitri. “The Good Samaritan: Jewish Praise for Pope Pius Marchant, Leonard [?]. “A History of the White Fathers in Scotland.” XII.” In Inside the Vatican, October 2000, pp. 72–77. Available at N.d.; available at www.thepelicans.co.uk/history11.htm. www.ewtn.com/library/issues/pius12gs.htm. Cavalli seeks to McGuire, Manus, and Michael Goodstadt. “The Late Archbishop vindicate Pius XII’s record in the Second World War. He mentions Hughes.” Columban, Christmas 1952. These schoolboys based their Hughes in connection with his meeting an official of the Jewish work primarily on Howell, Archbishop Arthur Walter Hughes, and Agency in Turkey. on recent oral tradition. “ in the United Arab Republic.” Tablet, September 6, 1955, “Obituary: Archbishop Hughes—Apostolic Internuncio to Egypt.” p. 181. From a correspondent writing about Catholic communities Times, July 13, 1949, p. 7. A useful picture of Hughes from a and their schools during the Suez crisis. secular source. Finn, Peter. History of the Priory Bishop’s Waltham. Winchester, Eng.: Payeur, François. “The Story of Saint Augustine Catholic Chapel at Hedera Books, 1999. Finn compiled the history of the White Makerere.” Missionaries of Africa Archives, Uganda, n.d. Fathers’ junior seminary in Hampshire, where Hughes studied Petit Echo, 1949, pp. 193–96. The White Fathers’ in-house newsletter and taught. He had access to oral tradition no longer available. recorded Hughes’s life and death. Translated from the French by Holmes-Siedle, James. “Memories of a Year at the Priory (1926–1927).” the present writer. Pelican, Summer 1962. Bishop Holmes-Siedle studied under Stark, Freya. Dust in the Lion’s Paw: Autobiography, 1939–1946. London: Hughes. John Murray, 1961; repr., London: Century, 1995. Stark, in her Howell, Arthur E. Archbishop Arthur Walter Hughes of the White Fathers, account of working in British intelligence and diplomacy in Apostolic Internuncio to Egypt. London: Samuel Walker, n.d. wartime in the Middle East, refers to Hughes’s appointment as a [between 1949 and 1952]. A confrere of Hughes who drew on minor victory for her service. Notes . 1 Arthur E. Howell, Archbishop Arthur Walter Hughes of the White for “praying with heretics” when asked by the Anglican bishop Fathers, Apostolic Internuncio to Egypt (London: Samuel Walker, n.d. of Chichester to lead the Lord’s Prayer at the Albert Hall after the [between 1949 and 1952]). Blitz of May 10, 1942. See Adrian Hastings, A History of English 2. François Payeur, “The Story of Saint Augustine Catholic Chapel at Christianity, 1920–1985 (London: Collins, 1986), p. 395. Makerere”; Missionaries of Africa Archives, Uganda, n.d. 7. Petit Echo, 1949. 3. Howell, Archbishop Arthur Walter Hughes of the White Fathers. 8. Many thanks to Christopher Wallbank, M.Afr., and Aloysius Beebwa, 4. Ibid. M.Afr., who kindly provided copies of primary sources, and to 5. Henry Habib Ayrout, “Panégyrique prononcé par le Réverend Paul West, webmaster of www.thepelicans.co.uk, a site for friends Père H. Ayrout S.J. en L’Église S. Joseph au Caire le 19 Juillet 1949”; of the White Fathers, or Missionaries of Africa. Three items in the Missionaries of Africa Archives, London. bibliography (articles by Holmes-Siedle, by McGuire and Goodstadt, 6. In London, Arthur Hinsley had been rebuked by his fellow bishops and by Marchant) appear on this Web site.

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160 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 3 Announcing the Jon and Jean Bonk International Fellowship Fund Dr. Jonathan J. Bonk has announced that as of June 2013 he will retire as executive director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center and editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. With that leadership transition in view, the OMSC Board of Trustees has launched a substantial scholarship initiative—the Jon and Jean Bonk International Fellowship Fund.

OMSC Associate director J. Nelson Jennings, staff forged have deepened through visits from staff and leader for the fund, says the initiative “will enable be- friends, ongoing communication, and mutual prayer.” leaguered Christian leaders to come to OMSC from Residency for a program year (September to May) challenging situations. Currently we have to turn away “costs more money than most of these Christian lead- many worthy candidates due to lack of funding.” ers could ever imagine,” and the lack of funding most The fund will provide encounter “obviously presents friends of the Bonks, OMSC a significant barrier,” Jennings alumni from around the world, comments. To permanently and others who have admired fund the endowed scholarships their ministries from afar, a will require $500,000 each. “concrete way of honoring These will include housing in Jon and Jean on the occasion an OMSC apartment, a stipend of their retirement,” adds Jen- for basic needs including food, nings. Jon and Jean have want- airfare to and from Connecticut, ed to find a way after they retire insurance required to live for even and return to Canada to per- a few months in the United States, petuate their longtime commit- and administrative support. ment to serving marginalized R. Donald MacDougall, for- church leaders and missionaries mer OMSC board member and who live and minister in places treasurer, who is the fund’s hon- where it is extraordinarily diffi- orary chairman, expresses appre- cult and sometimes dangerous to be a follower of Christ. ciation for Jon and Jean for their service to OMSC, given “Christian leaders who face difficult sociopolitical “with such great energy and distinction.” He acknowledges situations are at the heart of OMSC’s ministry,” com- that the cost for many residents, “while modest, is still be- ments Nelson. “Many such leaders—including admin- yond their means.” MacDougall retired as vice president of istrators, pastors, educators, academics, artists, develop- the Towers Perrin management consulting firm. ment workers, and missionaries—have come to OMSC The Bonks, Mennonites who were famine relief from throughout the world and found rest, perspective, and workers in Ethiopia (1974–76), moved to New Haven rejuvenation for reentering their challenging contexts.” from Canada in 1997, after then-director Gerald H. An- OMSC residents, he adds, “have inspired us to serve derson selected Jon as associate director. Jon was pro- in our own contexts with newfound insight, wisdom, fessor of global Christian studies at Providence Theo- and passion. Even after these leaders have complet- logical Seminary, Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada, and ed their OMSC residencies, friendships they have has been executive director since June 2000.

Working alongside Jon and Jean Bonk has been such an honor and inspiration. Their leadership, vision, compassion, strength, and patience, a rare combination of traits, have served the Bonks and OMSC very well. The Jon and Jean Bonk International Fellowship Fund—www.omsc.org/bonkfellowship—is a crowning glory to their ministry. In keeping with their humble spirit, this fellowship is a benefit to others. It will enable those who serve the risen Christ in difficult, oppressive, and challenging circumstances to enjoy the unique opportunities for renewal offered by OMSC. I invite you to join many good people who are truly grateful for the Bonks by making this dream come true. —Dr. David Johnson Rowe, president, OMSC Board of Trustees

Read the Jon and Jean Bonk International Fellowship Fund newsletter online. For details, go to www.omsc.org/bonkfellowship or contact Dr. J. Nelson Jennings, Associate Director.

OVERSEAS MINISTRIES STUDY CENTER www.omsc.org/bonkfellowship [email protected] (203) 624-6672, ext. 306