The death has taken place of Fr Michael Waters, SMA. Fr Michael died peacefully with his family around him at the SMA House, African Missions, Blackrock Road on Tuesday, 5 November 2024.
After completing his secondary education in the CBC Cork [Christians] it was no great surprise when Michael decided to join the African Missions [or ‘the Afs’ as they were commonly known in Cork], following in the steps of his uncle, Fr Con O’Driscoll, SMA, who was a missionary in the MidWest of Nigeria.
On 4 September 1966, the then seminarian Michael Waters played in midfield on the Cork Senior Hurling team who won the Liam McCarthy Cup, beating Kilkenny in Croke Park on a scoreline of 3-9 to 1-10. It was the first time the teams had met in nineteen years. Four months later he was ordained a priest in Newry Cathedral. After his Ordination, Fr Michael returned to Cork to study for a Higher Diploma in Education, following which he travelled to Nigeria where he was to spend forty-seven years as an SMA missionary priest.
Fr Michael was appointed to the SMA Mission team in the north of the country, still in the throes of the Nigerian Civil War. He served for twenty-three years in the Archdiocese of Kaduna. He then spent nine years in what is now the Diocese of Kano and finally fifteen years in the Diocese of Kontagora.
He returned home finally to Ireland in 2018 and has been living in the SMA House of the African Missions on Blackrock Road, Cork. He has been in failing health for sometime.
He is predeceased by his parents, Christy and Margaret (Peg) [née O’Driscoll], his brothers Kevin and Christopher and his uncle, Fr Con O’Driscoll, SMA.
He is deeply regretted by his sisters Kathleen Noonan, Ina White, Denise McGrath, Cornelia Murray, Marian O’Donoghue and his brothers Dermot and Tony, his sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, relatives, friends, the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese of Kaduna, Dioceses of Kano and Kontagora, Nigeria, and his confreres in the Society of African Missions.
Funeral arrangements:
Reposing at St Joseph’s SMA Parish Church, Blackrock Road, Cork from 4pm to 6.30pm, Wednesday, 6 November 2024.
Removal from the SMA House, Blackrock Road, Cork at 11.15am on Thursday, 7 November, to St Joseph’s SMA Church, Wilton, Cork for Funeral Mass at 12 noon, followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery.
The Funeral Mass can be viewed on https://www.smawilton.ie/live/
May Fr Michael rest in peace.