Columban Fr Roderick Long RIP
Fr John Roderick Long (13 November 1934 - 14 September 2018) Fr John Roderick ('Derrick') Long was born in Dublin on 13 November 1934. He was educated at the Convent of Mercy, Loughrea, County Galway, St Brendan’s National School, Loughrea, and St Joseph’s College, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe. He entered St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Navan, County Meath, in September 1953 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1959. St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea [ Wikipedia ] Father Derrick’s first appointment was to Burma (now Myanmar), but while he awaited a visa he served as temporary dean at the Templeogue house of studies in Dublin. When his visa came through, he left for Burma in October 1962. There he worked with Fr Jim Fisher as the latter ran a procure in Rangoon (now Yangon) for various Catholic groups working in Burma. However, Father Derrick was expelled from there in 1966 when the military government put further restrictions on missionar