VATICAN: Fr David Kinnear Glenday, 59, of the Comboni Missionaries London Province, has been appointed Secretary General of the Union of Superiors General of the world’s male missionary congregations. His posting is at the Vatican in Rome. (In the picture: Fr David Kinnear Glenday)

According to the Comboni London Province quarterly publication, ‘Comboni Mission, Summer 2009’, Glenday served in the Ugandan Province, before heading to the Philippines, where he continued spreading the gospel. In the special issue of the Leadership Magazine (2007), founder editor Fr Tarcisio Agostoni, one of his elder confreres [now back in home Province, Italy], wrote that Glenday served as editor of the magazine in Uganda, for about three years.

Agostoni revealed that Glenday gave an extra-ordinary contribution to the Leadership Magazine, which reached a circulation of 36,000 copies a month, between 1984 and 1987. Glenday took over from Fr Jose Bragotti, mccj and would, after his term, hand the editorial task to another confrere, Fr John Troy. He took up an editorial assignment in the Leadership sister magazine, World Mission, in the Philippines.

According to Glenday, there are 218 religious and missionary orders, the Comboni Fathers and Sisters being part thereof. The union was established as a forum for the superiors of the congregations for religious men, to reflect on religious life in the world and the mission of the Church as a whole.

A president, elected among the superiors general, heads the union. But, the secretariat, which is charged with running the activities of the union, or implementing the recommendations of the body of the missionary superiors, is under Fr Glenday.

“I see my role as a coordinator. More of a bridge,” he says in an interview with the Comboni Mission: Summer 2009. His role is “keeping the various superiors general in touch. For example, the Don Bosco [Salesians] superior is responsible for 16,000 men, so there is a lot on his plate. Anything I can do to ease their load is good.”

Between his stint in Uganda and that of the Philippines, Glenday, then also based in Rome, served as overall superior of his congregation. For the new assignment, he says; “I do not know why I got the job.

“But, perhaps they wanted someone who was previously a superior general and, therefore, with experience and understanding of the union.” He adds, “My current superior put me forward and I said I would give it a go.”

Glenday had the biggest part of his childhood in Dundee. He is born of a Dundonian father and Irish mother, who met and got married while they worked in India. He recalls, “Both I and my brother were born there [Bombay], but time came for us to go to school and we returned to Dundee, where I attended St Peter and Paul’s Primary School.

He joined the Comboni Fathers’ seminary in Yorkshire, at the age of only 13. “I was never pushed. I just had a strong desire to share the beauty of the faith from a very young age. The Mass was very important to me and even in my teens, I had that desire to share the faith.”

Musing over memories of Uganda, Fr Glenday says, “Uganda of course has been through many years of suffering, war and violence, including while I was there. You know, the missionary stayed throughout that, even though we lost thirteen Comboni brothers [including priests] and a sister during that time.”

More News

>> Change Is Possible for Gays - Psychologist
>> Sisters in Campaign Against Human Trafficking
>> Church To Celebrate Centenary In Northern Uganda
>> Obama Appoints Catholic to Supreme Court
>> Church News In Brief