Page 1, 20th January 1978

20th January 1978

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Page 1, 20th January 1978 — Fears for missin Jesuit
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Fears for missin Jesuit

By
Alex Cosgrove
A MISSION PRIEST has disappeared in Rhodesia, but newspaper reports that he was kidnapped by guerrillas while saying Mass are "complete fabrication".
Fr Desmond Donovan, SJ, disappeared this week while travelling from his mission station at Makumbi to Govera, an outlying Mass centre in the Chinamora African tribal area about 30 miles north of Salisbury.
A Jesuit spokesman said this week that Fr Donovan, 50, who was born in Leeds, set out for the Mass centre but never arrived.
British newspapers reported that he was abducted by members of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and dragged from the Mass centre at Govera while saying Mass. They further reported that he was struck and prodded with rifle butts while several African women wept and pleaded with the guerrillas to release him.
These reports have since been proved untrue, and there is now speculation as to their origin. Informed sources believe that the story may have been given to the Rhodesian security forces by an African boy at the Mass centre who was terrified of violent interrogation by the Army and made up the story to protect himself.
Nevertheless, fears for Fr Donovan's safety are growing.
An alternative theory advanced this week is that the story was part of Rhodesian propaganda to discredit the guerrillas and deprive them of any sympathy they may have among Christians in Rhodesia.
The Rhodesian government has recently introduced strict censorship laws. Rhodesian newspapers may now only report news concerning the war as issued in official government communiques, and foreign journalists must submit their stories for government censorship.
Ordained in 1960 after serving his novitiate at Roehampton, Fr Donovan taught for five years at St Aidan's College, Grahamstown, South Africa. He served for two years at Harare mission, Salisbury, Rhodesia, and from 1969 to 1974 was Superior at St Paul's Mission, Musami.
He was educated in South Africa and was fluent in the Shona dialect widely used in Rhodesia.




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