John Kelly Liberia Mission Diary

The Maryland State Colonization Society, originally a branch of the American Colonization Society that had founded the colony of Liberia at Monrovia in 1822, established its own settlement in Cape Palmas in 1834 named Maryland-in-Africa (also known as Maryland in Liberia). The community was intended to accommodate freed African-American slaves and freeborn African-Americans primarily from the state of Maryland. While other African-American settlements in Liberia were united into the Commonwealth of Liberia in 1838, the Maryland colony remained separate and eventually became the Independent State of Maryland in 1841.

The first Catholic mission to the area (1842-1844) was formulated partially as a result of the Second Provincial Council of Baltimore of 1833, whose sixth decree proposed to entrust Liberia to the Jesuits to provide for the spiritual needs of those who had emigrated there. This suggestion was approved by the Propaganda Fide in 1834 but the Jesuits were unable to undertake the mission and the affair was dropped until 1840. It was then that the bishops of New York and Philadelphia asked for volunteers from their clergy for such a mission. Rev. John Kelly, pastor at St. John’s (Albany); Rev. Edward Barron, pastor at St. Mary’s (Philadelphia); and Dennis Pidnar, a lay catechist from Baltimore, were three such willing participants. They and 30 emigrants set sail for West Africa on December 21, 1841, arriving in Monrovia in late January and reaching the Maryland settlement at Cape Palmas on January 31, 1842.

In hopes of recruiting more missionaries and likely also because of ongoing health concerns, Rev. Barron left Liberia April 8, 1842, and went back to the US. After failing to enlist any further help there, he proceeded to travel to the Holy See and around Europe where he was marginally successful in his efforts. While some such new missionaries arrived in Liberia November 29, 1843, Fr. Barron returned later, in February, 1844. By August of 1844 he had written to the Holy See regarding resigning from his position as Vicar Apostolic of the Two Guineas and titular Bishop of Constanti, which he had held since 1842. That fall both Rev. Barron and Rev. Kelly left Liberia, with the former returning to Rome to be relieved of his charge and the latter returning to the US. With Fr. Barron’s resignation, the first Catholic Liberian mission had ended and no other attempts were made to preach Catholicism to the Greco people or to the African-American colonists in Monrovia or Cape Palmas again until 1884.

Rev. John Kelly (1802-1866) was born in Trillick, Tyrone County, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) and emigrated to the US in 1825. Shortly thereafter he entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg (1826) before joining the Jesuit novitiate in Frederick (1827-1828). He eventually returned to Mount St. Mary’s to complete his studies and was ordained as a diocesan priest (1833). Fr. Kelly ministered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral (New York) before being sent to upstate missions such as Saratoga. He was pastor at St. John’s Church (Albany) beginning in 1837 until he volunteered for missionary work in Liberia in 1841. Alongside Rev. Edward Barron, pastor of St. Mary’s Church (Philadelphia); Dennis Pindar, a lay catechist from Baltimore; and 30 emigrants they set sail from Baltimore for West Africa on December 21, 1841. The ship arrived in Monrovia, Liberia, in late January and the missionaries stayed there January 26 and 27, 1842, ending up at Cape Palmas–the Maryland settlement and their final destination–on January 31. After what could be considered largely unsuccessful missionary efforts for approximately two-and-a-half years, Fr. Kelly returned to the US in the fall of 1844. There he was made pastor of St. Peter’s Church, Jersey City, where he remained until his death in 1866.