Rev. Fr. Michael Corcoran is Irish,  and was born and baptised on 7th March 1960 in Kilkenny, Ireland. He responded to a missionary call and went to our MHM minor seminary St. Joseph’s College, Freshford , Ireland (1973 to 1978) .   This was followed by major missionary formation in Roosendaal, the Netherlands, and then in St Joseph’s College, Mill Hill, London, where he made his Perpetual Missionary Commitment on 29th  January 1985 and was subsequently ordained priest 18th August 1985 in Galmoy, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, and was appointed to Soroti, Diocese. Uganda.
He continued to serve in East Aftrica in the following years, including being Vocations Director and Regional, and was  elected to the General Council in 2005, with special responsibility for our missions in Africa. Having completed his five year term, he was later  elected MHM Regional in Ireland and President of the Irish Missionary Union  which he is still at the time of his election as General Superior of our Society.
He was elected 12th General Superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries on Monday 15th June 2015 and was re-elected on Monday 6th June 2022 for an additional five year period.
Message from the Superior General
The theme chosen by Pope Francis for Mission Sunday 2024 is to invite people to the banquet of the Kingdom of God based on the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew’s Gospel. In his message, Pope Francis writes: ‘Let us never forget, then, that in our missionary activities we are asked to preach the Gospel to all. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, we should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a new horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet.’
Mission is about humanity and humanizing, about our shared humanity, about the ‘we’, in approach both personal and inclusive seeking to communicate and to uphold the dignity of every human being while joining up and cooperating with all the churches, religions, philosophies of life – being at the service of life; reaching out to every person in simplicity and in truth. It does not matter who you are or which background you belong to or what you have achieved or not achieved, come to the banquet. Suggestions to carrying out our mission could be, creating respect, practicing honesty, promoting justice, nurturing wholesome relationships not only amongst the people entrusted to our care but also amongst ourselves as missionaries.
Our missionary challenge is to continue promoting ‘an outgoing ministry,’ going into the world. In our recently concluded Society Assembly held at the Generalate in Maidenhead with the leadership of our Society, it was clearly evident that as missionaries of hope, we are called to continually review and place before God and our membership, the life of our Society, with its yearnings and challenges. The invitation to create, with our presence in the midst of the world, a society capable or recognizing the dignity of every person and of sharing the gift that each one is to the other is forever there.
As a Society Assembly we gathered from different countries, cultures, backgrounds, languages sharing a common culture linked to our experience – a long tradition and an ardent desire to listen to the same voice. The mission entrusted to us is not about expending a huge amount of effort or performing ‘superhuman’ acts. All it takes is just one person carrying out one simple loving act of mercy every day to start a revolution and stamp out the virus of indifference. These ‘powerful witnesses’ make us think of our own lives and how to respond to situations all around us. As we witness in particular, to the many violent conflicts around the world, there is a desperate need for each and everyone of us as missionaries to act together in small and simple ways to encourage justice, peace and reconciliation in God’s world.
From our time spent together participating in the Assembly, taking stock, sharing ideas, proposals, divergences, I believe and am confident that we strengthened the charism of our Mill Hill Society to continue the mission given us with renewed vigour and enthusiasm, always putting our missionary calling at the centre of our life.
‘Go and invite everyone to the Banquet.’
Michael Corcoran MHM
Superior General