Andrew Morrison

Andrew Morrison, SJ (1919 – 2004) was a Guyanese Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, journalist, and pro-democracy activist.

The Reverend

Andrew Morrison, SJ
Editor of the Catholic Standard
In office
July 1976 – 1995
Vicar General of the Diocese of Georgetown
In office
1972–1976
Personal details
Born5 June 1919
Georgetown, British Guiana
Died26 January 2004 (aged 84)
Guyana
OccupationPriest, journalist, activist

Early life and education

Morrison was born on 5 June 1919 in Georgetown, British Guiana.[1] He attended high school at St. Stanislaus College and attended a Jesuit institution for college.[2] He studied accounting, and following graduation, he returned to Georgetown to work at an accounting firm.[3]

Career

Morrison joined the Society of Jesus in 1949 at the age of 30, and was sent to Great Britain to study for the priesthood,[2] as Guyana is a member of the Jesuits' British Province.[4] He was ordained a priest on 31 July 1957, the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.[2]

He was sent back to British Guiana (independent Guyana since 1966) and served as youth chaplain of the Green Light Organisation, a Catholic social ministry.[2] During this time, he founded the Camp Kayuka on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.[2] In 1972, Morrison was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Georgetown, a position he held for four years.[2]

In July 1976, Morrison was appointed Editor of the Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Diocese of Georgetown and the only religious newspaper in Guyana.[2][3] In 1979 he founded the Guyana Human Rights Association.[5]

Morrison's first international public episode, was his coverage of the Jim Jones led mass suicide-massacre, which took place in 1978 in Guyana. A year later, an assassination attempt upon his life failed because a fellow Jesuit was mistaken for Morrison; Fr Darke was brutally murdered.[6] Such attempts to frustrate Morrison's quest for justice and rights had absolutely no effect upon him. He publicly exposed a plot by members of the governing regime to assassinate an opposition Guyanese politician (Rodney) in the paper he headed, the Catholic Standard. Amidst awards and honours from the international community he lamented the state of his countrymen and further hardships experienced by the certain fellow Jesuit elements, supporters of his cause. Fr Connors was deported from Guyana.

Morrison died in his Georgetown home on 26 January 2004, at the age of 84.[1] He was buried in the Sacred Heart Church in Georgetown.

Legacy

Fredrick Kissoon, Ricky Singh and Hugh O'Shaughnessy described him as a 'Symbol of courage' and one who went about living serenely amidst insecurity; an insecurity that had his co-workers quite nervous but was of no concern to him. He is regarded as an important figure contributing to media freedom in Guyana.[7]

He was awarded a Maria Moors Cabot Special Citation by Columbia University in New York in 1985 and the Titus Brandsma Award in the Netherlands in 1992.[5]

Bibliography
  • Justice: The Struggle For Democracy in Guyana, 1952-1992. Georgetown, Guyana: Red Thread Women's Press. 1998. ISBN 9789768157522.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Andrew Morrison's Obituary on Belleville News-Democrat". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  2. "Father Morrison passes on". www.landofsixpeoples.com. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  3. Rooplall, Dwijendra (25 December 2013). "A closer look at 'The Catholic Standard'". Kaieteur News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  4. BroadcastProds (2013-03-19), Who are the Jesuits? (A Year With the Jesuits), retrieved 2016-04-07
  5. "The Rev Andrew Morrison - Obituaries, News - The Independent". web.archive.org. 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  6. "A GREAT GUYANESE DIES". Stabroek News via Land of Six Peoples. 28 January 2004. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  7. "Comments and Responses". web.archive.org. 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  8. "Fr Morrison to Launch New Book". news.google.com. Stabroek News. 5 July 1998. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
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