Br. David Patrick Mahoney
Br. David Patrick Mahoney, CFX, entered the Xaverian Brothers in 1966, just out of high school, and earned a B.A. in Social Relations from Harvard College in 1971 and an M.A.T. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1972. As a bass in the Harvard Glee Club for three years, he enjoyed singing all over the country.
David taught French, English, Social Studies, and video production for 12 years at his alma mater, St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts, and in 1984 he completed an M.A. in French at the Middlebury College Summer Language School. He studied French at the University of Dijon with a group from Georgetown University.
From 1985 to 1990 he taught high school English and religion in Likasi, D. R. Congo (ex-Zaïre), and from 1991 to 1998 he taught English at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Lubumbashi, a teacher training college. From late 1991 until 1995, after the evacuation of the Consul and consular employees from Lubumbashi, he worked for the U.S. State Department as Approving Officer, overseeing local employees retained at the Consulate and USAID.
After a sabbatical in the U.S. that included time to learn computer skills while working as an assistant school librarian, David returned to Africa in 2000 to serve as a religious formator for ten years in the Western Province of Kenya. From 2010 until 2015 he was a religious formator in Nairobi; an instructor in English at Christ the Teacher Institute for Education (part of Tangaza University College); and Executive Secretary of the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK), the association of superiors of the 76 men’s institutes that minister in Kenya.
Since returning permanently to the U.S. in late 2015, he has continued to edit Yes, Kenya Matters, a two-page reflection paper produced by the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission of the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK-JPIC). YKM relates the Sunday Mass readings to the social teachings of the Church and to the social, economic, political, environmental, and moral problems of Kenya. Priests and religious men and women submit their contributions, usually for a month or so at a time, to fit a template agreed upon by JPIC. After editing, YKM is emailed weekly to nearly 1000 subscribers. It is intended to help homilists be more relevant; to propose material for personal reflection; and to stimulate discussion in Small Christian Communities.
Br. David has also worked as an editor with Pauline Publications Africa, and has helped the Ursulines of Tildonk (Belgium) prepare for their 2018 Bicentennial by translating an 1892 biography of their founder from French to English. He is currently on the staff at the Xaverian Brothers’ retirement community in Danvers, Massachusetts.
