Nor Scrip Nor shoes

by John H McGoey

Autobiography of John H McGoey of the Scarboro Foreign Missions Society who served in China before and during the Communist take over. He was born in 1915 and knew by the age of 9 he was called to be a Roman Catholic priest. He describes his growing up years in Toronto, his reasons for entering the priesthood , his training and early years as a priest as well as his challenging work in China. Illness then forced him to be restricted to limited service. He wrote the book during his time as a priest in the Bahamas.

280 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 1958

Reviews

[Maryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I acquired this book many years ago because my birth name is McGoey and I thought it would be interesting to read about someone that I may be related to in some distant way. I tried reading it several times over the years but got bogged down in the early pages when he described his perfectly loving family, his deep religious convictions and his call to the priesthood. I was just not that interested. However, with my new resolution to read more memoirs I decided to give it a try one more time. I was rewarded. His telling of his early years as a priest in Penetaguishene where his ego got a work out and his years in China where he was bent on helping the poorest during the upheaval leading to Communist rule were written with cantor sprinkled with Irish humour. He describes his health challenges and the tough brotherly love of the famed surgeon Dr Paul McGoey that helped get him through. At the end of the book he had found a mission in the Bahamas that would accept him with his health challenges. He closed his story there, a priest in his late 30s determined to continue to make a difference. His gratitude for his gift of faith and the opportunity to serve God as a priest is the great happiness of his life. His last sentence addresses the reader "And while you and you and you are searching for happiness, I can only insist that you are not likely to find more of it than I."