Peter Hughes was born on 9th October 1951 at Cleggan in the parish of Clifden in the Archdiocese of Tuam. He was educated at Cleggan NS and the Franciscan Secondary School in Clifden. He came to Dalgan in September 1970 and was ordained priest on 10th April 1977.
Appointed to Chile, after language studies in Cochabamba in Bolivia, he served for many years in the Parish of El Olivo in the Archdiocese of Santiago. In this area of marginated people, he shared the struggles of many families during the years of dictatorship and encouraged them through their involvement in Basic Ecclesial Communities. He made deep and lasting friendships with many of those families.
In 1984, when the Parish of San Marcos in the southern zone of Santiago was divided, Peter became Pastor of the newly created Parish of San Columbano, the first in Latin America to be called after our Patron, St Columban.
From 1987 to 1991 Peter served his first term as Director of the Region of Chile. He inaugurated the Columban mission to the Indigenous Mapuche people of the Araucania in the south of Chile. As he finished his term he was co-opted on to the Society’s General Council from 1992-1994. He returned to Chile in 1995 and was appointed Vice Director. In June 1998 he was again appointed Director of the Region of Chile and served two three-year terms.
In 2004 he was appointed to Britain and for the following eleven years he was Justice and Peace Co-ordinator for the Region and conducted Mission Appeals from his base in the London house in Redington Road and then Ealing. He was Regional Vice Director from 2010-2015.
In 2015 he was appointed Regional Director of Britain and served six years in that post, based in Solihull. As Director, Peter continued as JPIC Co-ordinator, working closely with Ellen Teague and James Trewby in this ministry. His eye trouble began during his final year as Director.
His eyesight deteriorated at an alarming rate and he moved to the Dalgan Nursing Home in August 2022. In the years that followed, his eyesight became worse and a number of debilitating infections weakened his eyesight further.
He bore all these afflictions with courage and patience until his death on 30th March 2025 in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan.
Peter will be remembered as a compassionate, sensitive and generous missionary who reached out to the marginalised and the most vulnerable.
May be rest in peace.
James Trewby, JPE Co-ordinator in Britain says ” I found Peter to be a brave and empowering leader, committed to our priority areas of justice and peace. He was always open to new ideas and supported many of our programmes designed to get lay people involved in our mission. He was passionate about the development of our Faith In Action Volunteer programme, which celebrates its tenth year this year, as well as the Invitation to Mission programme. He saw the benefit of justice and peace education and the potential in me! Peter will be sorely missed by us all.”
Fr. Bernard McDermott resided here in Britain with Peter during his time as Regional Director. He says, “Peter was true Columban missionary who may have lost his sight but never lost his vision for justice and support for people and of causes where he felt he could contribute from his experience and commitment to mission. May he rest in the peace of Christ.
