Career
Mackey joined the Jesuits in 1932, and was ordained priest in 1945. He served there for 17 years, during which time he participated in many education programs and was headmaster of two high schools. However, he also became unpopular with local authorities, and in 1963 he was ordered to leave the country.
When the King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, learned of Mackey"s imminent expulsion from India, he invited Mackey to become an educator in Bhutan, as part of that country"s ongoing modernization efforts.
Mackey accepted the invitation. As a preemptive measure, he had all his teeth removed, because he would have no access to modern dentistry in Bhutan.
During the three decades that followed, Mackey performed no conversions of Bhutanese citizens, as that was forbidden under Bhutanese law. His first school, in Tashigang, was based in an abandoned cowshed and had 7 students.
In 1985, he was granted honorary Bhutanese citizenship, and in 1988, when the Jesuits had to leave the country, their schools being taken over by the Government of Bhutan, he was allowed to remain.
After his death in 1995, his obituary on Bhutanese national radio lasted 15 minutes. Despite his wishes to be buried in Bhutan, the Darjeeling Jesuits claimed his body for burial in their own cemetery.