Father Luis M. Dolan, C.P. (1921-2000):
The Gospel of World-Wide Service
[Father Luis M. Dolan, C.P. died suddenly of a heart attack on October 15, 2000 in New York City. Through the kindness and initial organizing efforts of Mario A. Dolan, M.D., Father Dolan's brother, and Ms. Marie-Claire Cournard, Father Dolan's secretary, the Passionist Historical Archives in Union City, New Jersey received his papers. Father Dolan an Argentinian Passionist, held leadership positions in the Argentine Passionist province, worked with the Conciliar and post-Conciliar efforts of The Better World Movement, and in his later years directed the Temple of Understanding which was a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the United Nations. The office operated out of St. Emeric's Catholic Church in New York, City. Now, the Passionist Historical Archives has over seventy boxes of Father Dolan's papers. We will catalogue the collection and then find a permanent home for his papers at a research or university archives that would allow others to learn from the life and ministry of Father Luis Dolan, C.P. Anyone with suggestions of an appropriate archives for the Dolan collection or those who wish to offer a financial contribution to defray inventory expenses may contact the Passionist Historical Archives. The following summary of his life is based upon a thirty-nine page autobiography which he wrote in the last years of his life. -Rob Carbonneau, C.P., editor]
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 11, 1921 Luis Dolan was the fourth of nine children. His early religious education was from a Passionist nun. He received his First Communion in a Passionist parish. After a sound academic and Anglo-oriented education at Belgrano Day School, in 1934 he entered the Passionist Seminary where he was provided with the Irish perspective of his immigrant parents who arrived in Argentina because of the 1850 potato famine. Passionist Fathers William Cushing and Julius Boyd exacted early influence on the young man. In 1936 he proceeded to the Passionist novitiate in rural Argentina. Strict socialization in the seminary gave way to strict monastic and spiritual exercises. He took his first vows on January 30, 1938. From 1938 until his ordination on August 12, 1945 Dolan studied four years of philosophy and three years of theology. He had little contact with the outside world. Students were obliged to use Latin. "My whole education," wrote Dolan, "pivoted on three spokes: the centrality of the Catholic Church, the total security of Thomistic philosophy, and the need for personal humility as one became more learned. Other religions were secondary; Asia and Africa," Dolan went on to write, "were faraway regions where missionaries went to convert people from paganism and religions other than Catholic Christianity." Behind monastery walls, World War II was far away. This was the time Dolan gained his first, though limited, preaching experience. Preaching received more direct attention during the special year of sacred eloquence which was required during the year immediately after ordination. "I had a particular knack," wrote Dolan, "with men, especially those who were anti-clerical and non-believing. I managed to attract them by joining them in bars, called boliches locally, and through preaching getting them back to church on their knees for confession."
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