Men of prayer, preaching and intelligence(continued)
Passionists' participation in the CTSA is continuous from its beginning in 1946 till the years immediately following the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. By the mid-1970s both United States Passionist regions had reconfigured their internal seminary programs so that seminarians no longer studied theology in Passionist monasteries. Instead, east coast students were at St. John's University Graduate School of Theology, Jamaica, New York, and the western province sent their students to Catholic Theological Union (CTU), Chicago, Illinois. The demise of the Passionist educational system corresponds directly to the decrease of Passionist membership in the CTSA after 1965. Given this context, it is of interest to see which Passionists were in the CTSA.
1946 charter members were Theodore Foley, Passionist Monastery Jamaica; Augustine Paul Hennessy of The Sign, Union City; Roland Joseph Hoffman, St. Michael's Monastery, Union City; and Aloysius McDonough, St. Joseph's Monastery, Baltimore, Maryland. In 1947 Joseph M. O'Leary, North Harlem Avenue, Chicago, Illinois joined. Bertin Farrell of Jamaica joined in 1948. New members in 1949 were Valentine Leitsch, St. Paul Place, Cincinnati, Ohio and Neil Sharkey from Union City. 1949 CTSA Proceedings show 8 Passionist members out of a total membership of 156 religious. Passionists were 1 of 31 religious communities. 75 diocesan priests came from 29 archdioceses and dioceses. New members in 1950 were John Devany, Louisville, Kentucky; Charles Lang, Jamaica; and Gregory J. Staniszewski, Chicago. Berchmans Lanagan, Jamaica, joined in 1951. Forrest J. Macken of Louisville paid his first dues in 1952. Kevin McCloskey and John Baptist Pesce, both in Baltimore, joined in 1953.
Passionists present at the 8th annual meeting in 1953 were Devany, Louisville; Farrell, Jamaica; Foley, Scranton; Hennessy, Dunkirk, McCloskey, Baltimore; McDonough, Jamaica; Macken, Louisville; Pesce, Baltimore and Staniszewski, Chicago. In 1954 Silvan Rouse, Baltimore joined and seven went to the 9th annual meeting.
By 1955 overall CTSA membership was over 500 members. That year Bishop O'Gara, expelled from Yuanling, China in 1953, became a new member as did Raymond J. Foerster, Nicholas Gill, Richard Kugelman and Columba J. Moore—all of Union City—and Robert O'Hara, of Pittsburgh, Peter Quinn of Jamaica, and from Brighton, Massachusetts, Cronan Regan and Gerard Rooney.
Eight Passionists were at the 10th Annual Meeting in 1955. Norman Demeck, Dunkirk; Paul Dignan, Union City; and John Baptist Pechulis, Chicago were new members in 1956 and eight Passionists attended the 11th annual Cleveland Meeting. Charles Frederick Lang C.P. died in 1956.
Passionists accepted as new members in 1957 were Aquinas McGurk in Brighton as well as Barry Rankin and Carroll Stuhlmueller in Chicago. Present at the 12th Annual Meeting were Norman Demeck, Dunkirk; Aloysius McDonough, Jamaica; Aquinas McGurk, Brighton; Forrest J. Macken, Louisville; John Baptist Pechulis, Chicago; Cronan Regan, Brighton; Silvan Rouse, Jamaica.
CTSA membership in 1957 was 686. Proceedings lists active Passionists as Bishop O'Gara, [Union City]; Silvan Brennan, Baltimore; Norman Demeck, Jamaica; John Devany, Sierra Madre, California; Paul J. Dignan, Union City; Bertin Farrell, Scranton, Pennsylvania; Raymond Foerster, Union City; Theodore Foley, Pittsburgh; Nicholas Gill, Union City; Augustine P. Hennessy, West Hartford, Connecticut; Richard Kugelman, Union City; Berchmans Lanagan, Brighton; Valentine Leitsch, Detroit, Michigan; Fintan J. Lombard, Rome; Kevin McCloskey, Brighton; Aloysius McDonough, Sign; Aquinas McGurk, Brighton; Forrest Macken, Louisville; Columba J. Moore, Union City; Robert O'Hara, Pittsburgh; Joseph O'Leary, Chicago; John Baptist Pechulis, Chicago; John Baptist Pesce, Dunkirk; Peter Quinn, Jamaica; Barry Rankin, Chicago; Cronan Regan, West Hartford; Gerard Rooney, Sign, Silvan Rouse, Baltimore; Neil Sharkey, Brighton; Gregory Staniszewski, Houston, Texas, and Carroll Stuhlmueller, Chicago.
New 1958 members included were Paul M. Boyle and Eugene Peterman, Louisville. Eight Passionists were at the 13th Annual Meeting. 1959 members totaled 754. New among them was Columkille Regan, West Springfield.
Passionist membership does not appear to be as pronounced as we move into the 1960s. As mentioned previously, this coincides with the Passionist participation in theological clusters, and may be in part due to less detailed reporting procedures in the Proceedings. Inducted in June 1961 were Norbert Leonard Dorsey, Jude Mead, and Wilfred John Scanlon. There were 968 members in 1962 which included associate members Sebastian K. MacDonald and Jerome F. McKenna, C.P. Later, the 1964 19th Annual Convention reported the death of Valentine Leitsch and approved active membership for Victor J. Hoagland and Martin Tooker. CTSA member Theodore Foley was elected Passionist Superior General in Rome. The 20th Convention approved John W. Cousins. The 1967 22nd Annual Convention Active announced Roger Elliot to be an associate member. The 23rd Convention in 1968 accepted Robert Molyneaux as an active member and Richard A. Cashen as an Associate Member. At the 24th Annual Convention in 1969 Nicholas Crotty was accepted as an active member and Paul I. Bechtold as an associate member.
The 1970 report lists Donald P. Senior, and Paul E. Schrodt was announced as a member in 1971. Joseph Gibbons and Eric C. Meyer became members in 1972. No new Passionists joined from 1975 until 1982.
In 1983 we see Eric C. Meyer report his change of address to Carbondale, Illinois and Norbert Dorsey change his address to Miami, Florida. In 1989 CTU faculty member Paul Wadell is listed as a member. As was the practice CTSA reported his academic pedigree. Wadell was a 1985 Notre Dame Ph.D. graduate who wrote his dissertation on An Interpretation of Aquinas' Treatise on the Passions, Virtues, and Gifts from the Perspective of Charity as Friendship with God. His interests were in Moral Theology—Feminist and American Ethics. That same year, W. Jerome Bracken, living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania switched from an associate member to an active member. His Fordham Ph.D. was on Why Suffering in Redemption: A New Interpretation of the Theology of the Passion in the Summa Theologica 3, 46-49. Moral Theology was his area of concern. Robin Ryan joined as associate member as he pursued graduate studies at The Catholic University of America and resided at Divine Word College, Washington, D.C. In 1990 Bracken reported his change of address to Jamaica, New York and Joseph A. Fahey, of the Apostolado Hispano in Atlanta became a member. He had a Harvard Th.D. His topic was The Antislavery Thought of José Augustino Caballero, Juan José Diaz, and Felix Varela, in Cuba, 1791-1823. His areas of interest were Applied Theology and Latin American Liberation Theology.
In 1991 Norbert Dorsey reported his change of address to be the Bishop of Orlando, Florida and Canadian Stephen Dunn became a member. He had obtained his STD in 1972 from the Alphonsianum. His dissertation was on Human and Christian Morality: A Study of the Principle of Autonomy. Areas of concern were Foundational Ethics, Ecological Ethics, Ethics and Spirituality. In 1993 Robin Ryan became an active member. He had completed his CUA Ph.D. the same year. His subject was The Quest for the Unity of the Christian Churches: A Study of Karl Rahner's Writings on Christian Ecumenism. Areas of interest were Theology of God, Theological Anthropology, and Rahner Studies.
In 1974 I was taking my family on a whirlwind tour of New York City. Required was a ride on the Staten Island ferry. Augustine Paul Hennessy happened to be on that same boat on the way to preach a parish appeal for Sign magazine. I said hello. He proved to be engaging as he spoke to me and my family. At that time I did not know the range and depth of his character. How prayer, preaching, and intelligence consumed his life! The long life and gospel service of Augustine Paul Hennessy offers all Passionists, those lay people involved in ministry, and all people of faith to ask for such facets—prayer, preaching and intelligence—to shine through in our daily life.
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