Rev. John J. O'Leary, Sj Obituary (1928 - 2016)

Rev. John J. O'Leary, S.J. 9 July 1928 - 1 February 2016 John J. O'Leary was born in Bellingham, Washington, on 9 July 1928, the first son of John O'Leary and Helen Boyle O'Leary, of Mt. Vernon, Washington. In those days, Mt. Vernon was a town built around timber, and Jack's father was often away in the lumber camps for days or even whole weeks at a time. Yet, Jack, and later his brothers, Patrick ("Pat") and Gerard ("Jerry") were well supervised by his mother and the many other relatives who filled his early life. The family was Irish Catholic, and the Church and the Sacraments were always an important part of Jack's life, though for a time, baseball and hiking through the beautiful lakes and hills of the region seemed more to his taste. In 1942, not long after giving birth to her fourth child, Mary O'Leary, Jack's mother died --an event that touched Jack deeply, even to the last days of his life, and which changed their family forever. His father, unable to care for the children because of his work, turned to his family, sending the boys to live with their Aunt Mary and Uncle Herb Payne in Tacoma, while the infant, Mary, moved in with their Aunt Elvira O'Leary in Mt. Vernon. Though he loved the family in which he would grow up, the loss of his mother and separation from his baby sister would always be part of Jack's life. To see, so early, that love and loss, support and separation could exist together fed the compassion that would come to characterize Jack as a minister and a man. Tacoma, however, was a great experience. A big city in the 40's, compared to Mt. Vernon, Jack loved his time at Bellarmine Preparatory School, where he met friends who would last a lifetime. Jack was a great companion and athlete, and when some of his friend's decided to try the Jesuit novitiate--including his somewhat wild pal, Bill Bichsel--Jack was intrigued. Though he still followed through on his plans to go to Gonzaga, within the first year it was clear that the Society of Jesus was drawing him, and so he set out for the remoteness of Sheridan, Oregon, where he found a feast that would feed his soul for the rest of his life. Following the ordinary course of studies for Jesuits in his day, Jack did four years in Sheridan--two of novitiate and two in the college program called the Juniorate. He then went to Mt. St. Michael's in Spokane for his philosophy studies, and later, Alma College, in the hills behind Los Gatos, California. Never drawn to scholarship, Jack had a generous and open heart, and soon after his ordination to the priesthood, on 11 June 1960, he offered himself to the Zambian mission, which had been recently entrusted to the Oregon Province when the Cold War made it more difficult for the Polish Province to continue staffing. In 1962, after he finished his tertianship (the final stage of Jesuit formation) at Port Townsend, Washington, Jack set off for Zambia, where he would spend the next 37 years of his life. In Zambia, Jack gave himself wholeheartedly to the people and their needs. When he arrived in the region, Zambia was still known as North Rhodesia, and was only beginning the process towards political independence. Likewise, in the Society of Jesus, Zambia was also moving towards independence, shifting from a Vice-Province to a Province of the Jesuits in 1969. As part of his commitment to the work, Jack became a member of the new Zambia-Malawe Province the year is was formed. He would later become its second Provincial Superior, and do much to raise up a native clergy who could eventually take the place of the missionaries. As a seminary teacher and spiritual director, director of the Emmaus Spirituality Center in Lusaka and pastoral minister, Jack befriended both missionaries and young Zambians, helping them transition beyond a missionary Church to one where clergy arose from the population served. In 2000, however, ill health began to plague Jack. Troubled by bad eyes and by the aftereffects of a car crash that had cracked one of his vertebrae, Jack eventually returned to the Northwest, where he could get better care. Assigned to St. Augustine Church in Oak Harbor, Washington, he became a favorite for many on the island--his gentle humor and wonderful stories becoming the building blocks of many powerful homilies. From Oak Harbor, he returned to Tacoma, to St. Leo Parish, where he saw the parish through some difficult times and became, again, a beloved figure of wisdom and humanity. Yet Jack still felt he could give more, and sought an assignment better utilizing his skills among native peoples; so, in 2004, he volunteered to go to the Indian Missions, taking up the care of the Spokane tribe, when that position became open. Moving among the various small churches--from Inchelium to West End, from Wellpinit to Ford--Jack served the community with his usual compassion and grace. Yet, his deteriorating eyesight meant he could not drive at night, and eventually he moved, in 2008, to St. Joseph Church in Seattle, where he would spend the next five years of his life, until, in 2013, ill-health led him to take on his final mission of Praying for the Church and the Society, first in Spokane and later at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California. There, on 1 February 2016, the eve of the Feast of the Presentation, he would return to the God he served so faithfully. Fr. Jack leaves behind two brothers--Fr. Pat O'Leary, SJ and Jerry O'Leary--and a sister --Mary O'Leary Henderson (Dick), as well as many nieces and nephews, cousins and friends. He leaves, as well, many women and men who came to know God because of the gentle face and kindly words he brought, and many Jesuit brothers who feel themselves graced to have been in his company. We send him home to God, following by a year--as he did in the novitiate--his friend, Fr. Bill Bichsel, and all the Jesuit saints and brothers who have prepared his way. The Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated for Fr. Jack on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, at 4:00 PM, St. Joseph Church, 732 18th Ave. E., Seattle, WA. A memorial mass will be said Friday, 12 February 2016, at the Jesuit House Chapel, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. Interment and burial will be in Spokane, at the Jesuit Cemetery at Mt. St. Michael's, at 1:30 PM that same day. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oregon Province Senior Fund, PO Box 86010, Portland, OR 97286-0010.