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Fr. Jack!
WHEN we were planning our church wedding 21 years ago after our
parents discovered that we were secretly married by a judge four
months earlier, I asked my wife whom she would prefer for our
wedding priest. She said it’s up to me, provided that he should be
of the purest heart, truly a man of God (as differentiated,
without malicious intent, from a judge who is simply a man of
law). “In that case, honey, I’ll bring you a saint,” came my
snappy reply.
That holy man who made us one before God was Fr. John Phelan, S.J.,
fondly called by fellow Ateneans as Father Jack. His imposing and
yet subliminally virtuous presence was fulfilling enough that it
became no longer necessary to lavish our matrimonial rites with
more flowers and other accents that every giggling bride would
love to have on her very special day.
A few years later, we saw each other more often during weekly
board meetings of the Ateneo alumni association where he was the
moderator and I was one of the directors. During that time, Fr.
Jack was already half-blind and had problem with his hearing and
yet he never missed those regular meetings, including one that was
held in our home, as it was agreed that succeeding meetings would
be hosted by each of the directors.
I missed his company when I had to work in Manila. He was looking
pale and sick and his vision blurred when I finally came back. He
was soon sent for more intensive care and treatment at the Jesuit
infirmary in Manila.
Last Sunday, November 6, at about 4:30 p.m., the saint died. He
was 83.
Fr. Jack succumbed to kidney, lung, and probable brain infection
connected with Alzeimer’s disease. The whole Ateneo community was
moved by the sad news and thanked God that he would soon take a
well-deserved rest. Last Wednesday, after an 8:00 a.m. mass at the
Ateneo de Manila Loyola House, his remains were buried with full
Jesuit rites at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Novaliches. Here at
the Ateneo de Naga, a special requiem mass at the Christ the King
Church was celebrated a day earlier, last Tuesday afternoon,
before a congregation of mourning Ateneo de Naga alumni, students,
faculty, and members of the Ateneo community, including Mayor
Jesse Robredo and Vice Mayor Gabby Bordado. Ateneo President Joel
Tabora, S.J. led the mass. He was also to lead a busload of local
Ateneans who proceeded to Manila in the evening, a few hours after
the mass, for the interment rites the following day.
Born on August 31, 1922 in Bronx, New York, Fr. Jack entered the
Society of Jesus in 1948 and was ordained priest 10 years later.
Shortly after, on July 20, 1960, he left his home for the
Philippines, at the Ateneo de Naga, here in the city, which was to
be his only assignment as a Jesuit until 2004. Not everyone knew
that this towering Yankee who had spent almost half of his
lifetime here had chosen to become a Filipino citizen, and a
Bicolano one at that. The other white Bicolano and Filipino Jesuit
priest that we so loved was the late Fr. James O’Brien, S.J., or
Fr. OB to everyone.
Among us true-blue Ateneans, we know that Fr. Jack first came to
the Philippines as a young US Army soldier during World War II. He
went back to the US after the war to study priesthood and toured
back to the Philippines to preach the Word of God for the rest of
his life. He was a modern-day St. Ignatius of Loyola, who as a
battled-scarred Basque soldier in the Spanish Army surrendered his
sword and founded the Jesuit order of priests, otherwise known as
the Society of Jesus.
Last June 17, 2005, during the two-day celebration of the Naga
City’s 57th charter anniversary, the whole city officialdom
honored Fr. Jack with the “Most Distinguished Mayoral Award”, the
single highest award that the city government confers on its
outstanding citizen. The conferment took place at Crown Hotel here
while Fr. Jack was on his sickbed in Manila. We were told that the
plaque and gold medallion were later to be read and presented to
him personally by the Jesuit community at his bedside in Manila.
It was my privilege to write the draft of the text of the citation
as member of the charter celebration committee, which reads in
part as follows: “This Distinguished Mayoral Award is conferred on
Fr. John J. Phelan, S.J. for his inestimable role as rector, dean,
counsellor, teacher, soldier, and friend whose humility and
compassion touch the lives of his students and the community who
emulate him as truly “a man for others”; as a Filipino and a
Nagueño, he has been with us for over two generations that saw the
transformation of the city from its parochial innocence to what it
is today — a dynamic community with a soul that is as
compassionate and God-loving as he.”
Fr. Michael Rooney, S.J. told the mourning Ateneans during the
mass that Fr. Jack brought with him hundreds and thousands of
Ateneans and friends when he entered the gates of heaven for he
was among them, his heart belonged to them and with whom he spent
his life with great love and compassion.
