Columban Fr Robert O'Rourke RIP

Fr Robert I. O'Rourke

13 June 1932 - 3 October 2018

Fr Robert I. O’Rourke died on 3 October 2018 at St Elizabeth Manor, Bristol, Rhode Island, USA. Born on 13 June 1932 he was the son of the late Eugene Joseph O’Rourke and Mary Bridget (O'Connor) O’Rourke. He was the brother of the late Joseph, Timothy, Richard, Eugene, Br Terrance O’Rourke of Glenmary Home Missions, Margaret Baffoe and Loretta Coogan.  He is survived by many nieces and nephews. 

Chapel of St James

Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, Chicago [Wikipedia]

Young Bob attended St Ailbe's Grade School and Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, Chicago. He later attended St. Mary of the Lake Seminary and after spiritual year at St Columban's,, Silver Creek, New York,  he went to St Columban's Major Seminary in Milton, Massachusetts.  He was ordained on 20 December 20, 1958 in the Seminary Chapel by Bishop Eric MacKenzie, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston.

In the summer of 1959 Father Bob did a course in Social Science in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and in December 1959 he was appointed to Burma (now Myanmar).

St Columban's Cathedral, Myitkyina, Myanmar [Wikipedia]

In November 1962 he arrived in Myitkyina and began language study in Tingsing. The following November Father Bob was assistant in Makawkzup in the Myitkyina diocese and in October 1965 he opened up a new parish in Kamaing about 65 miles west of Myitkyina.  In September 1966 the Burmese government compelled Father Bob to leave Burma before the end of that year due to new visa restrictions.

After returning to the United States he was appointed to do vocation work in Los Angeles in March 1967. He was appointed superior of the Los Angeles house in 1969.

In 1975 Father Bob was assigned to Lima Peru. Starting in May 1977 he began serving in Tahuantinsuyo where there was a charismatic ministry, youth groups and a catechumenate.  In December 1983 he was assigned to Huasahuasi.

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Lima, Peru [Wikipedia]

Fr Bob O’Rourke and Fr Michael Donnelly were the first resident priests in the parish for some time. Until leaving there in December1989, they worked a pastoral programme catering to the varied needs of the widespread parish. The majority of the people were potato farmers. During those years Tarma and adjoining areas were the scene of escalating terrorist violence on the part of the Maoist- Leninist group Sendero Luminoso, 'The Shining Path'. Many towns were without police or other civil authority. Fathers Bob and Michael continued to carry out their pastoral work while the terrorists became more audacious and brutal, generating an atmosphere of fear and tension throughout the country, especially in isolated zones such as Huasahuasi. When the priests were told by a reliable person that they were on a death-list and that the terrorists were coming to the town at Christmas, Fathers Bob and Michael prudently decided to go to Lima and left within days for their respective countries where they recuperated from the stress.

In January 1990 Father Bob was assigned to US Region of the Columbans. He became associate editor of Columban Mission magazine and at Easter 1991 he became Editor of the Regional Newsletter.

In August 1992 Father Bob began work with the Spanish Apostolate at Immaculate Conception Church in Grand Prairie, Texas. The people there appreciated his homilies for their stories and brevity. In 1998 he returned to Omaha as house bursar and presided over the 47th and final Annual Columban Festival there.  The Festival was the last of a successful cycle that at its peak, in the early 1970s, drew over 20,000 people to St Columban’s on a summer weekend and raised over $80,000 for the Society.  Father Bob noted that the Festival was less about funding than connecting with the local community. In October 2001 he was elected as Chairman of the Regional Reconciliation Board.

Father Bob retired to St Columban's, Bristol, Rhode Island, in March, 2004 where he resided in retirement, participating actively in community life for the last 14 years.

Fr O'Rourke was buried in St Mary's Cemetery, Bristol, RI, after the funeral Mass in the chapel at St Columban's. May he rest in peace.

St Columban, Bristol, RI, USA

Fr Bob O'Rourke served in Peru from 1975 till 1989.

Columban Fr John Lagomarsino RIP

Fr John Lagomarsino [Source]

(6 November 1939 - 3 February 2018)

John Lagomarsino was born on 6 November 1939 in Sacramento, California, USA, to Louis L. Lagomarsino and Helen (Higgins) Lagomarsino. He is survived by his older brother, Dr Paul Lagomarsino, and his younger sister Mrs Lucia Foster. He attended Sacred Heart Grade School, and later Christian Brothers High School (1953-55) as well as Sacramento Senior High School (1955-57). Afterwards, he attained a BA in History from Sacramento State College.

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento  [Wikipedia]

In 1961 John joined the Peace Corps and was among the first group assigned to the Philippines. There he met the Columbans while teaching English as a Second Language in Ilog, Negros Occidental.

[Wikipedia]

He returned to the United States in 1963 and applied to the Columban seminary. He began his studies at St Columban’s College and Seminary in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. His Spiritual Year (1964-65) was spent at the Columban seminary in Bristol, Rhode Island, now a retirement home for Columbans. Later, he studied Philosophy and Theology at St Columban’s Major Seminary, Milton, Massachusetts. He completed theology studies at St John Archdiocesan Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts, where he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree in December 1969. With his Columban classmates he participated in the deaconate program in the Diocese of St Thomas, which covers the American Virgin Islands, under the guidance of Frs George Nolan and Thomas Normanly.

St Thomas, US Virgin Islands [Wikipedia]

Father John was ordained on 13 June 1970, at Sacred Heart Church, Sacramento, by Most Rev. Alden J Bell, Bishop of Sacramento. In September of that year, he returned to the Philippines where he began parish work in Isabela, Negros Occidental. After two years he went to Kabankalan and then to Dacongcogon. He later served as President of Binalbagan Catholic College and as Bursar at the Columban House in Batang, Himamaylan.

In 1977 he returned to the United States and, after doing a course in Clinical Pastoral Education, began a program in spiritual direction at the Center for Religious Development in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After the completion of the program he received a ThM degree from Weston School of Theology in May 1979. Upon returning to the Philippines, he was assigned to Ozamiz City, Mindanao, where he became the spiritual director for Columban seminarians on an Overseas Training Program.

Loading sugar cane, Bais, Negros Oriental [Wikipedia]

A familiar sight in the island of Negros

In 1980 Father John returned to the United States where he did promotion and vocation work in San Francisco from October through December. He then began accounting studies at Creighton University, Omaha, and served as Assistant Regional Bursar. Later, in March 1983 he became the Regional Bursar.

After the death of his mother in March 1982, Father John and his father took a trip to Italy. They stayed at the Columban house in Rome, and then went to Genoa to visit their ancestral home village of Lagomarsino. 

From May 1989 until April 1991 Father John was engaged in Mission Awareness and Vocation work in Quincy, Massachusetts. However, wishing to be near his elderly father, he asked permission to do parish work in the Sacramento area, and was assigned as Parochial Vicar to St John the Evangelist Parish in Carmichael, California. His father died in February 1992. In 1996 Father John became the administrator of the parish where he served until his retirement in 2005.

St John the Evangelist Church, Carmichael, CA

During his time in St John the Evangelist Parish and later in retirement, Fr Lagomarsino dealt with several health issues. Then, he fell and broke his hip last December, which exacerbated those health issues. As a consequence, he was moved from Sacramento, California, to Saint Elizabeth Manor, Bristol, Rhode Island, at the end of January. The Regional Health Care Coordinator, Pam Serbst, ensured that he received the support and care he needed during his final illness. His classmate, Fr Chuck Lintz, and Fr Jim Dwyer were with him at the time of his death at Philip Hulitar Hospice Center, Providence, Rhode Island.

Father John’s funeral Mass took place on 16 February at St Columban’s, Bristol, Rhode Island, with Fr Mark Mengel as the principal celebrant and Fr Chuck Lintz as the homilist; the burial afterwards was in St Mary’s Cemetery, Bristol. May he rest in peace.

Statue of St Columban

St Columban's, Bristol, Rhode Island

Columban Fr Bernard Toal RIP

Fr Bernard E. Toal

(17 October 1915 - 14 November 2016)

The greeting above was for his 100th birthday on 17 October 2015. He was the first Columban to reach that age.

Fr Bernard E. Toal died at St Elizabeth’s Manor, Rhode Island, on November 14, 2016.  Please remember him in your Masses and prayers. 

Fr Toal was born on 17 October 1915 in Gloucester, New Jersey, USA.  There he attended the local parish school. Thinking of becoming a missionary priest, he entered St Columban's Minor Seminary, Silver Creek, New York, for high school studies in 1931. After graduating in 1937, he entered the Columban Fathers spiritual formation program in Bristol, RI. Back in Silver Creek he studied Philosophy 1938-1940. He completed his theological studies in St Columbans, Nebraska, and was ordained a priest on 18 December 1943 at the Cathedral of St Joseph in Buffalo, NY.

A baptism in Ozamiz City

Because of World War II he did not immediately go to the missions but did parish work in California and Arizona. At the end of hostilities in 1945 he went to the Philippines where, in Ozamiz City, he taught in the parish high school.

In 1951 he returned home for vacation. He was then appointed as Spiritual Director and Bursar of the seminary in Bristol, RI. In 1957 he became Director of Probationers there, a position he held until going to Lima, Peru, in 1968.

Fr Toal (L) with Columban seminarians in Bristol, 1962-63

Fr Toal worked in Peru for eleven years and spent most of that time in the parish of 'The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary' in Reynoso, Callao. Before he left, he had just completed a new parish church and rectory and had built up a thriving parish community.

In Peru

Returning to the USA in April 1979 he was appointed assistant pastor in Blessed Sacrament Parish, Westminster, California. After seven years there he was assigned to Immaculate Conception parish in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Then, in the summer of 1992, he was assigned to Immaculate Conception in Grand Prairie, Texas, where he served with Columban Fathers, Dennis O'Mara and Gerald Wilmsen.

In Fontana, CA

In 2001, Fr Toal was asked to move to Los Angeles while waiting for his assignment to St Mary’s Parish in Fontana, California.  He enjoyed serving at St Mary’s for almost ten years and was beloved by the parishioners. In the fall of 2011 he moved to the Columban House in Bristol, RI. In the last few years he suffered from declining health. He was cared for at St Elizabeth Manor in Bristol, where he remained cheerful and did not complain. He was 101 when he passed away. 

Fr Toal (R) 26 September 2015

Thanks to his gentle spirit and genuine interest in all those who crossed his path, Fr Toal touched the lives of a great number of people and maintained personal contact with many of them for several decades up until the end of his life.

100th Birthday Mass, 17 October 2015, with Fr Charles Lintz

Funeral Mass will take place at 10:30am on Friday, 18 November at St Columban’s Retirement Home (65 Ferry Rd, Bristol) in Rhode Island. After lunch, burial will take place at the cemetery of St Mary’s, Bristol.  May he Rest In Peace.

Thanks to Fr Timothy Mulroy, Columban Regional Director, USA.

The great Russian-born American songwriter, Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989), like Fr Toal, lived to be 101. The year the latter was born Berlin wrote When I Leave the World Behind. This version, sung by Al Jolson, is from a radio broadcast in 1943, the year Fr Toal was ordained.