Month: April 2016

+ Fr. Ted Colleton 1913-2011

2007 kidding with Fr. Ted Colleton
Kidding around with Fr. Ted Colleton in 2007.
2007 visiting with Fr. Ted Colleton
Fr. Ted and Msgr. Foy in their 90s.
2007 after my first mini stroke
In 2007, with Fr. Ted after my first mini-stroke.
2007 Fr. Ted Colleton and a former parishoner
We bumped into a former parishioner.
2007 Fr Ted had us laughing
Fr. Ted kept us laughing, 2007.  A few years later, Fr. Ted died on April 26, 2011 at age 97.

I met Fr. Ted Colleton CSSp when he used to help out at St. John’s when I was the pastor there.  His congregation, the Spiritans had a house nearby. We shared common interests and quickly became close friends. I visited him and the late Fr. Edward Graham at their motherhouse. We used to go out for dinner occasionally.

Fr. Ted used to joke: “There were two brothers whose last name was Divine.  They were afraid they were going to be fired.  They worked for a family.  One brother said to the other:  We’re safe, I heard the family last night saying ‘May the Divine Assistants remain always with us.'”  Father Ted would also say: “I was born on July 20, 1913.  I am happy to say that my mother was there.”

We both lived in La Salle Manor retirement residence for clergy and religious for a few years. Fr. Ted, a lively Irish priest, spent many many hours in the chapel praying. He did not have a TV in his room.  He enjoyed entertaining and doing card tricks – he could find the card you selected. He spent several decades as a missionary in Africa until they “kicked him out of the country” for attacking polygamy.  The head of Kenya had two wives and was not impressed.  After delivering his message, Fr. Ted was told to get out of the country and did not even have time to pack his bags.

He once told me that a woman on a bus in Africa remarked to him:  “My you priests are smart learning Swahili”. Fr. Ted replied: “Well I’ve been on the bus for a whole hour.”

monstrance_divine_mercy_rays

Back in Canada, he became involved in leading Nightwatch – an all night Eucharistic Adoration vigil held on First Fridays of the month to pray especially for vocations to the priesthood.  Nightwatch took place at floating parishes in the Archdiocese of Toronto.  Fr. Ted offered opening and closing Masses, gave a short reflection every hour on the hour throughout the night, led hymns and prayers and invited adorers who needed refreshments to the church hall during the vigil.

Incidentally, although unfortunately Nightwatch was later discontinued, it is encouraging to see that pre-ordination Eucharistic Adoration prayer vigils are taking place from 6pm-midnight in the Archdiocese of Toronto on Friday, April 29, 2016, the night before upcoming Ordinations on April 30:

http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/#!preordination-vigil/ci67

Fr. Ted also became avidly involved in the pro-life movement, going to rallies, raising money speaking and selling his books “Yes, I’m a Radical”, “Yes I’d do it Again” and “Yes, I’m still a Radical.”  One time he was arrested for “mischief” for pad-locking the gates to the Morgentaler abortuary shut.  I visited him in jail in Mimico when he got arrested another time and held prisoner for months for peacefully praying in front of an abortion mill.  He was very busy there enjoying doing card tricks and ministering to the prisoners.

One time Fr. Colleton delivered a pro-life homily in Holy Name church in Toronto and was attacked. In October 1997, I wrote “A Privileged but Sad Day at Holy Name Church in Toronto – Father Ted Colleton C.S.Sp. Comes with the Gospel of Life”.  This was a response letter to the dissenting Catholic New Times’ attack on Humanae Vitae and Fr. Ted:

A Privileged but Sad Day at Holy Name Church by Msgr. Vincent Foy

I attended his 90th birthday cruise party on Lake Ontario in 2003.

Click to access Scholarship-brochure-2015-16.pdf

Fr. Ted was a regular columnist for the Interim pro-life, pro-family newspaper.  The Interim wrote about him in 2003:  Fr. Ted “has certainly known setback in his long life and priesthood. But he continues to find inspiration from his priestly calling. Call him sentimental, but Colleton still gets misty-eyed at these words he wrote in 1990, on the occasion of his 50th anniversary as a priest: ‘For half a century, I have daily stood at the altar of God and offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, raised my hand in absolution over more repentant sinners than I could ever count, poured the waters of baptism over the heads of babies without number, preached the Gospel in Ireland, England, Africa, the United States and Canada and anointed the foreheads of those who were within minutes of meeting God face to face. And through the teaching of the Church, I know that, in spite of my unworthiness, all these actions were not only valid but fruitful. And although I was only the instrument of the Church, it is consoling to realize in the evening of life that I was chosen to be such an instrument. In this period of Church history, when the glory of the priesthood has been somewhat overshadowed by the clouds of scandal and doubt, I want to affirm this fact: if I had another life to live, I’d do it again.'”

Yes, I’d do it again

His memorial card mentions there is a Fr. Ted video.  This tribute is called “The Lion in Winter” and well worth watching.  This video is included at the bottom of the page in the link below:

http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/index.php?p=Hot_News&id=33

http://www.theinterim.com/tag/fr-ted-colleton/

Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate

blessedsacrament3

2009 Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate at 70th Ordination Anniversary
2009 Sister St. Henry Moloney and Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate at my 70th Ordination Anniversary
2009 Sr St Henry SOLI at my 70th Ordination Anniversary
2009 Sister St. Henry SOLI at my 70th Ordination Anniversary
Letter from Sr St Henry
Letter from + Sr St Henry and her memorial card

Sister St. Henry Moloney was the sister of Fr. Oliver Moloney.  She spent many years in Missionary work and spoke perfect Spanish. She helped found of the Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate.  My friend Fr. Oliver Moloney and I visited her at their Marian Residence Retirement Home in Cambridge Ontario when we were driving to the first Call to Holiness Conference in the USA in 1990s.

http://www.calltoholiness.com

http://solisisters.ca/marian-cambridge.html

Sr. St. Henry died in 2013. She was was a bright and cheerful religious Sister:

http://solisisters.ca/blog/2013/09/05/we-will-miss-you-mother-st-henry/

Here is more information about vocations to her religious congregation:

http://solisisters.ca/bsacrament.html

Sr. St. Henry’s father, Dr. Peter Moloney, lived to be 98 years old.  He was an eminent Canadian scientist of world renown who in 1922 was the first to purify safe Insulin. I once had dinner with Dr. Moloney and his son, my confessor, Fr. Oliver Moloney.

Dogs are smart

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 I received the message below from a friend today and would like to share it:

“We, Catholics, believe in the Real Presence…  But still, when we come across a miracle confirming this Truth, our Catholic souls always rejoice.  I read this many years ago and I have kept this to share with you today. The story I read was from Father Albert J. Byrne, and the title of the article was Nature’s Evidence of the Real Presence.

Here is the story as it was printed:

On the evening of the last day of his October 1995 visit to the United States, Pope John Paul II was scheduled to greet the seminarians at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. It had been a very full day that began with a Mass at Oriole Park in Camden Yards; a parade through downtown streets; a visit to the Basilica of the Assumption, the first cathedral in the country; lunch at a local soup kitchen run by Catholic Charities; a prayer service at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore; and finally a quick stop at Saint Mary’s Seminary.

The schedule was tight so the plan was simply to greet the seminarians while they stood outside on the steps. But the Pope made his way through their ranks and into the building. His plan was to first make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. When his wishes were made known, security  flew into action. They swept the building, paying close attention to the chapel where the Pope would be praying. For this purpose, highly trained dogs were used to detect any person who might be present.

The dogs are trained to locate survivors in collapsed buildings after earthquakes and other disasters. These highly intelligent and eager dogs quickly went through the halls, offices and classrooms and were then sent to the chapel. They went up and down the aisles, past the pews and finally into the side chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. Upon reaching the Tabernacle, the dogs sniffed, whined, pointed, and refused to leave, their attention riveted on the tabernacle, until called by their handlers. They were convinced that they discovered someone there. We Catholics know they were right—they found a real, living Person in the Tabernacle!

Every time I read this story I feel uplifted. God is often testing our Faith, but from time to time He gives us a pearl like this to boost our Faith and help us move onward and upward in our spiritual journey.”