 Fr. Thomas Carl Gabisch, O.P.
Thomas Gabisch was an intelligent, devoted, and cheerful servant of the Order and
the province for some 56 years. He was born and raised in Helena, Montana, and
received the habit of the Order in 1913. It must not have been long before his
formators came to recognize his intellectual gifts, for he was entirely consumed with
accumulating much wisdom and numerous degrees during his first decade in the Order.
He received a B.A. from the Catholic University of America in 1916, an S.T.L. from the
Angelicum in 1921, and a lectorate and doctorate in philosophy from the University of
Louvain in 1922 and 1923 respectively. His insatiable desire for knowledge also led
him during these years to brief stints at Columbia University, the School of Expression in
Boston, and the University of California in Berkeley. While at Louvain, during the
golden age of neo-scholasticism, he studied with such men as Maurice de Wulf and Jacques
Maritain, and thought deeply about the interaction between modern and Thomistic
thought. These remarks, from a letter to his Prior Provincial, Fr. Lawrence McMahon,
in 1922, display his insightful reflection, as well as being of general interest for
Dominicans even today:
The method in use
at the Institut Supérieur pleases me very much, that is, for the present stage of my
studies. It is, speaking generally and excepting the few courses in which the text
of St. Thomas is used, to devote much time to the thorough consideration of a modern
theory or school, which is then confronted with principles drawn from Saint Thomas.
The value of the doctrine of St. Thomas is thus manifested and applications to be worked
out later suggest themselves.
For mental training
and a comprehensive grasp of Scholastic Philosophy the method in vogue in our Houses of
Study, with its greater emphasis on Thomistic doctrine, is superior, but I fear we isolate
St. Thomas too much, thus failing to stimulate interest in the students…
Fr. Thomas taught in numerous colleges and houses of studies, both in
the eastern and western United States, upon completing his doctorate in 1923. From
Columbus, Ohio in 1925, he writes that in one school year he has been teaching
“Religion, Logic, Criteriology, Psychology, Ethics, and History,” with
“Sociology, Religion, Sacred Scripture, Psychology, and Italian” awaiting him
the following year. He finally ended up at the house of studies for the Western
Province in Benicia, California in 1927, serving there as Student Master, Lector, and
Professor until 1931.
Fr. Thomas was then removed from the house of studies in Benicia and
assigned to the Newman Club in Seattle at the University of Washington; incidentally, he
was the first Dominican to serve there as chaplain. In 1934, Fr. Connolly again
reassigned him, but this time to St. Peter Martyr Parish in Pittsburg, California, as
Pastor. But, however unexpected this turn towards pastoral ministry may have been in
the life of Thomas Gabisch, there is every indication from his records that he was not
only capable of pastoral ministry, but thrived on it as well.
For the remaining 35 years of his life, he was not once assigned to
the new St. Albert’s College in Oakland, as one
might expect, but remained mostly in parishes and college chaplaincies. In 1939 and
1940 he returned to the Newman Club in Seattle, but this time he was also able to serve as
Professor at the University of Washington. In the 1940’s and 50’s, when
most of his time was spent in such parishes as Vallejo, he developed a creative ministry
of apologetics to non-Catholics. He called them “inquiry classes,” whose
purpose was to show ordinary people of all walks of life “the way of peace and
happiness.” In one brochure, it says that “tolerance, charity, respect for
the religious opinions of others prevail in our meetings. Our purpose is exposition,
not controversy…No questions will be asked of you. We leave the questioning to
you.” Perhaps such endeavors were in some measure inspired by the great Fr.
Vincent McNabb, OP of the English Province, whose public evangelizing he had once
witnessed in Regent’s Park in London.
Singleness of purpose and willingness to serve are the qualities that
most stand out from the surviving letters and documents of Fr. Thomas. As mentioned
above, during his years in Washington and Louvain he kept up an affectionate and colorful correspondence
with his Prior Provincial, Fr. Lawrence McMahon, always seeking his advice and consent in every important
matter. Even in later years, under superiors with whom he may not have had a personal friendship, he
always communicated with them in an open, friendly, and obliging manner. In the last decade of his
life, while he suffered from a heart ailment and other maladies, he always sought the permission of his
superiors for any particular help or dispensation, and without grumbling of any kind. Fr.
Thomas’ last ministry was as chaplain to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, where he
eventually died in 1969.
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