 Fr. Patrick John Kelly, OP
John Kelly was born in San Francisco on October 5, 1909, and grew up in San Leandro. The younger of two sons of Patrick and Margaret,
John attended St. Mary’s School in San Leandro and went on to St. Mary’s High
School in Oakland. Both sons were to become
priests, the elder as a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, who preceded his
brother in death by five weeks.
In 1927, John went to the Apostolic School in Benicia,
and received the habit in 1929. Professed at
St. Dominic’s Priory in 1930, he continued his studies in Benicia and in Oakland. In 1935, he was sent to Rome and studied at the
Angelicum from 1935 to 1938. On April 11,
1936, Brother Patrick was ordained in St. John Lateran, Rome, and continued his studies at
the Angelicum, where he received the lectorate of Sacred Theology in 1937 and the
Doctorate in 1938. Thus began a long career of
teaching which brought him back to his Province in 1938 to teach at the House of Studies
in Oakland. He also assumed teaching duties as
professor of philosophy and theology at Dominican College, San Rafael, where he was a
much-beloved teacher and friend to his students, not only for the ten years he taught at
Dominican, but throughout his life. He always
kept in touch with former students, and his “parish” was limited only by the
touch of his pen.
In 1949, he was elected Prior of St. Albert’s
in Oakland, and began teaching at Holy Names College in the same city, as well as teaching
at the House of Studies. During summer months
from 1945-1966, he taught in the summer sessions at Dominican College. After his second term as Prior, Fr. Kelly was sent
to Los Angeles,
in residence with the high school community at the then-St. John Vianney
High School, and began more than twenty years of teaching at Mount St. Mary’s College
with the same dedication to his students he showed in other assignments. But even more, he became deeply involved in adult
education, active in the Aquinas Institute, a forum for exploring theological subjects. He retired from active teaching in 1977, but
continued to study and write and was very active in the Dominican Laity apostolate.
When the community left Los Angeles to open the Priory of St. Raymond of Penyafort in
Santa Ana, Fr. Kelly went with the founding group, holding a place of honor and being
attentively watched over with great care by a number of younger Fathers and Brothers. Always available for spiritual counseling, and an
avid student of contemporary theological trends, in his last years he showed to a new and
younger generation years the lifelong dedication to Our Blessed Lady and the angels, to
the Dominican religious life as lived in community, which he always treasured.
Devoted to his older brother, Fr. Peter Kelly, who died just short of fifty years of
priestly service, Fr. Patrick exhausted himself in caring for his brother in the
latter’s final months. Finally, showing
signs of ill-health, he was admitted to hospital in Palm Spring, where the diagnosis was
incurable cancer. He was visited constantly by
his brethren from Santa Ana and throughout the Province, and fortified by the sacraments
of the Church and supported by the fraternal care of his brothers, he died at Palm Springs
on December 16, 1983. A funeral Mass was offered at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles, which was
attended by many of those with whom he had taught, both the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Carondelet and lay faculty, as well as many of his former students.
Another Mass at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco brought out the love and affection that 50 years of
Dominican religious life and 47 years of faithful priesthood taught him. Buried with his brothers at St. Dominic’s
Cemetery in Benicia, Fr. Patrick Kelly will be long remembered for the compassion he
taught and gave his students and for the love of the Province he faithfully served. Though awarded, in 1952, the highest distinction
the Orders gives its teachers, the Master of Sacred Theology, his fidelity to the Church,
zeal for the integrity of Catholic doctrine, and love for all he could serve will best
keep him in the hearts and prayers of all who knew him.
--Fr. Thomas Hayes, 0. P. |
