 Br. Andrew James F. Sloan, OP
James F. Sloan was born October 1, 1904, in Auchinlech, Ayershire, Scotland. His father, James, was a coal miner and he and his
wife, Margaret Fearon, raised James, his brother and two sisters on meager earnings. Andrew's younger sister, Rose, was always his
favorite, and until his last days she kept in close contact with her brother by visits and
phone, even though the rest of the family remained in Scotland. Life in Scotland was not easy for James. The hard work as a young man in the mines, the
badgering a devout Catholic had to endure in a very anti-Catholic milieu and, finally, the
cold: it was cold weather that kept forcing Andrew to move on to warmer climes.
As many other immigrants, he moved to the United
States hoping for a better future.
It
was while living in the Dominican parish in Newark, New Jersey, that, in August of 1939,
James entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, taking the name Andrew, the patron
saint of Scotland. After profession, he worked
in St. Dominic's Parish in New Orleans, and, as the Province of St. Albert came into
being, he was in the first community to be established at the new novitiate in Winona,
Minnesota, in 1942. There it was that he
seriously took up his main work, the laundry. After
all, in the harsh cold of Winona, it was the warmest place in the house!
Andrew was known for his cheerfulness, his
regularity and devotion to prayer and the rosary. Letters
from those days point out a quality that those of us who only met him later in life
readily witnessed—his awareness of the presence of God in his simple daily life. It was with some shock, then, that the Dominicans,
in 1951, received the news that Andrew wished to be dispensed from solemn vows and enter
the Trappists. Unable to dissuade him, they
sadly granted his request. From May 1952 until
November of that year, Andrew was a postulant with the Trappists in Conyers, Georgia. At the end of that time, however, he decided it was
not for him, that he wanted to return to the Dominicans.
But life in Winona and at St. Pius in Chicago had been too cold for him, and
so, seeking a warmer climate, he headed west. Because
Andrew had left both the Dominicans and the Trappists, the Provincial Council of this
Province was reluctant to receive him as a candidate again.
Instead, he was received as a Third Order donatus member and lived with the
community in Seattle. After three years with
that community, he was encouraged to apply for the novitiate with the Cooperator Brothers. In 1962, at Kentfield, he once more made his solemn
profession. In all of his years with us, the
laundry and chapel were his customary locations. He
recited the rosary frequently each day, and in the laundry, he would sit with his dog and
recite aloud the various Hours at their appropriate times.
He would even chat with his dog, Fiona, about the Lord.
Later, when living in San Francisco, he and the
other Brothers would often discuss the readings from that morning's Mass while enjoying
their coffee break. Warmth was not only
something he sought, it was a quality of his personality.
He never complained, he was there to cheer one up, and he enjoyed an
occasional drink "to keep out the cold, Father."
Regular in prayer, he was regular as well in recreation. He and his beloved friend, Br. Matthew Lord,
faithfully spent their weekly day off on the golf course.
Andrew also had a passion for the other Scottish sport, horse racing. Much to his embarrassment, his picture was once
snapped among the crowd attending opening day in Seattle and appeared the following day in
the sports page.
Andrew spent five years at
Kentfield, then moved to Thousand Oaks as the second novitiate was opened there. He basically remained there until that property was
sold some 15 years later. He spent a few
months at Black Friars House in Phoenix, then made his final move to St. Dominic's, San
Francisco.
His legs, wearied from years of
long hours before the laundry presses, began to give out on him. Finally, during hospitalization, his left leg had
to be removed. Needing continual nursing care,
he was placed in Nazareth Home in Terra Linda, where he was well cared for by the Sisters
and visited frequently by his Dominican brothers, who were always warmed by his simplicity
and cheerfulness. When asked if he ever got
lonely sitting there in his room, he replied that, "No, the Lord is always here with
me. How could I be lonely?" As our father Dominic confessed on his own deathbed
that he had never offended against chastity in his life, Andrew had confided the same to a
close friend.
On Sunday, November 25, Andrew
began to tremble from the cold and caught pneumonia. On
the following day, November 26, 1984, the Lord called him to the warmth of His hearth in
heaven. The rosary and Office of the Dead were
recited at St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco on November 28, and a funeral liturgy was
celebrated there, with many religious in attendance, on November 29. Andrew is buried with his brethren at St. Dominic's
Cemetery in Benicia, and is at peace among those who have fought the good fight and kept
the Faith. May he remember us in his new life!
--Fr. Paul Scanlon, 0. P. |
