Jesuit Development Office
Obituaries
"Generous men whose good name lives on with them into the next generations..." (Psalm 89)
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Fr. Richard Macdonald
June 9, 1928 - August 6, 2010
Fr. Richard Macdonald died peacefully on August 6th 2010 at Scarborough Centenary Hospital, Scarborough, Ontario. He was in the 83rd year of his life and 63rd year of religious life.
He was born in Westmount, Quebec, son of Alain Macdonald and Frances Minton. He studied at both St. Leo’s and then Loyola High School and entered the Society on 13th Sept. 1947 at Guelph, Ontario. He returned to Montreal to study Philosophy at the Collège de l'Immaculée-Conception.
In 1954 he moved to Ethiopia in East Africa to teach English as a regency placement. From there he went to St Mary’s College, Kurseong in the Darjeeling district of North Eastern India where he studied Nepali for a year and then commenced his Theology studies. After ordination in 1961
in India, he served as an assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Snows Parish, North Point, Darjeeling for a year and then to St. Joseph’s College, also in North Point, where he was professor of English and Moral Science. He served in different ministries in the Darjeeling district, St. John’s Church and Hayden Hall.
In 1979 he returned to Canada and worked at first in Toronto and Pickering. In 1981 he began his ministry with the native people, first from Martyrs Shrine in Midland and then in 1984 moving to the Manitoulin District. He helped build the church in Little Current, Ontario. He lived and worked in native and non-native parishes, until 1997. At that time he became Chaplain at St. Joseph’s Motherhouse, Bayview Avenue, Willowdale, ON, until 2010.
Throughout his life he was recognized as a compassionate pastor and a fine homilist.
Fr. John Wickham
September 2, 1926 - July 7, 2010
Fr. John Wickham died peacefully on July 7, 2010 at Rene Goupil House, Pickering Ontario, in his 84th year of life and 67th year of religious life.
He was born September 2, 1926 in Westmount Quebec. He attended Loyola High School and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1942. After the study of philosophy in Toronto he returned to Montreal for regency at College Ste. Marie from 1949 to 1952. After studying theology he was ordained a priest in Toronto in 1955. He then took up the study of English Literature at the University of Toronto.
His main years of ministry were divided between Ignatius College, Guelph and the Ignatian Centre in Montreal. He was able to combine his abilities in literature, culture and spirituality to a very creative degree. At Guelph he was a professor at the University of Guelph and later a retreat director at Loyola House. When he moved to Montreal as the co-director of the Ignatian Centre he worked in administration, spiritual direction and adult education. He wrote several innovative books on spirituality and culture during this period. Fr. Wickham was a loved an appreciated member of his own family. Through the Ignatian Centre he had a fine influence among the clergy and laity in the Montreal area. Fr. was a good companion and great conversationalist. The wit of Jonathan Swift was not far from his own insightful exchanges.
Fr. Joseph Plevnik, S.J.
December 18, 1928 - June 4, 2010
Fr. Joseph Plevnik died peacefully on June 4, 2010 at Rene Goupil House, Pickering, Ontario. He was in his 82nd year of life and 60th year of consecrated religious life. Fr. was born in Jugoslavia, now Slovenia. He began school in Jugoslavia then emigrated to Canada. He work on a farm in Nova Scotia for a year and studied philosophy at Saint Mary's University in Halifax before entering the Society of Jesus in 1950. He excelled in his Jesuit studies and worked during regency at Campion College in Regina, followed by two years studying math at Boston College. He was ordained a priest at Regis College in Toronto on June 14, 1964. From 1966 to 1971 he studied Scripture at the University of Wurzburg in Germany. He studied New Testament there with his lifelong friend, Aloysius Ambrozic, later to be Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto.
In 1971 he returned to Regis College, Willowdale to be the New Testament professor, a position he would hold for the rest of his working life, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1994. He was appreciated for bringing rigorous biblical methodology to the college and the Toronto School of Theology. For a number of summers he would return to Slovenia to teach in the seminary colleges there and to write a series of books in his native language on New Testament study. Many of these books were translated into English.
He was well beloved by the Sisters of Saint Joseph at Morrow Park and often celebrated their liturgies and special liturgical events.
Fr. Gerald E. Leclaire, S.J.
July 21, 1928 - May 23, 2010
Fr. Gerald Leclaire died peacefully on May 23, 2010, at Rene Goupil House in Pickering, Ontario. He was in his 82nd year of life and 63rd year of Jesuit life.
Fr. Leclaire was born in Montreal, Quebec. After four years at D'Arcy McGee High School he entered the Society of Jesus at Guelph on September 7, 1947. After philosophy in Toronto, he. Studied history at the University of Toronto for three years. In 1957 he was missioned to Darjeeling, India. His ordination took place on March 22, 1961. Father's priestly ministry began in Gayaganga as co-pastor. In 1965 he moved to St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling to become Rector and Prefect of Studies. His teaching centred on history and theology.
In 1978 Fr. Leclaire accepted a posting to the Kingdom of Bhutan. He became principal of Sherubtse School in eastern Bhutan. For Eleven years Fr. Leclaire carried the burden of this school and then in 1989 returned to St. Joseph's College as principal and lecturer. He was appointed Rector in 1997, a post he held for only two years before suffering a massive stroke while on a visit to Canada.
Fr. was never able to return to India.
Fr. Clair J. Fischer, S.J.
January 22, 1922 - May 17, 2010
Fr. Clair J. Fischer died peacefully at Rouge Valley Hospital, Ajax-Pickering, Ontario on Monday May 17, 2010, in his 89th year and 69th year as a member of the Society of Jesus. Fr. Clair, the brother of Fr. Len Fischer of Holy Rosary Church in Guelph, was born in Preston, Ontario. He entered the Society of Jesus on July 30, 1940 at Guelph. Fr. did philosophy in Toronto, regency at Regiopolis College, Kingston and theology at l'Immaculee- Conception in Montreal.
He was ordained a priest in 1953. Father's first major apostolic assignment was in 1955 to St. Mary's College in Halfiax, Nova Scotia, where he worked for the next twelve years.
In 1959, he was named Rector and President of the Senate of the University, which posts he held until 1967. He then went to Stanford University in Los Altos, California to study communications. Having completed his degree in 1969, he began to lecture at Loyola College, Montreal, in the Communication arts faculty, the first such faculty in a Canadian university. In 1982 he became the assistant director of the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre. The next year, he began a new career with a series of pastoral assignments among the native peoples in the Manitoulin district of Ontario; Garden River, Goulais River, Garden Village, Wikwemikong, Shequindah and Manitoulin Island.
Fr. Fischer spent most of his latter years at the Anishinabe Centre where he was priest-in residence. He only moved to the Jesuit infirmary at Pickering in late 2009.
Fr. Edgar P. Burns, S.J.
April 26, 1925 - May 17, 2010
Fr. Edgar Burns died at his home in Darjeeling on May 17, 2010 of heart failure at the age of 85. Fr. Burns was born in Montreal and began his mission in Darjeeling, India in 1951 as an English professor at St. Joseph's College, North Point. While at North Point, in response to the great needs of the survivors of the landslides and fires in Darjeeling area in 1969, Fr. Burns along with several of his students provided humanitarian aid to the communities affected. This led to the creation of a basic shelter housing program which eventually gave rise to the birth of the Hayden Hall Social Centre which Fr. Burns directed until 2009.
His funeral began with a short prayer service in Hayden Hall, followed by a funeral procession through the town. The entire town came to a stand still, shops were closed, roads were cleared, vehicular traffic was held up and the people were lined up on either side of the road. The Mass was held at St. Joseph's School hall and was attended by over a thousand people.
We are very grateful for the gift of his life and his dedication to the cause of the poor and most in need.
Fr. Vincent J. Morgan, S.J.
September 11, 1918 - March 25, 2010
Fr. Vincent Morgan died peacefully on March 25, 2010 at Rene Goupil House, Pickering. He was in his 92nd year of life and the 60th year of religious life. Fr. Morgan was born in Hamilton, Ontario. After graduating from Cathedral High School, he entered St. Stanislaus Novitiate, Guelph on July 30, 1940. He did three years of philosophy at the old Jesuit Seminary in Toronto and in 1947 he began his missionary apostolate in India. He was assigned to teach at St. Joseph's College, North Point. A year later he began a two-year programme learning the Nepali language in Kurseong and Darjeeling. He returned to St. Mary's College in Kurseong in 1950 for theology and was ordained a priest there in 1953.From 1956 to 1960 Fr. Morgan was posted to St. Alphonsus Industrial School and Parish in Kurseong. After four years he moved to Darjeeling to begin teaching at St. Robert's School and at Loretto College. In 1968 he was assigned to St. Joseph's College at North Point, teaching mathematics and acting as treasurer. He returned to Kurseong in 1972 as chaplain at Goethals Memorial School (named after a Jesuit Archbishop of Calcutta). For nine years he served the student body in pastoral ministry. His final posting in India was Darjeeling where he taught at St. Joseph's College from 1981 to 1996. He also led a radio club at the school.
Father returned to Canada and became chaplain to the Carmelite Sisters in Mississauga, Ontario. Failing health brought about a move to the Jesuit Infirmary at Pickering in 2004.
Fr. Terence G. Walsh, S.J.
June 29, 1930 - January 6, 2010
Fr. Terence Walsh passed away on the evening of January 6, 2010 at Rouge Valley (Ajax-Pickering) Hospital.
Fr. Walsh was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec. After high school at St. Patrick's Academy, he went to Loyola College in Montreal graduating with a B.A. Fr. Walsh entered the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus Novitiate in Guelph, Ontario. First vows followed in 1954 and then the usual two years of juniorate.
He began philosophy in 1956 at the Jesuit Seminary on 403 Wellington St. W. in Toronto for two years, followed by a further year at Mount St. Michael's in Spokane, Washington. Regency began in 1959 with a posting to St. Mary's University High School. He returned to Ontario in 1961 for theology. He was ordained in 1964 after his four years of study.
It was beginning in 1967 at Guelph that Fr. Walsh initiated his long service of Jesuit leadership. Besides teaching philosophy at the University of Guelph he was appointed dean of studies of the Jesuit students in Guelph.
In 1972 Fr. Walsh was named Provincial.
In 1979 he became director of the Centre for Christian Formation at St. Paul's College, Winnipeg. After a year he became pastor of St. John Brebeuf Parish in Winnipeg. Then in 1982 he was called back to Toronto to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish for five years. 1987-1995 he became the rector of Regis College. In 1995 he returned to Halifax as superior of the community, and assistant priest at Canadian Martyrs Parish.
In 2003 he returned to Toronto as associate pastor at our Lady of Lourdes Parish until he moved to LaStorta Residence in Pickering September 2009.