In Memoriam: Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
--Long-time Friend, Thomas Aquinas Medallion Recipient
(from the Winter 2000-2001 Quarterly Newsletter)
One of the nation's greatest catechists, spiritual directors,
and retreat masters, Fr. John Hardon, S.J., died on December
30 at the Colombiere Retreat House in suburban Detroit at
the age of 86. Fr. Hardon was a long-time friend of Thomas
Aquinas College and a recipient of the Thomas Aquinas Medallion
at Commencement Ceremonies in 1981.
His Catholic Catechism: A Contemporary Catechism of the
Catholic Church, published in 1975 by Doubleday, is in
its 26th printing with more than one million copies sold.
It anticipated the Holy See's Catechism of the Catholic
Church for which he served as a consultant.
Altogether, he published more than 30 books on Catholic theology
and spirituality, and recorded dozens of audiotapes on various
topics, including The Apostles' Creed, The Eucharist,
Catholic Sexual Morality and Angels and Devils.
In addition to his rich publishing and speaking career, Fr.
Hardon was beloved as a spiritual director and retreat master.
He was Mother Teresa's spiritual director and one of her principal
confessors. He spent hundreds of hours giving conferences
to the members of the Missionaries of Charity and worked with
Mother Teresa to promote the establishment of chapels of perpetual
Eucharistic adoration. He was also for many years the chaplain
of the World Apostolate of Fatima, the Blue Army, aiming to
promote devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.
Fr. Hardon also founded numerous Pontifical Catechetical
Institutes throughout the United States at the request of
Pope Paul VI. In the last few years, he launched the magazine
Catholic Faith, and just last fall published The
Marian Catechist Manual, to assist Mother Teresa's Missionaries
of Charity in their work as catechists. He worked to help
homeschooling families everywhere, and consulted with Dr.
Mary Kay Clark, founder of the popular Seton Home Study School.
What many found so remarkable about Fr. Hardon was his holiness.
He would spend three hours a day before the Blessed Sacrament,
writing letters and books on his knees. He kept a strict account
of every moment of his life, and had limited his sleep to
such a point that his superior had to order him to sleep at
least six hours a day. His converts were many, including Lee
Atwater, the feisty chairman of the Republican National Committee,
to whom Fr. Hardon gave last sacraments when he was on his
death bed with brain cancer in 1990.
Fr. Hardon's last visit to the College was in March, 1998,
when he spoke on "Writing and the Spiritual Life." He implored
his audience to take up writing, saying "writing is a wonderful
way of growing in intellectual humility." That he was a giant
in intellectual humility is no surprise, given the rich legacy
of writing he left us. May he rest in peace.
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