Irish priest, Fr Edward Flanagan, who spearheaded a new approach to childcare through his Boys Town foundation in Omaha (USA) may soon be declared Venerable by the Vatican according to both Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin and the priest’s great-nephew.
Speaking to The Tablet after the premiere in Sligo of a new documentary, Heart of a Servant – the Father Flanagan Story, Ed Flanagan, who grew up in Boys Town between 1973 and 1981 after his mother died, said an announcement by the Pope “is close – it is just a matter of time”.
Bishop Doran told those who attended the screening in Sligo that the theological commission on Fr Flanagan’s cause met in June and a report will be sent to Pope Francis which could see the priest put on the first step towards canonisation.
One of Fr Flanagan’s mottos as the new film reminds viewers was: “There is no such thing as a born bad boy”. The priest believed that love was the only effective tool for forming young minds and hearts.
Writing in the Irish Times this week, Bishop Doran noted that Fr Flanagan had stated: “I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character.”
His approach differed from that adopted by religious-run residential schools in his native Ireland. Visiting his home country in 1946, he toured industrial schools and youth care facilities operated by the Christian Brothers. He condemned them as a “disgrace to the nation” and was subsequently ostracised by the government and Christian Brothers.
“Fr Flanagan was inclusive and reached out to people who were on the margins. I felt proud and quite emotional looking at the movie. He is someone that can inspire us and that we can say we are proud of. It doesn’t change the fact that bad things happened in the Church and in our society. But I think that it gives us a model or an example to follow and it says that it is actually possible to do things in a much better way,” Bishop Doran told The Tablet.
Born near Ballymoe Co Galway in 1886, Edward Flanagan (1886–1948) emigrated to the USA in 1904. Due to poor health, he was forced to postpone his seminary studies twice before he was ordained in 1912.
He later faced down intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan after he founded one of the first non-racially segregated communities in America to help home and educate boys who were orphaned, impoverished and in danger of falling into crime.
Dr Heather Frye, former professor of history at Creighton University, who has been researching Fr Edward Flanagan’s life and contributed to the new film explained, “The Klu Klux Klan did not like immigrants, didn’t like Catholics and most certainly had it out for people who interfered with racial segregation.
“The Klu Klux Klan was formed as a way of creating the old slavery era racial order. Klan members would target anybody who was going to threaten the possibility of the United States being a white protestant society.
“Burning crosses on the lawn was dangerous and threatening but the Klan is known to have murdered people. Malcom X’s father was murdered in Omaha by the Klu Klux Klan, so they would have thought nothing of lynching Fr Flanagan. Yet he made the calculated choice to face down the danger.”
Alan Croghan, who runs the Father Flanagan Centre in Ballymoe with his wife Fidelma, hailed the priest as a “trailblazer” for the changes he brought to childcare.
Fidelma Croghan told The Tablet, “We firmly believe that Fr Flanagan has a very wide appeal, not just to church but he is such a role model for childcare and for parenting and family life and social justice. And all of his sayings and writings are as relevant today as when he wrote them.”
The centre in Ballymoe, according to Alan Croghan, gets visitors from the US, “men in their 70s and 80s who were in Boys Town. They bring their wife, children and their grandchildren and they tell us that they wouldn’t be where they are today but for Fr Flanagan and Boys Town.”
“They are amazed to see the humble cottage where Fr Flanagan came from – this is a man who ended up in the Oval Office advising the American president and travelling the world putting programmes together to help children.”
Fr Edward Flanagan’s life was portrayed in the 1938 Hollywood film Boys Town starring Spencer Tracy as the Irish priest.
But in recent years, his contribution appears to have faded from popular memory. His great-nephew Ed Flanagan commented to The Tablet that it should be much better known because, “Here we finally have a catholic priest who dealt with kids and didn’t do bad things. We have an example to show people. He was very prayerful – he truly believed in the power of prayer. So let’s get this out and tell people.”
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