SYRING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-28 published
Rev.
John
Francis
MADDEN
By Joan Fidler
BURROW and Reverend Bob
MADDEN
Wednesday,
May 28,
2003 - Page A20
Son, brother, uncle, Basilian priest, teacher. Born October 30,
1921, in Detroit. Died January 5, in Toronto, of cancer, aged
Picture a long stretch of red dirt road in the tropical forest
of central Ghana, West Africa, in 1957. A minivan stops and disgorges
five young Canadian university students, their Ghanaian guide,
and their leader: a slight, youthful-looking priest from Toronto.
He discreetly hands out the toilet paper as his companions disappear
into the lush growth.
Father Jack
MADDEN, C.S.B., was well-suited to be accompanying
the students attending a seminar at the University of Accra in
Ghana.
Born of Irish heritage, he was the eldest of three children of
the late Patrick Henry
MADDEN and Mary Agnes
McKNIGHT.
After
graduating from high school, Jack came to Toronto to enter the
novitiate of the Basilian Fathers. He was ordained a priest in
1948, pursued graduate studies at Harvard, and spent the rest
of his life ministering and teaching in a variety of situations.
Father Jack was a much-beloved English professor at St. Michael's
College, University of Toronto, in the 1950s and 1960s. He loved
words and helped his students love them. He would recite by memory
the etymology, the cognates in sister languages and the story
of their development. Students learning Anglo-Saxon today still
use his "Frequency Word List of Anglo-Saxon Poetry." He was approachable
and never pedantic.
He used the storyteller method, and his enthusiasm for English
literature inspired many of his students. Former students often
refer to his vibrant presentation of the works of Chaucer; one
such student still cherishes the image of "Father
MADDEN sitting
cross-legged on his desk, chuckling as he read aloud from The
Canterbury Tales!" Many have said that he was one of the best
teachers they ever had; all benefited from his zeal, intelligence,
knowledge and compassion.
In 1969, he was assigned to Houston, Texas, where he combined
ministry with teaching at the University of Saint Thomas. He also
served successfully and effectively as chaplain to the parish
grade-school. At that time, one colleague noted, "Saint Anne's
must have the only grade-school in the world whose chaplain has
a PhD from Harvard!"
In 1980, he went to St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta
in Edmonton, where he was involved in campus ministry and taught
theology. Other parish assignments were in Owen Sound, Ontario,
and in Calgary.
Wherever he taught or worked in campus ministry, Father Jack
combined the sacramental and education roles of his priestly
calling as a Basilian. Along with his teaching and parochial
duties, he gave retreats to priests, religious and laity in the
United States and Canada. In almost every diocese and Basilian
Institution in which he served, he was consulted by bishops,
confrères, diocesan priests and religious on matters educational,
spiritual, theological and liturgical.
Father Jack began to experience physical health difficulties
early in 1980. In 1990, he fell victim to neuropathy, which increasingly
affected his walking. At his request, he was appointed to Anglin
House, the Basilian infirmary facility in Toronto on the St.
Michael's College campus, taking up residence there in 1998.
In 2002 he was diagnosed with cancer, which eventually confined
him to bed until his death.
He finished his life's journey on a road paved with loving concern
for others, a dynamic personality, a sense of humour, and a deep
and joyous faith in God. He leaves his brother, Reverend Bob
MADDEN,
C.S.B.; his sister Patricia
SYRING of Toledo, Ohio; six nieces
and nephews and seven grand-nieces and nephews.
Joan Fidler
BURROWS is a former student of John
MADDEN;
Father
Bob, his brother.
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