Father John Larkin, O.Carm.

The Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, Order of Carmelites, mourns the death of the Reverend John R. Larkin, O.Carm., who died at the age of 80 on January 11, 2008, at Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. Father John lay in state at Saint Agnes Church, in Phoenix, on January 15, 2008, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial also took place at Saint Agnes Church, January 16. The Very Reverend John Welch, O.Carm., Prior Provincial, was the presider. Carmelite Mission Director, Father John Malley, O.Carm., was the homilist. Interment followed at Holy Cross Cemetery in Phoenix.

John Larkin was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, to the (late) Clement J. and the (late) Helen M. (McKeown) Larkin. His siblings include Mr. Robert J. Larkin and his wife Mary Jean of Mequon, Wisconsin, the (late) Mary and the (late) Reverend Ernest J. Larkin, O.Carm., who was also a member of the Chicago Province of Carmelites. He is also survived by eight nieces and nephews.

Baptized in Saint Margaret of Scotland Parish, Chicago, Illinois, he attended school there before he was a student at nearby Saint Sabina School, where he obtained his diploma in June of 1940. Later that year he entered the Carmelite preparatory seminary in Niagara Falls, Ontario, where his brother Ernest, who had joined the Carmelites ahead of him, was presently studying. In 1944 he would remain at the Carmelite’s Canadian monastery to complete his undergraduate degree at Mount Carmel College.

By 1948, with degree in hand, John Larkin spent several months at Whitefriars Hall, in Washington DC, which is the major formation house of the Province. There he professed solemn vows with the Carmelites in August of that year. Two months later he departed for Rome, Italy, and the Order of Carmelite’s International College of Saint Albert, for further theological studies.

On July 8, 1951, Brother Pierre (the religious name that John accepted when he professed simple vows in 1945) was ordained to the priesthood.

In his first assignment, Father John served as Dean of Studies and teacher at Chicago’s Mount Carmel High School. While there he completed a M.A. degree in education at the nearby University of Chicago. Later, while a parish priest in the early 1970s, Father Larkin completed a second Master’s Degree, focused on Pastoral Counseling at Saint John’s University, New York.

His eight year assignment in Chicago ended in 1960 when he became a member of the Carmelite Mission Band and he began a three year journey throughout U.S. Catholic parishes preaching the Gospel and inspiring the faithful to support the mission work of the Carmelites, especially in Peru.

Returning to serve as an educator, Father John joined the Carmelite community at Tucson, Arizona, in 1963 where he joined his brother Carmelites in teaching at Salpointe High School. By 1968 he engaged in a new ministry as Director of the Saint Therese Chapel, located within a major shopping center in Peabody, Massachusetts.

In 1971, expanding on this chapel ministry, Father Jack, as he was commonly called, would spend the remaining twenty-seven years in Parish ministry. First stationed at Immaculate Conception Parish, in Norwood, New Jersey, then he served as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, in Newport News, Virginia, in 1975. Returning to Arizona in 1981, he served in Glendale at Saint Raphael Parish then Saint Agnes, in Phoenix. It was in Phoenix, Arizona, that Father John began his retirement in 1998.

While a student at Saint Sabina School, Chicago, in the late 1930’s a young Jack Larkin wrote about the attractiveness of the Carmelite Order: “I seem to get an inspiration for the Blessed Lady.” The Order of Carmelites was founded by hermits on Mount Carmel, Israel, where they were inspired by Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “I can’t express my feeling in words but it is a yearning inside of me,” wrote Father John Larkin of his eventual life as a Carmelite brother, educator and priest.

May he rest in peace.

Father Leander Troy, O.Carm.

By: Joseph Kerzich

With deep sadness the Order of Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province reports the loss of Reverend Leander Robert Troy, O.Carm., who died at the age of 90 on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, at Saint Patrick’s Residence in Naperville, Illinois.

Father Leander lay in state at the National Shrine of Saint Therese in Darien, Illinois, February 14, 2008, with the Mass of Christian Burial immediately following. Carmelite Father Peter McGarry, was the presider. Father Daniel Carroll, O.Carm., was the homilist. Interment took place on Friday, February 15, 2008, at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

He was born John Robert Troy on December 10, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, to (the late) Michael Troy of Limerick City, Ireland and (late) Helen (Byrne) Troy of Chicago, Illinois. His only sibling, Reverend Roger Troy, O.Carm., was also an ordained a priest and a member of the Carmelite Order, preceded Father Leander in death in 1990.

Father Leander attended Saint Philip Neri grammar school in Chicago, where he made his First Holy Communion. In 1925 the family moved to a new home within Saint Felicitas Parish in Chicago, where he continued his education and served as an altar boy, graduating in June, 1930.

He entered Mount Carmel College Seminary at Niagara Falls, Ontario, in September of 1930 at the age of 12. After completing four years of high school he entered the Carmelite Novitiate at Niagara Falls, in August of 1934. One year later he made his simple profession to the Order of Carmelites taking the religious name “Leander.”

Along with several Carmelite classmates, he was sent to Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. There he resided at Saint Therese College, the Carmelite seminary residence. In 1935, because of serious vision problems, he returned to Niagara. He remained there attending classes in philosophy until 1939.

That year, he returned to Washington to begin his theology studies. For the first year in Washington, he attended Catholic University but then went on to the newly established Carmelite seminary, at Whitefriars Hall, also in Washington. After finishing third year theology, he was ordained a priest on May 23, 1942 at Saint Clara Church, in Chicago, by then Archbishop, Samuel Stritch.

During the summers of his final year in theology at Whitefriars Hall, he worked towards a Master’s Degree in English. Simaltaneously, he was an active member of the Catholic Evidence Guild, speaking each Sunday afternoon in the Washington public parks.

His first assignment was to be an associate pastor at Saint Cyril’s Church, Chicago, Illinois, and to teach parttime at nearby Mount Carmel High School. Starting in 1943 and for the next eight years he combined his teaching at the school with his parish ministries which included care for the parish youth and the management of a Youth Recreation Center. He also conducted Inquiry Classes for those interested in becoming Catholic.

In 1951 he was appointed Prior of the large Saint Cyril Priory of priests and brothers, maintaining this responsibility until 1957. Stepping down from his position as Prior, he continued teaching the Senior Religion course at Mount Carmel High School. In the 1957 edition of the “Oriflamme,” the school yearbook, the students dedicated that year’s publication in honor of Father Leander, noting that, “he has taught us living, practical religion, which we can use and will need throughout our entire lives.”

Between 1956 and 1966 Father Leander taught in the Theology Department at Loyola University of Chicago, including courses in Christian Marriage and Christian Ethics. For two years in the late 1950s he also taught Medical Ethics to the nursing school students at Little Company of Mary Hospital, Chicago. During the summers of 1957 through 1960 he completed a Master’s Degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.

In 1960 he was appointed Prior of Whitefriars Hall in Washington, DC, teaching first year students Moral Theology. For one semester he taught a graduate course on Christian Marriage at Catholic University of America. During this time he also participated in a two-year program leading to a Marriage Counseling Certificate.

Returning to Chicago in 1966, he taught Senior Religion at Mount Carmel High School. Then in 1970, Father Troy embarked on a second career. Enrolling in the Graduate School of Library Science at Rosary College (Dominican University), River Forest, Illinois, Father Troy received his Master’s Degree in 1971. Father Troy began an18-year tenure as head librarian at Mount Carmel High School. For nine of those years he also was part-time librarian at the Newberry Library, Chicago.

In 1989, Father Leander joined the provincial administration team in Darien, Illinois, as Provincial Archivist. He served with distinction until his semi-retirement in 2002. Father Leander continued teaching part-time at his beloved Mount Carmel High School until his health required him to fully retire from active ministry in April of 2006. He then relocated to Saint Patrick’s Residence in Naperville, Illinois. Father Leander Troy published three books: The Dandelion Bishop: Nevin Hayes of Chicago, Carmelite Provincial Chapters 1890-1987, and Carmelite Definitory Meetings 1887-1962 along with an unpublished work, Saint Cyril College–Mt. Carmel High School Fact Book.

He served several lay and professional organizations throughout his years of ministry including the Knights of Columbus, Teams of Mary, Catholic Theological Society of America, Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine and the National Council of Family Relations.

May he rest in peace.

Father William M. Smith, O.Carm.

By: Joseph Kerzich

The Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, Order of Carmelites, mourns the death of the Reverend William M. Smith, O.Carm., who died at the age of 79 on February 17, 2008, at Lourdes-Noreen McKeen Retirement Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Father William lay in state at Saint Therese de Lisieux Catholic Church, in Wellington, Florida, February 21, 2008, with a Mass of Christian Burial immediately following the visitation. Interment took place at Venice Memorial Gardens, Venice, Florida.

Born July 6, 1929, to (the late) Joseph W. Smith and (the late) Kathleen M. Smith (nee Connelly) of Chicago, Illinois, he is survived by his sister Marilyn (Dick) Hogan of Wellington, Florida, and his brother Robert (Noreen) Smith of Chicago, Illinois, and many loving nieces and nephews.

Baptized at Saint Adrian Parish, Chicago, Illinois, he attended grammar school there until 1943. Father William then was a student at Mount Carmel High School, Chicago, Illinois. After two years he enrolled at the Mount Carmel Preparatory Seminary, Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1945.

His formation with the Carmelites brought him to Saint John the Baptist, New Baltimore, Pennsylvania, and Whitefriars Hall in Washington, DC. After studying at Mount Carmel College, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Saint Bonaventure University, Olean, New York, Father Smith earned a bachelors degree in philosophy in 1953.

First professing vows to the Order of Carmelites in August, 1948; later in 1951, the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary received Brother Claver Smith in Solemn Vows at Whitefriars Hall, the province’s major house of formation.

On May 29, 1954, at Saint Clara Church, Chicago, then Brother Claver William Smith, O.Carm., was ordained to the priesthood. He continued studies at Whitefriars Hall for one year after his ordination.

During the summer of 1955, Father Smith was assigned to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Warwick, Virginia. There he ministered to parishioners before enrolling at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy, in August, 1955. In 1957, the Gregorian bestowed a Licentiate of Sacred Theology on Father Claver Smith.

For six months in 1958 he worked with pilgrims at Casa Beato Nuno, a house of prayer near the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal. In 1962 he returned stateside to Chicago, Illinois, spending one year teaching at Mount Carmel High School. From 1963 through 1969 Father Smith began a new teaching assignment at Regina Mundi Pontifical Institute, Rome.

From 1969 to 1975, Father Smith resided at Mount Carmel College, Niagara Falls, while on the faculty of D’Youville College, Buffalo, New York. There he taught courses in theology and served as chaplain to the student body. After a year of studies at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkley, California, in 1976 Father Smith earned a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies with a focus on spirituality.

That same year, Father Smith received his first assignment as pastor, moving to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Houston, Texas. He would find the three-year assignment a break in his ministry as a professor. His next assignment in 1979 was to the spiritual retreat programs of the Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

In 1981, Father Smith began his second assignment as pastor; this nine-year tenure at Saint Gertrude in Stockton, California, would allow him further opportunities to minister directly to a faith community. Between 1990 and 1994, he would serve as pastor of Saint Raphael Parish, Los Angeles, California. His many years of both academic and pastoral ministries would prepare him as he volunteered with a handful of brother Carmelites to administer a new parish in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. Father Smith would find the twelve years of ministry at Transfiguration Parish rewarding.

In 2007, after over fifty years of active ministry, Father William Smith retired to Carmel in Mission Valley, Nokomis, Florida, and later to Lourdes-Noreen McKeen Retirement Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

May he rest in peace.