Father John J. Driscoll, MM

Born: November 26, 1901
Ordained: June 19, 1927
Died: January 2, 1996

Father John Driscoll died at St. Teresa’s Residence, Maryknoll, New York, at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 1996. Father Driscoll was 94 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 68 years.

John Driscoll was born on November 26, 1901 in Girardville, Pennsylvania, son of Timothy and Ellen Driscoll. He attended Our Lady of Victory Parochial School, Philadelphia and graduated from West Catholic High School, Philadelphia, in June 1920. He entered Maryknoll Apostolic College (Venard), Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, on September 7, 1920. While a seminarian, at Maryknoll Seminary in New York, he received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology Degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1926 and was ordained a priest on June 19, 1927 at Maryknoll, New York.

After ordination Father Driscoll was assigned to the Maryknoll Mission in Kaying, Kwangtun, South China. He was pastor of Chong Pu Ng Fa Mission which covered several outstation missions. Father Driscoll also served as the Director of the Chong Pu Primary Prep Seminary for the Kaying Vicariate. In 1940 he was appointed Second Consultor to the Kaying Society Superior. He was assigned back to the United States in April 1943 and was appointed Assistant Spiritual Director at the Maryknoll Seminary, New York and in 1946 was appointed Spiritual Director. His work focused on individual spiritual direction for the students, interviews, spiritual conferences and retreats.

On August 8, 1947, Father Driscoll was assigned back to South China and returned to the Kaying Mission and was assigned as pastor of the Catholic Mission in Meihsien. In an April 1947 letter to Father Driscoll from Bishop Raymond Lane, Superior General, he wrote “I am sure you will be pleased to learn that we are assigning you back to your former labors in Kaying. . .We are sorry to lose you here as Spiritual Director, in which capacity you have done the Society a very excellent service.. .Kaying’s gain is our loss here at the Center.” In 1948 he was also appointed First Consultor to the Society Superior in Kaying. Due to illness he returned to the United States and appointed Spiritual Director at the Maryknoll Seminary, New York on April 15, 1949. In 1956 he was elected Chapter Delegate for the United States Group I and participated in the Fourth General Chapter at Maryknoll, New York.

After the General Chapter in 1956 Father Driscoll continued as Spiritual Director at the Maryknoll Seminary until April 30, 1960 when he was appointed Assistant Spiritual Director at the Maryknoll College, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. In April 1962 he was transferred as Spiritual Director to the Maryknoll Brothers Novitiate, Brookline, Massachusetts. Due to health reasons Father Driscoll was transferred to Maryknoll’s St. Theresa’s Chinese Mission in Chicago and later to the Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He was assigned to St. Teresa’s Residence, Maryknoll, New York on October 10, 1969 and to the Special Society Unit in May of 1977 where he was in residence until the time of his death.

Wake Services were held on January 4, 1996 at St. Teresa’s Residence Chapel at 7:00 p.m. and at the Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Center, New York, at 7:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial was concelebrated the following day, January 5, in Queen of Apostles Chapel at 11:30 a.m. The Principal Celebrant was Father John Mihelko and the Homilist was Father Richard Callahan. Interment followed at the  Maryknoll Cemetery.