MY FAVORITE PRIEST

The Monsignor

By John Henry Murphy

Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke was stricken September 3, 1998, while vesting for early morning Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah, Georgia. “The Monsignor,” as he was known throughout the Savannah Diocese and elsewhere, died two weeks later while confined in St. Joseph’s Hospital, 11 days short of his 89th birthday and in the 65th year of his priesthood.

    In tribute, Savannah’s daily newspaper followed Monsignor’s hospital confinement, then at his death featured a front-page picture of Monsignor and an article on his life. The article referred to him as “God’s Ambassador” and “a beloved Catholic priest who personified the Irish spirit and demonstrated a solid, guiding faith that inspired others.” The paper’s cartoonist, Mark Streeter, caught the city’s love of Monsignor, illustrating Monsignor arriving in Heaven and being greeted by St. Peter shown on the phone saying, “Sorry to bother you, Sir, but you wanted to know when Monsignor Bourke arrived.” A voice answers St. Peter, “Sure’n ‘tis true! I’ll grab me hat an’ be right there. I’ll be wantin’ to welcome th’ Monsignor meself.” A local TV station produced a half-hour program extolling Monsignor Bourke’s life. Appropriately, it was simply titled “The Monsignor.” The outpouring was acknowledgment of the thousands of lives the Monsignor had touched and inspired.

    Officially retired in 1976, Monsignor worked a full schedule in residence at Blessed Sacrament Church. Unfailing in his daily parish Mass, he continued his personal contact with people, in their sickness, their weddings, their funerals, and their daily life. Hundreds of men claimed to have once served as an altar boy as Monsignor celebrated the Eucharist, while some often argued just who served at Monsignor’s first Mass in Savannah. The altar must have been crowded.

    Born in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1909, he was educated at Presentation Brothers School in Birr and St. Joseph’s College, Glasthule, Dublin, prior to entering All Hallows Missionary Seminary in Dublin, in September 1928. He was ordained to the priesthood there on June 23, 1934, for the Diocese of Savannah. Monsignor liked to recall that his seminary’s president rejected his first offer to serve in the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, telling the then young priest he was too frail for the cold climate of the northwestern United States. Monsignor, known throughout his life for health that matched his hearty stride, always added to the story with a smile that the five other missionary priests who came to the United States with him had died years before. He kept abreast of his former classmates, once smiling with a hint of his Irish Republican subtle wit that a friend and former fellow seminarian continued to serve the Church, “even in the inclement weather of Liverpool, England.”

    It was Georgia’s gain that sent him to Savannah. He served in various capacities in rectories of rural and urban Georgia, always making lasting friendships. Monsignor told the story that in 1945, then Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara sent him as pastor to St. Teresa’s Church in Albany, Georgia. Bishop O’Hara, to the surprise of the new pastor, told the people that the pastor would not only join them, but would open a parochial school within a few months and that there would be no tuition. Monsignor and the people of Albany rallied to successfully support the new tuition-free school in time for its September opening. While in Augusta, Georgia, for thirteen years as pastor of St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church, he combined these duties for a number of years with the job of president of Aquinas Catholic High School.

    He was diocesan comptroller from 1970 to 1976, “retiring” in July 1976 to live at Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah, where he earlier served as Administrator and Pastor from 1941 until 1945, encompassing the transformation of a small wooden church to the present brick school and church. Speaking about his service as Diocesan Comptroller, he said he always “personally kept the books” of each church where he was pastor, a habit that had been good training for the diocesan job.

    Monsignor Bourke was named a Domestic Prelate in 1959, and Prothonotary Apostolic in 1966. Former Savannah Bishop Raymond Lessard tells about a trip he and the Monsignor made to Ireland. Arriving at an Irish convent where they had arranged to say their daily Mass, Monsignor Bourke tarried behind for a moment while Bishop Lessard proceeded directly to the sacristy to vest. Laying his hand on one set of the vestments carefully laid out for them, Bishop Lessard suddenly felt his arm restrained by the mother superior who sternly warned him that “those vestments are for His Excellency, Father.” Bishop Lessard noted that he observed the twinkle in the Monsignor’s eye on hearing the story.

    The twinkle in Monsignor’s eye was well known. The Southern Cross, diocesan newspaper, reported the present Savannah Bishop Kevin Boland, once Monsignor’s assistant, stated at the funeral Mass he looked upon Monsignor Bourke as one of the most fascinating, multi-faceted individuals he had ever met. “Through the years, my admiration and respect for him has grown day by day. His work goes on, [but] much of it will be carried on with kind of a glance backward at what one man brought to our community.” Bishop Boland declared Monsignor Bourke as a man possessed of “an infectious kind of enthusiasm, with a very subtle sense of humor.” The bishop recalled, “you would be talking to him and a twinkle would come into his eye.” The Southern Cross quoted the pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Father Jeremiah J. McCarthy, expressing the thoughts of many, “He was a remarkable man. I just always marveled at his enthusiasm, his love for people, his love for the Church, his love for life. He was a great mentor, a great friend. We will just miss him.”

    Monsignor continued his interest in a multitude of activities throughout his life, always interested in learning and in meeting people. He was a living reservoir on the history of Ireland. He was a voracious reader. He arose in the middle of the night to pray before the Blessed Sacrament as a participant in the Savannah Cathedral’s Perpetual Adoration Society. He served as chaplain to the 3rd and 4th degrees of Knights of Columbus Councils and Assemblies, also serving as State Chaplain for a number of years. Each Thursday morning he was in front of the Savannah abortion clinic saying his rosary. In relating a story to a friend about witnessing a pro-life demonstration in New Orleans, Monsignor seemed almost wistful that he, too, had not been among those arrested. He was associated with the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women since its introduction to the diocese in 1938, serving as parish, deanery and diocesan moderator. He was a charter member and a chaplain of the reconstituted Savannah Ancient Order of Hibernians until his death. During his annual vacation in Ireland, he devoted two weeks to working at the Shrine in Knock.

    In 1997 he delighted in his election by acclamation as Grand Marshal of Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, a position with a heavy schedule of appearances and into which he threw himself with his usual vigor and enthusiasm. As was his annual custom, Monsignor Bourke walked the entire three miles plus route of the parade, charming the onlookers with his greetings and with a stride belying his age. His Grand Marshal’s sash adorned his habitual black clerics. Walking was always a daily routine with Monsignor, as could be attested by many who unsuccessfully tried to keep up with him.

    In the foreword of the St. Patrick’s Day parade magazine, Monsignor prayed that the dreams of Ireland’s heroes be realized, “An Ireland, united and free, from the ocean to the sea.” Proud of his citizenship in the United States, he also described the United States as a land, “Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom’s day.” He replied to an inquiry whether he desired to be buried “home in Ireland” that he was already “at home in Savannah” and here he would be buried. Fortunately, several years prior to his death, Sister Mary Faith, RSM, persuaded Monsignor Bourke to record his many years of memories of the Savannah Diocese. It is Monsignor’s priceless gift.

    God bless and keep you, Monsignor. You leave a legacy of friendships and memories of the joy of your priesthood as God’s good and faithful servant.

You are invited to contribute to this series by sending in an account of a priest whom you admire. Articles should not exceed 800 words. The best of these will be printed. Send to “My Favorite Priest,” c/o Homiletic & Pastoral Review, 10 Audrey Pl., Fairfield, N.J. 07004. If you have a good photo of the priest, please send that also. Enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope, if you wish to have your article returned. . . . Mr. John Henry Murphy resides in Savannah, Ga.—Editor

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