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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Work ongoing on Fr. Hardon's sainthood cause

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 27, 2009

Fr. Hardon Fr. McDermott Berry

Sterling Heights - The public phase of the cause for sainthood of a well-loved Detroit Province Jesuit priest got under way with this week's Detroit-area visit by representatives of the Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, Archive and Guild.

Fr. Robert T. McDermott and James Maldonado Berry traveled from St. Louis to meet with some of the people who knew and worked with Fr. Hardon (1914-2000) during his final years in Detroit.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Cleveland, Fr. Hardon was one of America's most widely published Catholic priests during the decades of the 1960s,'70s and '80s. During the last decade of his life, he remained active, working from Detroit to support catechetical education throughout the country.

"You got a sense of holiness from the man, you got the sense you were in the presence of a saint," said Barbara Middleton, president of Holy Trinity Apostolate, an organization founded by Fr. Hardon in 1997.

"He spoke at all of our conferences, until he just couldn't do it anymore, and then we even went to the seniors home where he was living and videotaped a final appearance after that," she recalled.

Middleton said she had been listening again to recordings of some of Fr. Hardon's talks, and said she found them "timeless."

"When I think of the man, I think of holiness and simplicity, of his kindness and patience. He was an intellectual giant, but when he gave talks, he brought it down to the level of the listener," she said.

Fr. Hardon's sainthood cause was launched in 2005 by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, at that time archbishop of St. Louis and now prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican.

"I happened to be in Fr. Hardon's room when Archbishop Burke anointed him. Then, Archbishop Burke got down on his knees, and took Fr. Hardon's hand, and with tears running down his cheeks, said, 'Thank you Fr. Hardon, for all you have done for Holy Mother Church,'" recalled Middleton, a member of SS. Cyril & Methodius (Slovak) Parish in Sterling Heights.

In September, Archbishop Burke was back in St. Louis to dedicate the offices of the archive and guild, and announced that Fr. McDermott would become the postulator for Fr. Hardon's cause.

Fr. McDermott was a student of Fr. Hardon's back in 1977 at the Pontifical Institute for Advanced Study in Catholic Doctrine at St. John's University in Jamaica, N.Y.

"He was at the forefront of lots of things. Besides his work in catechetics, he was one of the founders of the Institute for Religious Life (the umbrella organization for the more traditional women's and men's religious orders), he was active in pro-life issues, he also helped Mother Teresa with the founding of the contemplative branch of her sisters, and was a key figure in promoting perpetual adoration," Fr. McDermott said.

He also pointed to the Bardstown, Ky.-based organization, Eternal Life, which makes many of Fr. Hardon's books available.

Maldonado Berry, who is executive director of the archive and guild, said much of the organization's work to date had been involved with preserving Fr. Hardon's library and writings, as well as displays of some artifacts such as his cassock and other personal belongings. With the offices now dedicated, the work shifts to the collecting of testimony to support the hoped-for declaration of heroic virtue, the first of the hurdles on the way to possible canonization.

Maldonado Berry said he never met Fr. Hardon, having missed what would have been his one chance when Fr. Hardon had to cancel a scheduled speech at his college due to failing health. But he has read much of his work and heard plenty of testimony about him in his two years with the organization.

"What I have been most impressed with is his timelessness and his emphasis on the sacraments," he said.

Besides meeting with Middleton on this trip, Fr. McDermott said they had met with former Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson, who told them he came into the Catholic Church because of Fr. Hardon's influence.

"We ask for people's prayers for his cause, and to report to us any signs of father's intercession," Fr. McDermott said.