Father Callahan, when we met you that Saturday at the Chancery Office, we didn’t know you were a scholar, speaking seven languages, and writing religion books that would be used across the United States. All we saw was an Irishman with a twinkle in his eye and an open heart, wide enough to include these refugees who came with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
We were looking for a place, a refuge, where we could bring our Sisters, especially the younger Sisters, from Mexico and the physical and moral dangers they were enduring. You watched us from 1927 until your death in 1940.
With your help we went to Holy Innocents Parish in Long Beach, St Patrick’s Parish in Los Angeles and Santa Teresita in Duarte, California. You took the time to find out our charism as a religious community and you matched us up in ministry that we could do while still learning the language. You helped us bring thirty sisters from Mexico and found work they could do at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.
Father Callahan, thank you on behalf of our entire community who are still reaping the fruit of the seeds you planted with us beginning in 1927.