Bishop praises TV documentary on pioneering Boys Town founder Fr Flanagan

Fr Edward Flanagan - Image CCO archive

Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Achonry and Elphin, has welcomed a new RTE One documentary, (narrated by Jonathan Roumie, from the Chosen) on the life of Fr Edward Flanagan - the Irish American priest who founded Boys Town.

Bishop Doran, in whose diocese Father Flanagan was born on 13 July 1886 in Leabeg, Co Roscommon, said: "I am delighted to hear that RTÉ One television will broadcast the feature documentary Heart of a Servant - Father Flanagan story, at 9.30pm on 6 July next. This is an excellent production focusing on a very important personality in our recent faith history. It recounts, with great attention to the historical detail, the challenges and successes, against the odds, of an exemplary Irish-American priest."

Bishop Doran continued, "Today Father Flanagan serves as a role model for clergy, lay people and for wider society in terms of the Gospel-inspired priority that he gave to child welfare. Nurtured by his faith, he worked for the well-being of young people, and resisted the prevailing societal pressures of sectarianism and racism. In the polarising early twentieth-century Mid-Western United States, that was no mean feat. Father Flanagan was never afraid to speak truth to power, and this bravery imbued the essence of his gentle, conscientious and hardworking ministry.

"Father Flanagan's work formed the basis of the 1938 Academy Award winning movie Boys Town retelling the story of the community that he established to protect and house orphaned and impoverished children in Omaha, Nebraska, during and after World War 1. In a time of crisis for families, when many children were living rough on the streets and getting in trouble with the law, and against the backdrop of social unrest, Father Flanagan founded Boys Town, which flourished to become a place where young people could feel at home, and have all the advantages of a solid education and formation for life. Father Flanagan's initiative to care for children irrespective of their faith, colour or ethnic background was counter-cultural for the time, and proved to be hugely controversial.

"Father Flanagan stood up against the sectarianism of many in the establishment in the 1920's and 1930's, including the racist ideology of the Ku Klux Clan. He welcomed young people to Boys Town on the basis of their need, irrespective of race or creed. In addition, during the Second World War, when Japanese workers and their families in the United States were all interned as 'hostile aliens', Father Flanagan arranged for many of them to be set free to come and live in Boys Town, where he provided them with a home and with employment. When the war was over, he devoted what remained of his life to visiting some of the countries which had been most impacted by violence (The Philippines, Japan and Germany) in order to support efforts to provide the best possible care for homeless children. It was during one such visit in Germany that he died of exhaustion on 15 May 1948.

"Father Flanagan's virtue emanates from many aspects of his life. One was the courage with which he pursued his vocation to the priesthood, in spite of difficulties with ill health. Another aspect of his holiness was his desire to help young people realise that they are loved by God. He expressed this in his own actions as a 'father', and in his statement that he never knew a child who wanted to be bad, he said, 'Kindness and love will open the heart of any problem boy.' Father Flanagan was adamant that, 'there is no such thing as a born bad boy' and was firm in the conviction that one must hate the sin but love the sinner, he is convinced that there 'are delinquent environments but never delinquent boys.' This was not just naïve optimism, rather rooted in the conviction that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. On a visit to Ireland in 1946, he raised serious questions about the incarceration of juveniles in penal institutions and the conditions in which they were forced to live and work."

Bishop Doran concluded, "2026 has been an exciting year for Father Flanagan's faith legacy. On 23 March last, he was one of six people declared 'Venerable' by Pope Leo XIV, thus recognising holy lives and heroic virtue, and making them potential candidates for sainthood. I invite people of faith, and especially those who work with young people, to take Father Flanagan as a model of Christian living and to pray for his Beatification. The next stage of the process is when he would be declared 'Blessed'. This would normally follow the recognition of a miracle, attributed to the intercession of Father Flanagan. I encourage people to pray through the intercession of Father Flanagan for healing for family members and friends who are sick, and to make contact with me, or with the Father Flanagan League of Devotion, if you believe that an unexplained healing has taken place. Father Flanagan prayer cards and medals are available from the Memorial Centre in Ballymoe."

Edward Flanagan was the eighth of eleven children born to John and Nora Flanagan, a hard-working farm family in Leabeg. Following his primary education in Drimatemple National School, he went to the College of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill College, Sligo, to complete his secondary education. At the age of 18, in 1904, Edward emigrated, with his siter Nellie, to Ellis Island, New Your, later moving to Omaha, Nebraska, where his brother, Father Patrick Flanagan, ministered. In 1907, he entered Dunwoodie Seminary in New York, but had to leave for Rome to recover from severe pneumonia. In 1909 he continued his theology studies in Innsbruck, Austria, and was ordained as a priest. He returned to serve as a priest in the Diocese of Omaha in 1912.

The Father Flanagan Memorial Centre has been developed by the parishioners in Ballymoe, it includes a memorial garden and a pilgrim centre. The website for the centre is: https://fatherflanaganvisitorcentre.ie/

Watch a trailer for the show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUoNCVync3U