ASSEMBLY #906 - POPE SAINT JOHN XXIII REMEMBERS |
Fr. Ken Hume, the first St. John the Apostle parish member ordained a priest, is celebrating his 60th ordination anniversary on May 25, 2023, one day after his 90th birthday! Fr. Hume lives here in Oregon City and is a member of St. John the Apostle parish. Unfortunately his health doesn’t allow us to have a celebration; however, we can recognize his service through cards and letters of appreciation addressed to: Fr. Ken Hume 19453 Stillmeadow Dr. Oregon City, OR 97045 The Hume family were parishioners at St. John the Apostle, where Ken was baptized and received his first holy Communion and confirmation while attending the McLoughlin Institute (now St. John the Apostle School). He joined the Navy his senior year of high school, and upon graduation in 1951 was assigned to the Naval Air Program. While stationed at Whidbey Island, Ken met Navy Chaplain Fr. John Condit, OP, who would change his life. This kindly Dominican discussed priestly vocations with Ken and introduced him to the Knights of Columbus. Ken received a degree at Mt. Angel Seminary and later at St. Thomas Seminary. In 1963 Fr. Hume was ordained. After several years working within the Portland diocese Fr. Hume decided to join the military chaplaincy, where he served from 1970-1988. He was stationed in Vietnam during the war. Afterward he studied and worked in places as far-flung as Yale University, Germany, Turkey, Ft. Richardson in Alaska, and Ft. Irwin and Ft. Ord in California. Retiring as a Catholic chaplain, Fr. Hume returned to Oregon to care for his aging mother and to fill in across the state for priests needing time off, from the coast to eastern Oregon. After his mother’s death he was reintroduced to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Fr. William Wasson’s homes for orphans in Latin America. He made many visits to homes in several countries including annual visits to Honduras, staying for three months at a time. There, the children he worked with in the kitchen called him “Padre Tortilla,†a name he cherishes. May 23 is also significant in Fr. Hume’s life. On that date in 1951 a revered Army chaplain now up for canonization, Fr. Emil Kapaun, died. On that very day Ken Hume enlisted in the Navy, where he later found his own vocation as a Catholic chaplain. Surely God was gently calling Ken Hume into his life’s work on that day. |