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REV. JOSEPH BLAISE COURTNEY, C.S.B., retired and in residence at the Dillon House, Houston, TX. passed away October 1, 2003. Fr. Courtney was born in the Bronx, New York City in 1922, the fourth son of William J. Courtney and Mary Ellen Nolan. The family consisted of two girls, Winifred Cecilia and Mary, five boys, John, Edward, William and James. He attended St. Clement's parochial school and graduated from Bishop Loughlin High School. He moved to Texas in 1947 after three years of service in the Army of the United States. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1951 and entered the novitiate in Rochester in August of that year. He professed in August of 1952 and entered St. Basil's Seminary in the fall of that year. He spent 1953-54 teaching at the Aquinas Institute in Rochester. Returning to St. Basil's Seminary in 1954 he resumed theology and was ordained on 29 June 1956 in the company of sixteen other Basilians. After his final year of theology he was app! ointed to the University of St. Thomas where he taught from 1957 to 1969, this appointment was broken by one year at the Catholic University of America where he received the S.T.L. In 1969 he was appointed to St. Joseph's College in Edmonton where he was Rector and taught until 1978. After a six month sabbatical he was appointed to Holy Rosary Parish in Missouri City, Texas where he served as a parish priest and taught part time at the University of St. Thomas. He accepted the position of Catholic Chaplain at the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas where he served for seven years. When a good friend, Fr. Eugene Heyck, CSB died in 1989, he requested permission to take his place. He served in St. Helen's parish in Pearland, Texas for seven years. In 1996, because of declining health he asked to retire to Dillon House in Houston, where he has been living ever since. He has often said that one of the beauties of the priesthood is that as long as one has some ! semblance of health one can still func! tion in the priesly office. This he does by saying Mass frequently for the nuns and occasionally saying Sunday Mass in parishes. For some 20 years in the summers he preached for the Basilian Missions, from Long Island Sound to the Golden Gate. "All in all, it has been a great ride". Wake service will be held 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 2, 2003 St. Anne Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer Rd. Funeral Liturgy 3:00 p.m. Friday, St. Anne Catholic Church. Private Rite of Committal. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to St. Thomas University. |