Curran, Joseph F.

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered Saturday, Sept. 12, for Joseph F. Curran, SJ, 85, who died of a stroke Sept. 3, at Fusz Pavilion, St, Louis, MO. A Jesuit for 66 years and a priest for 53 years, he was 85.

Joseph Curran, son of Florence Augustin Curran and Helen McCarthy, was born  Feb. 2, 1924, in Lackawanna, NY.  Following graduation from Elmira Catholic

High School, in Elmira, NY, he entered the Society of Jesus Feb. 1, 1943 where he took his First Vows on March 12, 1945 and engaged in Juniorate (College) studies from 1944 to 1946.  For philosophical studies, Fr. Curran was sent to West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana from 1946 to 1949, and then as a Jesuit Scholastic taught English and History at Georgetown Prep, North Bethesda, Md., St. Joseph’s Prep, Philadelphia, and Loyola High School, Towson, Md., from 1949 to 1953.

From 1953 to 1957, he pursued theological studies at Weston College. Cambridge, Mass., where he was ordained to the priesthood June 15, 1956.  From 1957 to 1958, he completed his Tertianship at the Jesuit Shrine, Auriesville, NY and took his Final Vows in the Society of Jesus at Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, W.Va., on August 15, 1959.

In 1958, Fr. Curran began his priestly ministry as a student chaplain at Wheeling Jesuit University. In 1959, he taught political science at Wheeling Jesuit University (1960-61; 1962-65) before going on to graduate studies at Georgetown University (1959-60; 1961-62; 1965-68), Loyola University of Liberal Arts, Rome (1968-69) and Strasbourg University (1969-75) where he received a Ph.D.

In 1978, Fr. Curran was sent to Canada to the Presbytere St. Luc, Quebec where he served as pastor of the Church of S Patric until 1979, taught political science at Concordia University in Montreal from 1979-1981 and held the positions of associate pastor and chaplain of Queen Elizabeth Hospital at St. Malachy’s Church in Montreal in the 1990s.

Due to failing health, Fr. Curran spent the last years of his life beginning in 2000, in health facilities, where he prayed for the Church and the Society until his death.

He is survived by his brother Tom Curran and his sister Joan Powell, both of Elmira.