Flanagan, Joseph F.X.

Fr. Joseph F.X. Flanagan, SJ, a World War II veteran and Boston College professor, died May 14, 2010 at the Jesuit residence at St. Mary’s Hall in Chestnut Hill. He was 84.

Born and raised in West Roxbury, he was a lifelong resident until entering the priesthood.

He attended Boston College High School.

After joining the Navy at the outset of World War II, he was sent to Brown University for the officers training V12 program, and Washington University Dental School, where he earned a doctorate in oral surgery. After entering the Society of Jesus in 1948, he earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Boston College, a licentiate in sacred theology from Weston College and a PhD in philosophy from Fordham University.

He joined the Boston College faculty in 1963 and spent the next 47 years at the school. He served as the Philosophy Department chairman from 1965 to 1993 and was named full professor in 1998. He established BC’s Perspective Program and in 1969 co-founded the Pulse Program, a service-learning program that combined philosophy and theology studies and weekly volunteer service.

Fr. Flanagan founded and directed the Lonergan Institute to explore the work of philosopher Bernard Lonergan. He had headed the program since 1993.

“I don’t know anyone who embodied the spirit of wonder that is at the heart of philosophy as did Joe Flanagan,” said BC philosophy chairman Patrick Byrne, who also worked with Fr. Flanagan as a student. “Fr. Flanagan always thought that philosophy was about transforming the ways we live our lives. He recognized that our encounters with people who had suffered or were in difficult circumstances gave students the greatest opportunity to understand what philosphy had to do with living a full life in a meaningful way.”

Fr. Flanagan was the author of The Quest of Self-Knowledge: An Essay in Understanding Bernard Lonergan’s Philosophy, and wrote dozens of scholarly articles and publications.

Fr. Flanagan is survived by three brothers, Newman, the Rev. James, SOLT, and Kevin; and a sister, Rosemary Cronin.