Philip M. Hannan, retired Archbishop of New Orleans, former chaplain with the famous 82nd Airborne in WWII, counselor and friend to President and First Lady Kennedy, hero, pastor and personal friend died this morning (September 29, 2011) at the age of 98 years.
In the conclusion of his autobiography, The Bishop Wore Combat Boots, Archbishop Hannan wrote: “The road to heaven begins — and ends — with faith in God from whom all blessings, wisdom, tolerance, joy and forgiveness have always — and will ever — flow. Consequently, I have come to believe that only when we actually get to heaven will we truly understand what we accomplished here on earth — especially when it concerns the priesthood.
“From my perspective as a priest — I will accomplish in death what I could not in life because as priests we are most fully alive when we die,” he wrote. “If we don’t feel that way, we certainly have not served the cause of Christ as we were meant to. In the final spiritual analysis, to fulfill the will of God, a priest must die in life as did his own Son. And when that times comes, with the grace of God, I am ready.”
Philip Hannan lived what he wrote. He was born May 20, 1913 in Washington, D.C. to P. F. Hannan and his wife Lillian Keefe, the fifth of eight children. He was a leader in both sports and academics at St. John’s College High School where as a senior he surprised many by choosing to enter the seminary in lieu of West Point. (read Peter Finney here)
Nicknamed “Jumping Padre” as a paratrooper with the 505th Parachute Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, he was among those liberating NAZI concentration camps prisoners at Wobbelin. He brought an understanding of potential evils and the demands of forceful defense of the defenseless rarely seen in the pulpit. He was a staunch supporter of civil rights and the rights of the unborn as well as the morality of nuclear deterrence. When public swimming pools were closed due to racial tensions, he opened the pool at Notre Dame Seminary.
He was very close to the Kennedys and was asked by President Kennedy’s widow Jacqueline to deliver the eulogy a responsibility normally assumed by the Archbishop of Washington rather than his then auxiliary bishop. A sad duty he repeated for the funeral of the president’s brother Robert.
Hannan was appointed Archbishop of New Orleans days after the devastation of Hurricane Betsy. He endeared himself by his plain speaking and steadfast direction, something that at times put him at odds with the politicians. He built Christopher Homes, apartments for the poor. He started WLAE television in the 1980s and was actively contributing long after his retirement, even to the point in 2005 personally acting as reporter with cameraman to meet the papal helicopter after Hurricane Katrina.
Even as Katrina knocked out lights his refuge was the strong television studios he built. At the age of 92 he was still a prepared paratrooper with a supply of water, peanut butter and crackers … plus trusty golf clubs if personal defense was required. Days later he would talk his way through police barricades to give counsel and support to those tired souls providing emergency services in the wake of the deluge.
The Catholic high school in St. Bernard (civil) Parish was named for Bishop Hannan. How that came to be is a story in itself. He objected strongly that edifices such as schools shouldn’t be named for anyone still living citing long tradition. Clever folks on the committee told the bishop that was too bad because two names had been settled on, his and Judge Leander Perez. They had called the bishop’s hand. He responded, “In that case, I accept. We can’t have a Catholic school named for one who is excommunicated!” The school that bore his name was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the campus was moved to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain near Covington, La.
On a more personal note, the good bishop was friends with my parents and was a generous enough person to acknowledge them to me whenever we met. The personal connection for me continued when our son, John, was named principal of the school in time for the rebuilding of the new campus in Covington. Bishop Hannon attended the dedication of the new campus and several events thereafter. He served as a flesh-and-blood guardian angel for the school, taking great personal interest in its progress.
Other links of possible interest: (NOLA.com), (video memorial), (AHHS), (News Online)