July 29, 2005

Priest with a passion

Latinos benefit from Villager’s compassion

By Donna H. Eliason
Staff Writer

How did a third-generation Irish boy born in Los Angeles become heavily involved with Latino people?

As a teenager, Robert Delaney earned money working beside Mexican families picking onions, carrots and tomatoes in the San Fernando Valley fields.

Robert Delaney will be giving an ecumenical presentation entitled “Women of the Bible; Agents of Change,” featuring a tapestry from India showing biblical women, on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Parish.

“I earned calluses along with spending money and friendships that lasted for years,” recalls Delaney, who parlayed these experiences into a passion to learn Spanish at Los Angeles College/Preparatory Seminary. His human rights concerns grew when he saw the inadequate bracero housing and the lack of restrooms in the fields.

After ordination as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in l957, Father Delaney served as assistant pastor in three parishes. By choice he served in East Los Angeles, helping Cuban refugees find housing, jobs and community integration. To enrich the lives of these refugees, Father Delaney established the Spanish-speaking “Christian Family Movement.”

“Priorities included shaping one’s life style with gospel values and compassion for those on the margin of society,” he said.

Helping beyond the borders
Soon Father Delaney’s vision moved beyond the U.S. borders to an orphanage and clinic run by nuns in Mexicali, Mexico. Seeing the needs, he organized truck caravans to deliver food, clothes and medical supplies.

A life-changing event occurred in October l962 when he accompanied Bishop Manning to the ll Vatican Council opening in Rome.

“My own perspective began to change as the 2,500 bishops searched to recover the ideals of early Christianity beyond doctrinal disputes and historical mistakes,” he said. “Latin gave way to the local languages of the people on each continent. Sacred Scripture again became a priority for teaching and spirituality, and lay leadership began finding its rightful place and voice as in the Early Church.”

He received permission in 1965 to direct a 300-acre Boys’ Town near Mexico City. Besides being responsible for the needs and education of the 250 boys, he worked with government agronomists. “Within two years our hybrid corn yield increased 700 percent and the cows, goats, chickens and boys all put on a little more weight. That called for occasional fiestas.”

Wanting to be more than a “problem solver,” Father Delaney became a counselor/chaplain to orphans attending a Jesuit University in Mexico City. While students attended morning classes, Father Delaney pursued a sociology degree, enabling him to see the big picture of Latin American life.

“That perspective reawakened my desire to contribute to the ongoing reforms of the ll Vatican Council,” he says. He received permission to study with some famous German theologians involved in these reforms, such as Hans Kung and Josef Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVl.

Applying the reforms
These reforms became the basis for his doctoral dissertation thesis. He visited Panama City, documenting how these changes affected slum dwellers.

“There, three Chicago priests introduced faith as lived in small communities, Saturday liturgies that incorporated regional music, symbolism and dance, lay leadership that took over responsibility for evangelizing the neighborhoods, forming cooperatives, housing developments, public school reform and confrontation of corrupt politicians. Those were heady days,” Delaney said.

Even the Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos noticed their work, saying, “You are a model for the country.”

In l974 he completed his doctorate in theology from Munster University in Germany. By this time he had already mastered nine languages. He met a Spanish-speaking American teacher named Rose Johnigk, a local junior college teacher.

As they considered marriage, Father Delaney applied for a dispensation from Pope Paul Vl to release him from his vow of celibacy. They married in l96l and later adopted two multiracial babies.

Because of their compassion for the poor, “We spent our free time applying the same counciliar reforms to Spaniards working in a local factory, and eventually among our German neighbors,” remembers Father Delaney.

As a theologian, he became an editor of a pastoral-biblical review in Stuttgart, Germany. During those 12 years he also gave workshops on five continents and published two books.

In l986 the Franciscan Communications in Los Angeles invited Delaney to be the associate director for multimedia productions, where he wrote, edited, published and occasionally acted. They distributed these Spanish and English productions throughout the USA, Argentina, Peru and the Philippines. One popular film was aired on PBS entitled, “Dreams Under Fire,” which involved five L.A. ethnic groups.

Coming to San Jose
After his wife died of cancer in l994, Delaney came to San Jose to be the director of Hispanic Ministry and to help establish the Institute for Lay Ministry Training.

Under Mayor Susan Hammer, he served on the San Jose Mayor’s Committee for Latino Youth in Crisis. There he worked with community leaders such as San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales. Their strategy was to dialogue with neighborhood people to discover problems and possible resolutions.

After five years as a widower, Bob met a Latina widow, Maria Romero Thomas. Their relationship started with a cup of coffee and grew into marriage in l999. Now they’re occasional partners in presenting workshops at St. Francis of Assisi in Evergreen, and in local projects such as helping Mexican day workers.

Even though this almost 75-year-old theologian officially retired from the Diocese in l998, “I was invited in 2002 to give biblical training courses to teams from 20 dioceses in the Philippines.”

Aug. 28 Invitation
Delaney, who lives at the Villages, invites the Evergreen community to an ecumenical presentation he is coordinating entitled, “Women of the Bible; Agents of Change,” on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the St Francis of Assisi parish. It features a tapestry he brought from India that depicts biblical women.

Who’d have guessed that a teenage summer job would lead to a lifelong international ministry, touching and enriching thousands of lives?