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Edward J. Flanagan
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Edward J. Flanagan
Edward Joseph Flanagan (13 July 1886 – 15 May 1948) was an Irish-born priest of the Catholic Church in the United States who served for decades in Nebraska. After serving as a parish priest in the Catholic Diocese of Omaha, he founded the orphanage and educational complex known as Boys Town, located west of the city in what is now Boys Town, Douglas County, Nebraska. In the 21st century, the complex also serves as a center for troubled youth.
Flanagan's work became widely known, especially after he was played by Spencer Tracy in the movie Boys Town (1938). In the post-World War II era, Flanagan was invited by General Douglas MacArthur to visit Japan and Korea, and later Austria and Germany, to give him advice about improving conditions for children in the occupied countries.
In 2012 the Catholic Diocese of Omaha initiated the process for canonization of Fr. Flanagan. That year he was declared a "Servant of God". Documentation of the cause was sent to the Vatican in 2015.
Flanagan was born in the townland of Leabeg, County Roscommon, near the village of Ballymoe, County Galway, Ireland. His parents were John (a herdsman) and Honoria Flanagan. He attended Summerhill College, Sligo, Ireland.
In 1904, he emigrated to the United States with his sister Nellie. He attended Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where in 1906 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Flanagan entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. Having contracted double pneumonia, Flanagan was forced to take a year off to recover, and stayed with his brother, Father Patrick Flanagan, in Omaha, Nebraska, where Nellie was both housekeeper and nurse.
He then continued his studies in Rome, living at the Capranica while taking classes at Gregorian University. He returned home to Omaha due to his health in the winter of 1908 and took an accounting job at Cudahy Packing Company. Flanagan returned to Europe the following autumn, entering the Royal Imperial Leopold Francis University in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained a priest in 1912.
He returned to the US, where his first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in O'Neill, Nebraska. He was then transferred to St. Patrick's Church in Omaha and was present during the Tornado outbreak sequence of March 1913 responding to the dead and injured. In 1916, Flanagan established a homeless shelter for transient workers. He became a US citizen in 1919.
Flanagan was moved by the plight of youth. In 1917, he founded a home for homeless boys in Omaha. Bishop Jeremiah James Harty of the Diocese of Omaha had misgivings, but endorsed Flanagan's experiment in housing and education. Because the downtown facilities were inadequate, Flanagan established Boys Town, ten miles west of Omaha, in 1921. Under Flanagan's direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community with its own boy-mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities. Boys between the ages of 10 and 16 could receive an education here and learn a trade. Flanagan did not believe in the reform school model, which he thought too punitive, and stated, "there's no such thing as a bad boy".
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Edward J. Flanagan
Edward Joseph Flanagan (13 July 1886 – 15 May 1948) was an Irish-born priest of the Catholic Church in the United States who served for decades in Nebraska. After serving as a parish priest in the Catholic Diocese of Omaha, he founded the orphanage and educational complex known as Boys Town, located west of the city in what is now Boys Town, Douglas County, Nebraska. In the 21st century, the complex also serves as a center for troubled youth.
Flanagan's work became widely known, especially after he was played by Spencer Tracy in the movie Boys Town (1938). In the post-World War II era, Flanagan was invited by General Douglas MacArthur to visit Japan and Korea, and later Austria and Germany, to give him advice about improving conditions for children in the occupied countries.
In 2012 the Catholic Diocese of Omaha initiated the process for canonization of Fr. Flanagan. That year he was declared a "Servant of God". Documentation of the cause was sent to the Vatican in 2015.
Flanagan was born in the townland of Leabeg, County Roscommon, near the village of Ballymoe, County Galway, Ireland. His parents were John (a herdsman) and Honoria Flanagan. He attended Summerhill College, Sligo, Ireland.
In 1904, he emigrated to the United States with his sister Nellie. He attended Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where in 1906 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Flanagan entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. Having contracted double pneumonia, Flanagan was forced to take a year off to recover, and stayed with his brother, Father Patrick Flanagan, in Omaha, Nebraska, where Nellie was both housekeeper and nurse.
He then continued his studies in Rome, living at the Capranica while taking classes at Gregorian University. He returned home to Omaha due to his health in the winter of 1908 and took an accounting job at Cudahy Packing Company. Flanagan returned to Europe the following autumn, entering the Royal Imperial Leopold Francis University in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained a priest in 1912.
He returned to the US, where his first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in O'Neill, Nebraska. He was then transferred to St. Patrick's Church in Omaha and was present during the Tornado outbreak sequence of March 1913 responding to the dead and injured. In 1916, Flanagan established a homeless shelter for transient workers. He became a US citizen in 1919.
Flanagan was moved by the plight of youth. In 1917, he founded a home for homeless boys in Omaha. Bishop Jeremiah James Harty of the Diocese of Omaha had misgivings, but endorsed Flanagan's experiment in housing and education. Because the downtown facilities were inadequate, Flanagan established Boys Town, ten miles west of Omaha, in 1921. Under Flanagan's direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community with its own boy-mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities. Boys between the ages of 10 and 16 could receive an education here and learn a trade. Flanagan did not believe in the reform school model, which he thought too punitive, and stated, "there's no such thing as a bad boy".
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