Fr. Dick was part of the Deaconate formation team who prepared me for my ordination as a Permanent Deacon.
May 13, 2014
Dear Brothers:
Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of our brother Fr. Richard F. McCaslin, S.J., who was called to eternal life on May 13, 2013. Dick died at St. Camillus, in Wauwatosa, WI. He was seventy-nine years old, a Jesuit for sixty-one years, and a priest for forty-eight years.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska on July 16, 1934, Dick attended Holy Angels Grade School and Creighton Prep in Omaha before entering the Society at Florissant, Missouri on August 8, 1952. He completed the usual Jesuit course of studies at St. Stanislaus Seminary, Saint Louis University, and St. Mary’s College. Dick was ordained at St. Mary’s on June 9, 1965. He did tertianship in Seoul, Korea. After two years of studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, Dick pronounced his final vows at Sogang University on August 15, 1973.
For almost twenty years Dick served in Korea. He learned the language and the culture and held a succession of important positions as the new mission grew into an independent region and as a small Sogang College developed into a major university. After his return to the United States, Dick served as socius to the provincial (1986-1989), director of the Oshkosh Retreat House (1989-2001), and superior of the Creighton Prep Jesuit Community (2001-2004). From 2004 to 2010 he worked in South Dakota, residing at the Sioux Spiritual Center and later at Holy Rosary Mission as he helped direct the permanent diaconate and lay ministry programs of the Rapid City Diocese. Declining health led to his assignment in late 2010 to the St. Camillus Jesuit Community.
Trained as a theologian, Dick’s heart was not so much in research but in teaching and especially in applying theological insights to the giving of the Spiritual Exercises. All his life, whatever other responsibilities he had, Dick served as a spiritual director and a retreat director. This is the ministry at which he wanted to excel, and he did.
Dick will also be remembered for his warm human qualities. Raised in a large Irish Catholic family, he relished frequent contacts with his family and from them learned how to nurture supportive relationships with all sorts of people. He was seldom at a loss for words. He was extremely perceptive and had a gift for using humor to make others feel good about themselves. An athlete in his younger days, he found the diminishments of old age challenging because they restricted his ability to reach out to other people. In the end, however, he was able to let the good Lord reach out to him and call him to Himself.
Arrangements are as follows:
Visitation and Funeral
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Visitation: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Funeral Mass: 7:00 PM
San Camillo Chapel
Burial
Friday, May 16, 2014
9:00 AM
Mt. Olivet Cemetery
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Messages of condolence may be sent to one of the following:
St. Camillus Jesuit Community
10100 West Bluemound Road
Wauwatosa, WI 53226
Dr. Joseph McCaslin (brother)
2012 North 100th Street
Omaha, NE 63134
Rev. John McCaslin (brother)
7323 Shirley Street
Omaha, NE 68124
Rev. Patrick McCaslin (brother)
5801 Oakhills Drive
Omaha, NE 68137
Sr. Clare McCaslin, OP (sister)
3451 North 45th Court
Omaha, NE 68104
Mrs. Peggy Dineen (sister)
1306 South 138th Street
Omaha, NE 68144
As we remember with gratitude all that God has done through Dick’s life of service to God and God’s people, we are reminded of our privilege and obligation to offer Masses and prayers for his eternal repose.
Sincerely in Christ,
Patrick J. Burns, S.J.
Socius
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