1. John Anthony Hardon was an American Jesuit priest, writer, teacher and theologian.
45 Facts About John Hardon
1. 2.
John Hardon was born on June 18,1914, to John and Anna Hardon in Midland, Pennsylvania.
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John Hardon was Anna's only child, and she supported him by cleaning offices in Cleveland, often working nights.
4.
Janaro reports that as a child John Hardon was "willful and self-possessed; he was determined that no one was going to tell him what to do"; but he was affected by his mother's example.
5.
At one point, the three-year-old John Hardon protested at having to abstain from meat on Friday, unlike "sisters".
6.
At age six, John Hardon received religious instruction from a Sister Benedicta.
7.
John Hardon received his primary education at St Wendelin School in Cleveland.
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John Hardon learned about Saint Peter Canisius, a 16th century Dutch Jesuit priest who preached against the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
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John Hardon then attended Cathedral Latin High School in Cleveland, operated by the Brothers of Mary.
10.
Unwilling to leave Anna on her own, John Hardon decided not to pursue the priesthood immediately after high school.
11.
John Hardon decided then to become a medical doctor; however, he later said that the Jesuit charism had a "profound impact" on him:.
12.
John Hardon changed his course of studies to include Latin, philosophy, and college theology, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936.
13.
John Hardon again considered abandoning the priesthood and marrying a childhood friend.
14.
John Hardon applied and was accepted to the medical school at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
15.
John Hardon published his first article in 1941 on the study of Latin.
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John Hardon obtained a Master of Philosophy degree at Loyola University Chicago in 1941.
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On June 18,1947, John Hardon was ordained to the priesthood.
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John Hardon's mother attended the ordination, along with the now grown up girls from his childhood.
19.
John Hardon's superiors tasked him with retrieving a number of library books from borrowers that the Vatican had recently declared as heretical.
20.
John Hardon earned his Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Gregorian in 1951 with a dissertation on St Robert Bellarmine: A Comparative Study of Bellarmine's Doctrine on the Relation of Sincere Non-Catholics to the Catholic Church.
21.
John Hardon pronounced his final vows to the Jesuits on February 2,1953, including the Fourth vow to the pope.
22.
Interested in other faiths, John Hardon began to study comparative religion.
23.
In 1962, John Hardon joined Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to teach Roman Catholicism and Comparative Religion.
24.
John Hardon served as a visiting professor at St Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario where he taught furloughed missionaries classes in missiology.
25.
John Hardon provided advice on liturgy to the participants in the mid-1960s to the Second Vatican Council in Rome.
26.
In 1974, Hardon was appointed as a professor at St John's University in New York City at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholic Doctrine.
27.
John Hardon worked with the Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio to write Christ Our Life, a series of religious textbooks for elementary students.
28.
In line with his letter Solemni Hac Liturgia, the pope requested that John Hardon produce a new English catechism.
29.
John Hardon published the Modern Catholic Dictionary, a Catholic reference work.
30.
John Hardon wrote articles for Catholic newspapers and magazines and served as executive editor of The Catholic Faith magazine.
31.
In 1969, John Hardon helped found the Consortium Perfectae Caritatis, a group of conservative American nuns who broke away from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
32.
In 1972, John Hardon founded Mark Communication in Canada and later the Pontifical Catechetical Institutes in the United States, to train religious educators.
33.
John Hardon founded several Catholic organizations, including Inter Mirifica and Holy Trinity Apostolate in Sterling Heights, Michigan He served as an adviser to many Catholic organizations, including Catholics United for Faith, an international lay organization to promote evangelism.
34.
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger asked John Hardon to instruct the sisters on evangelism.
35.
John Hardon later adapted the Missionaries course into a series of home study courses for lay Catholics.
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In 1985, John Hardon founded the Marian Catechist Apostolate, which uses these home study courses to prepare lay people for catechetical ministry.
37.
John Hardon viewed it as having "greased the skids for the culture of death".
38.
In 1996, John Hardon helped establish the first Call to Holiness conference near Detroit.
39.
John Hardon spent his last years working from an office on the grounds of the Assumption Grotto in Detroit, serving as a spiritual director.
40.
John Hardon kept to a demanding work schedule, especially while assisting the 1992 Catechism.
41.
John Hardon would spend at least three hours a day in Eucharistic adoration.
42.
John Hardon frequently received night time calls from Ratzinger about the Catechism.
43.
William J Smith reported that in his final weeks, Hardon "suffered tremendous physical pain, but he made himself "a true victim soul.
44.
John Hardon should be prudently allowed to engage in priestly ministry.
45.
John Hardon viewed this as persecution for teaching the faith, a "white martyrdom", and he would advise his listeners that they should be willing to suffer for the true doctrines of Catholicism.