John J. King

Rev. John J. King, OMI, 86, died on May 2, 2015, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, after a period of declining health. He was born on July 2, 1928, in Lowell, Massachusetts, a son of the late William J. and Mary Ellen (Delaney) King and one of seven children. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by two brothers: William King and Stephen King, and four sisters: Anne Heenen, Frances McNamara, Kathleen Moynahan, and Mary Steele.
Fr. King was educated in Lowell through high school. He attended college at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and Maryknoll Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. He did his theology studies at the Oblate College in Washington, DC, and his doctoral studies in theology at the Catholic University of America, also in Washington.
He entered the Oblate Novitiate in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1950. He professed his first vows on September 8, 1951, and his perpetual vows on September 8, 1954. The late Bishop Arsene Turquetil, OMI, ordained him to the priesthood in Washington, DC, on December 18, 1954. He celebrated 60 years of priesthood this past December.
Fr. King began his ministry in 1955 as a professor of theology at the Oblate College (Scholasticate) in Washington, DC. His skill as a teacher is attested to by the fact that he could make the study of Hebrew interesting! He became the "theological secretary" to the apostolic delegate to the United States, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Egidio Vagnozzi. During the Second Vatican Council in Rome, Archbishop Vagnozzi appointed Fr. King his peritus (an expert in theology who was present to give advice to individual bishops). He later served as a member of the U.S. Bishops' Press Panel, who met with the media after each session of the Council. In 1963 he was assigned to be the Superior of the Studium Generale in Rome. In 1966 he returned to the Scholasticate in Washington, DC, but in 1968 he returned to Rome as a General Councilor for the United States region, serving at the Oblate General House.
In 1975, Fr. King went with the first group of Oblates to Puerto Rico where he served as Pastor, first at San Antonio de Padua Parish in Ceiba, and then at Our Lady of Fatima in DaGuao. In 1981, he returned to Lowell as the Director of the Hispanic Ministry Center. After a sabbatical year, he was in residence at St. John the Evangelist in Mullens, West Virginia.
Over the years, Fr. King felt increasingly called to silence and solitude. In 1985, he became a hermit, first at the Oblates' Lebh Shomea House of Prayer in Sarita, Texas, and then in Godfrey, Illinois, at the Oblate National Novitiate. In June of 1989, Fr. King became the hermit chaplain at the Monastic Family of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno in Livingston Manor, New York. Due to health issues, he moved to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in 2013 where he remained until his death.
In addition to his Oblate family, Fr. King is survived by many nieces and nephews.