The Jesuit Post
Late last week, the Society of Jesus — and indeed, the Church — lost one of its great scholars of the past half-century. More than that, it lost one of its great teachers and priests.
Ideally, seminaries are seed beds that yield abundant crops of ministers to broadcast the Good News. For this to happen, the seed of the Gospel must be sown in the hearts of those people who aspire to become ministers, whether lay or ordained. Seminaries are places where this happens; places where sowers help produce other sowers.
The Reverend Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. – “Dan” as he is known to generations of his students, colleagues, and brother Jesuits – was a peerless sower. His death today marks the end of a stellar career in which he wrote over 50 books, hundreds of scholarly articles, and thousands of succinct abstracts of New Testament scholarship. I lived with Dan in a small community for three years at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. During that time, I came to see Dan’s scholarship as one of many ways he scattered very good seed in the hearts around him. But there were other ways he sowed, and other types of seed. And even with his passing, the church will continue to reap the fruits of his labors.
Read the whole tribute, by Peter Folan, SJ, over at the main TJP site.
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