Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Cambridge, MA. It has been a pleasure to write this occasional blog for America, but perhaps never more than today, when I have the opportunity to celebrate, in this small way, the birthday of my father, James J. Clooney, who turns 90 on March 30th.
     Born in Jersey City in 1919, Dad grew up mainly in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, where his stepfather worked as the custodian for Holy Ghost Parish for some years. (Dad’s mother and father came from Ireland. His father William, who worked as a groom in a stable on Long Island, died in an accident - kicked by a horse - soon after my father was born; his mother Elizabeth (née Callahan) remarried, raised a larger family of which my father was an integral part, and lived into her 80s.) After graduating from high school (St. Michael’s) and a brief interlude working at a newspaper in Brooklyn - the Eagle, I think - Dad entered the Jesuit novitiate at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in 1938. Fr Leo Weber was his novice master, and Fathers Daniel Berrigan, Joe Spellerberg and America’s own John Donohoe among his many classmates. Luckily for me and my sisters Mary and Regina, he stayed only for about 20 months — and then found his true vocation outside the Society. All his long life, to be sure, he has been influenced by that short but significant sojourn in the Society.


     Providentially — and this must be a rarity — Dad met my mother Irene (Harrigan) due to his reading of America, a habit already established even in the 1940s. They were both employed in war-related  work at the Bush terminals in Brooklyn. Dad was accustomed to read America while riding the elevated train to work; he met another America reader, who in turn introduced him to a friend of his — my mother, who also worked at the terminal. Mom and Dad married in 1944, just before he went off to the Pacific for several years of Navy duty (1944-1946). (During the war years, my mother dutifully took apart each issue of America and mailed it to Dad in pieces that would satisfy the standards for war-time military mail!) Upon his return, Dad was a New York City policeman for almost 20 years. After retiring from the police in 1964, he worked for the Archdiocese, in Catholic Big Brothers, until his second retirement in the 1980s. Thereafter, he and my mother were inseparable companions in a second retirement — or a second, real honeymoon, unlike the truncated one during the war — until her death in 1999 after 55 years of marriage. Continuity has been a great thread in his life, and he has been fortunate to live in the same house on Staten Island since 1953. And, I might add, it is a house he has cared for devoutly with his own hands, undertaking everything from painting the exterior to interior renovations almost entirely on his own.
     All these years, Dad has been a great reader — America for a lifetime, of course, National Geographic for some decades; in later years, he has also become fond of the National Catholic Register, books of history, detective novels, and old reliable books of theology and spirituality. A devout Catholic of the “old school,” one might say, his has always been a straightforward Catholic faith, strengthened by a deep confidence in the authority of the hierarchy, devotion to the rosary and meditation, and most importantly, a love of the Eucharist. He was a regular lector in church for many years and is still, at 90, a daily communicant.
Ever in good health, in recent years he has become (again) a regular rider of the Staten Island ferry, subways, and express buses that take him around the city and back to his old neighborhood in Brooklyn. Family remains at the center to his life, and it is fortunate that my sisters Mary and Regina live close by on Staten Island. His three grandchildren, Michael, John, and Jim, are a source of great pride and joy for him.
    

Now, in our family, he is almost the only surviving member of the generation that was so deeply marked by the Depression, the war, and the great changes in the American sense of family and church in the 1950s and 1960s. (Thankfully, his half-brother John Sweeney and his wife Camille are still healthy and well, down in Virginia.) Growing old gracefully is a challenging task, but Dad has managed his many years very well, and at 90 is content and at peace. He may, or may not, it seems, live to 100!
     It is a surely vocation in itself to keep open the eyes of faith, to remain expectant of God’s coming, even while living by memories, even at 90. As I mentally search the Bible for parallels, I think right away of Simeon who, even in his old age, still believed that the promises made to him by God would come true, and he would indeed meet his Christ: “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
     Few topics have been more written about than that of fathers and sons, and we men rightly see bits of ourselves in our fathers and our sons. While as a Jesuit I have foregone the prospect of contemplating sons, I can look to my father with curiosity, gratitude, and love. In so many ways we are different — and in so many ways I live out in my generation the possibilities and hopes he has lived in his 90 years.
     Happy birthday, Dad!

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
15 years ago
I don't know about anyone else not a relative or friend of the Clooney family, but how can I go about getting adopted into the family? :) What a lovely tribute by his son and his admitrers. Happy Birthday, Mr. Clooney!
15 years ago
Oh, Fr. Clooney, such a beautiful post and what a lovely tribute ; boy can I tell from all the loving comments made by the Clooney clan and friends that you father truly fulfils the Ignatian ideal of being "a man for others!" What a family history you related. Now having read how your parents met through America magazine, I do hope its Editors will decide to feature this heatwarming story in its special centennial celebration issue. I don't know you personally, but did meet one of your very lucky, lovely young studests recently. And this Duxbury gal hopes to make your acquaintance some day. Big hugs and kisses to Mr. Clooney from another America fan and a luminous rainbow of Irish good wishes and blessings to all the Clooneys. Gini Parker
14 years 12 months ago
Happy 90th Birthday Uncle Jimmy! May your day be blessed with peace and joy!
15 years ago
Thank you, Frank, for this fine tribute to your father. As the former administrator of the church -- Saint Christopher's on Staten Island -- where your father is a daily communicant, I can only say that he was a model of faithfulness, determination and discretion. I saw that his love for your mother was alive and ardent; this impressed me deeply. I also saw how proud he was of you, but it was not his way to impose his pride, or his other feelings, on anyone. Congratulations to you, Jim. You are the best of the ''old school''! Fr. Boniface Ramsey, Pastor, St. Joseph's Church (Yorkville)
15 years ago
Happy Birthday, Mr. Clooney! May your mornings bring joy and your evenings bring peace May your troubles grow less as your blessings increase! If you're lucky enough to be Irish, You're lucky enough!
15 years ago
What a lovely tribute, Father. Happy Birthday to Mr. Clooney, and may God bless him today and in the years to come. Ad Multos Annos!
15 years ago
I'm happy to read and share this piece about my father, written by my brother, and shared with my sister, husband, and sons. Our ''Dad'' and ''Pop'' has been a pivotal part of our lives for so many years, and now I see my sons learning from his example of faithfulness, devotion to family, and even such modern ideas of conserving natural resources for preserving the planet by living a simple lifestyle. Happy Birthday from all of us--we love you!
15 years ago
What a great story and tribute to Uncle James. One of the fondest memories I have is going back to Borough Park with Uncle James and our Mom and them showing us around the old neighborhood, telling us stories from their earlier years, seeing the house they grew up in, etc. He has seen and experienced so much in 90 years. What an amazing man!!!! Happy Birthday, Uncle James. We love you.
15 years ago
As someone who has known both the author and his father for many years, it was delightful to read this fine tribute to Mr. Clooney. Like the author, I too am grateful for Mr. Clooney's vocation outside the Jesuits, his family having given me my best friend of some 40 years, in the person of his daughter Regina. I have always been inspired by Mr. Clooney's desire to continue to learn, to probe, to understand, as evidenced by his voracious reading. Happy Birthday, Mr.Clooney!
15 years ago
Happy birthday and many, many more, Mr. Clooney! Your son's story is lovely--I never thought of using America Magazine as a match-making tool. Perhaps I should tell my single friends...
15 years ago
Thank you so much for sharing this with us all Frank! What a great tribute to your Dad! Happy Birthday to Uncle James! Not only are you a wonderful dad to your 3 children but to all the ''children'' in the Harrigan clan. We are all so blessed to know you and learn from your model of how you lead your life. I have very fond memories of having summer gatherings at the Clooney home. You are truly amazing! Much love and many birthday blessings to you, my Uncle and Godfather!
15 years ago
Bravo Frank! and Happy Birthday Mr. Clooney!
15 years ago
Happy Birthday to a wonderful man with a wonderful family! I am honored to say that I know Mr. Clooney!! Happy Birthday! With love, Donna Milone
15 years ago
Happy Birthday Uncle James from one of your nieces in Virginia! While our families live miles apart, we are close to you in spirit and no distance can diminish family ties. So from your "little brother" John, sister-in-law Camille and the whole Sweeney Clan, we say - Have a blessed, joyful 90th birthday.
15 years ago
Happy 90th Birthday, Pop! Thanks for being such an amazing grandfather to me, and Mike and John! There are so many memories of you that I still have from when I was just a little kid, and the memories that we are still having today! Thank you! This is an incredible day and make sure that you enjoy it! Congratulations on turning 90!

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024