Senan Glass, OFM Cap., 1930-2020

Capuchin friar Senan Glass, OFM Cap., died on Saturday morning, December 26, 2020, following a short residence at Manor Care Nursing Home in Wexford, PA, where he had been undergoing rehabilitation following treatment for an infection at Shadyside Hospital, Pittsburgh.  He was 90 years old.

Born and baptized Paul Glass on February 27, 1930, in Uniontown, PA, the future friar was raised in Brownsville, PA, and he and his family were members of St. John Parish in Uniontown. He began his education at the parish elementary school and completed grade school at St. Peter School in Brownsville before entering St. Fidelis Seminary High School and College Seminary in Herman, PA, in 1944.  Following his second year of college, Paul received the name Br. Senan as well as as his Capuchin habit when he began his Capuchin novitiate in Annapolis, MD, on July 13, 1951, and made his first vows as a friar on July 14, 1952. He returned to Herman complete his collegiate studies and moved on to study Theology for the priesthood at Capuchin College in Washington DC in 1954.  He was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1957 along with Capuchin classmates Basil Gasper (+1994), Bennett Colucci (+2000) and Leon Leitem, who survives him.

Senan spent 23 years in the Capuchin missions of Papua New Guinea (PNG), largely in the parishes and bush stations of the Southern Highlands Province. Our Province's mission to the country had begun only four years before the young priest friar was called to join these pioneering efforts of evangelization in 1959. Current Bishop of Mendi in PNG, Bishop Don Lippert, OFM Cap., praised him as having been "a great missionary!" His joy was parish ministry because of his love for people and his desire to lead them to the Lord's goodness. That goodness radiated from his smile and careful attention to those he served. That smile and human warmth were readily apparent whether there among the early converts of Papua New Guinea or among the American parishioners he came to cherish.

Returning to the United States in 1982, he took some time for ongoing education in Marriage Counseling through the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and spent four years working with Engaged Encounter. The intense weekends challenged couples to come to know one another and to explore the meaning and richness of a Sacramental marriage in Christ Jesus. Senan came to know and hold dear many of the married couples with whom he worked and from whom he received affirmation and love.

After a six month sabbatical, Senan returned to full time parochial ministry in Dover and Mineral City, OH, and then as rector of the Shrine of the Conversion of St. Paul and Pastor of Holy Trinity/St. Edward parish in Cleveland from 1993 until the millennial year 2000.

Now 70, Senan embarked on a well-earned year of a “Working Sabbatical,” providing pastoral and ministerial support in Charleston, WV, Philadelphia, PA, and Nassau in the Bahama Islands before taking up permanent residence at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Philadelphia in 2001 where he would minister for the next fifteen years. Finally, at 86 in 2016, and with the slow onset of dementia and various physical limitations, Senan retired to St. Augustine Friary, our Provincial motherhouse in Pittsburgh, and took on a life of prayer and reflection in service to the Province and the Church.

When he was a missionary in PNG, he was permitted to return to the US every 3-5 years for vacation. On his first time home to visit family and friends, he was interviewed by a reporter from the Catholic Accent, the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Greensburg, PA. He was asked what he missed most of all in his remote mission. Senan replied “Ice cream; chocolate ice cream.”  The friars at St. Augustine in Pittsburgh, which was his base of operation while in the States, made sure he was well supplied each night with that beloved dessert. His parishioners in Philadelphia can attest that Senan took great joy in celebrating Mass and was known to regularly sing through the entire liturgy with the exception of his homily.

Senan was a physically robust man throughout most of his life.  Beyond his decades of bush walks in the mountains of PNG's Southern Highlands, he maintained an exercise regimen through swimming, cycling and camping well into his seventies. Friars were caught off guard when a routine checkup in 2009 revealed a dangerous level of blockage in the arteries around his heart that required emergency surgery to insert several stents.  One of the friars was visiting when his cardiologist came into the room with X-rays to show how close a call he’d had.  Senan looked at the images and replied with a touch of longing: “Oh, look how close I was to finally seeing Jesus!”  The Lord kept him waiting for eleven more years, but on the morning after Christmas, 2020, God granted him the gift that he had desired for so long.

Senan was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Rose (Showman) Glass, and siblings Harry, James, Agnes (Mastricola) and Jerry. He is survived by his sister Rose Marie (+William) Harvey and by his over 10,000 Capuchin brothers throughout the world.

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