BOYS TOWN, Neb. (OSV News) — A Mass of Thanksgiving for Venerable Edward J. Flanagan was offered Sept. 13 at Boys Town — and thankfulness abounded.

It was a day of joy and thanksgiving for everyone, including the leader of the Omaha Archdiocese, Archbishop Michael G. McGovern. He presided at the 4:30 p.m. Mass at Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, giving “thanks to God for the great news that our Holy Father, Pope Leo, has recognized the virtues” of the now Venerable Father Flanagan.

“As we gather here and reflect upon Father’s heroic virtues throughout his life, we thank God for the way that he lived, the way that he loved, the way that he served,” the archbishop said in his homily.

A Mass of Thanksgiving was appropriate for Father Flanagan, he said, who lived a life of thanksgiving.

About 600 supporters filled the church to capacity for the historic event for both the local and universal Church. Many more watched a livestream of the Mass, which was viewed as far away as Father Flanagan’s native Ireland.

2 retired Omaha archbishops among concelebrants

The Mass was concelebrated by two former leaders of the archdiocese, retired Archbishops George J. Lucas and Elden Francis Curtiss, as well as many archdiocesan priests.

Boys Town residents — part of Father Flanagan’s legacy — worshipped at the Mass and served as lectors, ushers and choir members. Members of his family — five great-nephews and one great-niece, and some of their families — were there, as well as supporters from the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion, which has helped promote Father Flanagan’s sainthood cause.

The Omaha priest who founded Boys Town, lived from 1886 to 1948, and pioneered care for troubled youths. Father Flanagan recognized their inherent dignity, no matter their race or creed, creating a home for them that has since been copied around the world.

He famously said, “There are no bad boys. There’s only bad environment, bad training, bad example and bad thinking.”

And also: “Rehabilitation needs greater emphasis, punishment, less.”

Priest’s legacy seen in ‘the lives of the youth’ at Boys Town

People in the Boys Town community “like to say that this whole sainthood process is confirming a lot of things we already knew,” said Father Jeff Mollner, Boys Town’s national director of mission and spirituality. “We’ve seen Father Flanagan’s legacy in the lives of the youth that come here and in our alumni.”

“We’re grateful,” he said of celebrating the Mass of Thanksgiving, “that people can come and share in our joy.”

Father Mollner, a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, said he’s thankful that Father Flanagan’s canonization process officially took a significant step forward with Pope Leo XIV’s decree on March 23. The title of Venerable recognizes the priest’s heroic virtues.

But he’s also grateful “to see one of our own,” an archdiocesan priest, “get this great honor,” to be held up as an example for the priests as “a life that we can emulate.”

“Our prayers have been answered,” Colleen Gawley said about Father Flanagan’s advancement in the sainthood process. She is a member of St. Patrick Parish in Elkhorn who is actively involved in the Father Flanagan League.

League members pray every Tuesday at Flanagan tomb

She and others with the league pray every Tuesday at the tomb of Father Flanagan, located at the chapel. They seek his intervention for people desperately in need of prayers, hoping for miracles that would advance his sainthood cause.

Gawley said she was grateful that the Mass was held at the chapel, where Father Flanagan offered Mass, and on the Boys Town campus, where he “walked and lived.”

Father Flanagan League members like Gawley will continue to pray for the priest’s intercession, hoping for the next step, a healing that would lead to his beatification.

Archbishop McGovern invites others to pray as well.

The next step in Father Flanagan’s cause would be beatification, during which he would receive the title “Blessed.” Beatification requires at least one verified miracle attributed to his intercession. A second such miracle is required for his canonization.

Immigrated to U.S. from Ireland in 1904

Born in Ireland, Father Flanagan spent his childhood there before immigrating to the United States in 1904 with other members of his large family.

Eight years later he was ordained a priest and assigned to the then-Diocese of Omaha.

Father Flanagan’s time in the seminary was interrupted with bouts of illness. “But he persevered,” the archbishop said, “until he was ordained a priest” serving in Omaha and O’Neill.

When Father Flanagan worked with men who were down and out in Omaha during the early 1900s, he had an insight: that if they had been helped earlier in life, their lives could be different, their suffering could have been prevented.

He served as St. John Bosco had in Italy, using a “preventative method,” reaching people before their problems could become more complicated, Archbishop McGovern said in an earlier interview. In Omaha that meant giving homeless and wayward boys “a place where they would be safe, secure and able to receive an education.”

In reaching out to those boys, Father Flanagan took risks, the archbishop said at the Mass.

Priest’s courage is motivation for people today

Father Flanagan’s courage is motivation for people today, “to give of ourselves without counting the cost, to take risks, to try something new, as Father Flanagan did in his outreach to youth.”

He listened to people and responded, Archbishop McGovern said, “with support, with care, with concern.”

And he taught the children in his care to love. He said, “It costs so little to teach a child to love and so much to teach him to hate.”

“How many young people — with the difficulties of their lives before they came to Boys Town — easily could have become bitter, resentful, hardhearted, hateful,” the archbishop said. “And yet because of the love and the care that they received at Boys Town, there was a new beginning in life. Hearts changed, hearts grew and expanded.”

Father Flanagan’s chalice, which he received in 1912, was used at the Mass of Thanksgiving. Day after day, the archbishop said, the Boys Town founder used the chalice at Mass, saying, “This is My Body, This is My Blood, given up for you.”

The holy priest also gave of himself “with his own body and blood, strengthened by the Holy Eucharist,” Archbishop McGovern said.

Flanagan family members at the Mass included Ed and Jack Flanagan.

‘Humble and grateful’ to be related to Father Flanagan

“Of course, it’s an honor” to be related to Father Flanagan, said Jack, a father, grandfather and semi-retired financial professional who lives in Honolulu. “We’re all humble and grateful.”

“Look at what he’s done,” Ed said about his great-uncle, “all the good that he did. He went all over the world spreading his mission,” he added.

They gave an interview ahead of the Mass to The Catholic Voice, Omaha’s archdiocesan news outlet.

Ed, a bachelor who owns a cleaning business in Omaha, is a grandson of Father Flanagan’s brother Michael. At age 63, he was too young to have known Father Flanagan. But Ed’s father spent a lot of time on the Boys Town campus, making friends with the residents.

As an adult, Ed worships regularly at the Boys Town chapel. He helped start the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion in 1999, at the request of Boys Town alumni.

Jack, 76 and a grandson of Father Flanagan’s brother James, was born two years after Father Flanagan’s death. Though he, too, never met his famous relative, he did know four of Father Flanagan’s siblings, including one who also was a priest.

Started prayer group devoted to Father Flanagan in Honolulu

With the help of his pastor and a fellow parishioner, Jack started a prayer group devoted to Father Flanagan in Honolulu. About 15 people regularly gather for prayer on the third Wednesday of every month.

Both Jack and Ed urged more prayer for those who are learning about their saintly relative and asking for his intercession.

“The one thing that I was told from my grandma is just pray,” Ed said. Father Flanagan “prayed like nobody’s business,” he said. “He was the first one in the chapel every day, the last one to leave. He believed in prayer, and he believed it works.”

The sainthood process is “a long journey,” Ed said, “and I think we’re getting closer.”

Susan Szalewski is a feature writer at The Catholic Voice,  the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Omaha. This story was originally published by The Catholic Voice and is distributed through a partnership with OSV News.