William Clancy
Finn, James
WM. CLANCY, 1922-1982 William Clancy, writer, editor, teacher, priest, died on January 6, 1982. The many people who crowded St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh on the bitter cold day of his funeral...
...He loved the things of this world in all their particularity, making nice discriminations in music and poetry, food and wine...
...MEMORIAL SERVICE A memorial service for William Clancy will be held at 6:30 PM, Friday, Feb...
...Joseph's Church, 359-365 Sixth Ave...
...And you succeed...
...Liberal Catholic" came to question, in his last years, some recent changes in the church and political positions that he had once advocated...
...and Washington Place, New York City...
...Well...
...Bill's life was a continuing attempt - imperfect as it must inevitably be - to sing the Lord's song...
...He has now left his many friends and this strange land...
...I try to be...
...19, at St...
...May eternal light shine upon him...
...But he wrote that the believer is always a stranger and a pilgrim and he frequently quoted from one of the greatest of psalms, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land...
...All are welcome...
...An exchange between a ten-year-old daughter and Bill: "You're a nice man Bill Clancy...
...It was at least partially in response to this question that "Mr...
...A graduate of Notre Dame, Bill began his journalistic career at Commonweal in the early 1950s [ 1952-1955...
...The last was not the least of his accomplishments...
...With these, without conscious intent, free of cliche and current jargon, he cut through labels and non-essentials to what people took seriously about themselves...
...Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh on the bitter cold day of his funeral were testimony to the remarkable effect he had on those whose lives he touched...
...As one of his friends said on is death: "May a heavenly banquet await him, for no one could enjoy it more...
...Along the way he taught a course on Roman Catholicism at the University of Pittsburgh, appeared on radio and TV programs, lectured, debated, wrote-and ate, drank, and talked with the many friends he made so readily...
...He was subsequently religion editor of Newsweek and founding editor of Worldview, which he left to begin his studies for the priesthood...
...We not only experienced Bill's genius fo,r friendship amounting to love, we saw it manifested in his relations with a wide range of people - intellectuals, bores, the talented and successful, those others called fools, losers and failures and celebrities...
...Excellence was the criterion...
...After three years study at Christ College, Oxford, Bill returned to be ordained by John Cardinal Wright, then bishop of Pittsburgh...
...As Father William Clancy he became, in 1968, provost of the Pittsburgh Oratory where he remained and from which he was buried...
...Very frequently, with Bill, these things came to be cast in religious terms, for he always saw what was transient, including ourselves, against that which is not...
...Bill and I had become close friends almost upon acquaintance and he was subsequently godfather to my wife Molly, best man at our wedding, godfather to our son, and a friend to our other children...
...JAMES FINN (James Finn, an editor of Commonweal from 1955 to 1961, is currently editor of Freedom at Issue...
...On the basis of many articles and editorials - reflective, incisive, often controversial, and always eloquent - he became known as "Mr...
...Liberal Catholic...
...It was not that Bill did not appreciate this world...
...Celebrations and occasions were important to him - including his own wake and funeral services for which, typically, he left the most detailed and considerate instructions...
Vol. 109 • January 1982 • No. 2
