Joseph Lennon

LENNON, REV. JOSEPH LUKE, O.P., 91, died Tuesday evening, June 21, 2011, at the Philip Hulitar Center, the inpatient facility of Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island. He was a member of the Dominican Friars (Order of Preachers) of the Eastern Province of St. Joseph and of the Dominican Community at Providence College. Born Joseph Bernard Lennon on Sept. 21, 1919, in Providence, a son of the late John J. Lennon and Marjorie Charlotte (McCabe) Lennon, he graduated from La Salle Academy in 1936. In 1940, he received a B.A. in classics from Providence College, where he was enrolled in the pre-ecclesiastical program. He then entered the Dominican novitiate at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Ky., receiving the religious name Luke. He made his simple profession there on Aug. 16, 1941. He studied for two years at St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, Ohio, and then earned his bachelor's and licentiate degrees in sacred theology from the College of the Immaculate Conception/ Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. On June 5, 1947, he was ordained a priest by the Most Rev. Archbishop (later Cardinal) Amleto G. Cicognani, D.D., apostolic delegate to the United States, at St. Dominic Church in Washington, D.C. He later earned an M.A. in psychology from The Catholic University of America and Ph.D. in education from The University of Notre Dame. In 1949, he joined the faculty at Providence College, where he taught education, theology, and philosophy until he retired from teaching with the rank of professor in 1968. Father Lennon held numerous administrative positions at PC, including dean of the college and vice president for community affairs. His honorary degrees included an M.A. from PC in 1961, Doctor of Letters degrees from Bradford Durfee College of Technology and Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass-Dartmouth), and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Roger Williams College. His community and civic affiliations included service on numerous state committees concerning education and health, as well as service on the boards of medical organizations such as Rhode Island Hospital and Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Rhode Island. He was also an arbitrator for the R.I. Department of Labor. His professional memberships included several distinguished educational associations and honor societies, including Alpha Epsilon Delta (an international premedical society), and terms as president of Delta Epsilon Sigma, the national scholastic honor society for Catholic colleges and universities. Father Lennon published many books on education and sociology, ranging from the theoretical (The Nature of Experience and Its Role in the Acquisition of Scientific Knowledge According to the Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1954) to the practical (Thirty Ways to Get Ahead at College, 1963, and When the Girls Come, 1971). He wrote hundreds of articles, reprints, book reviews, commentaries, and letters to the editor for various religious, scholarly, and civic publications, including serving as a longtime op-ed writer for the Providence Visitor/Rhode Island Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Providence. He also was a frequent public speaker and a television and radio personality, appearing on the long-running TV program "Psychology and Everyday Life." His countless distinctions include the PC Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Service Award, the R.I. Educators Man of the Year Award, and numerous awards from the Diocese of Providence for his service to youth and the disabled. Father Lennon was also inducted into the La Salle Academy Hall of Fame in 1963. In 1997, the City of Providence rededicated Camden Avenue Park in his honor and held a "Reverend Joseph L. Lennon Day". Last October, Father Lennon was present for the rededication of the park in his honor. He was inducted into the R.I. Heritage Hall of Fame in 1999. Well known for his love of golf, Father Lennon was honored for his dedication to the sport by the Rhode Island Golf Association in fall 2008. A member of the association's Burke Fund Scholarship Selection Committee for 40 years, he both received the association's John P. Burke Award and had a permanent, endowed scholarship established in his name within the Burke Fund. An accomplished golfer, Father Lennon was a three-time winner of the R.I. State Seniors' Golf Association Championship. He organized and competed in many charity golf tournaments over the years. He was predeceased by his parents and by his six brothers and two sisters: John J., James E., Frederick M., Marjorie D., Robert J., Mary M., Ralph E., and Bernard J. Lennon, and by his nephews John and Frederick and his niece Mary Lennon. He is survived by his five nieces Marjorie Reidy, Judith Cafferty, Jane McClanaghan, Barbara McFarland, and Kathleen Lennon, and by his three nephews Ralph, Joseph, and Robert Lennon. His body will be received into the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary at the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday, June 24, at 4:00 p.m., with visitation following, concluding with the Office of the Dead at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for him on Saturday, June 25, at 10:00 a.m., in St. Dominic Chapel, off Eaton Street. Burial will follow in the Dominican Community Cemetery on the PC Campus. No flowers, please. Donations in his memory may be made to Providence College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, R.I., 02918, for the Father Joseph L. Lennon, O.P. Scholarship Fund, established in his honor in 1992 to assist students in financial need. Arrangements by Russell J. Boyle and Son, 331 Smith Street, Providence. boyleandsonfuneralhome.com