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March
26, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 6Oakland,
CA
OBITUARIES
• Father John Dollard, founding pastor of St. Charles Parish in Livermore, dies at 88
• Sr. Estelle Mary Hains, SNJM
Father
John Dollard, founding pastor of
St. Charles Parish in Livermore, dies at 88
Father John
Dollard, a retired priest of the Oakland Diocese and the founding pastor
of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Livermore, died March 5 at the age of
88.
A native of San Mateo, Father Dollard was ordained to the priesthood in
June 1945 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. He served as
an assistant pastor at parishes on both sides of the bay including Sacred
Heart in Oakland (1945-51), Queen of All Saints in Concord (1959-60) and
Our Lady of Grace in Castro Valley (1960-64) before being appointed pastor
of the newly established St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Livermore in 1964.
During the Livermore parish’s early years, the community gathered
for Sunday Masses at Granada High School and at the Vine Theater while
waiting for the church to be built. To help build community, Father Dollard
organized daily Masses in the homes of parishioners so that people could
get to know him and one another.
“He would come and say Mass for two days at your house and he would
stay and have breakfast with you,” recalled Beverly Eason Nelson,
a longtime parishioner and former parish secretary.
In a similar vein, the priest set up neighborhood gatherings in which
he would meet with small groups of parishioners, Nelson said. “He
would give you topics to discuss to make you aware of who your neighbor
was.”
Father Dollard also launched a CCD program that was, like the daily Masses,
based in the homes of parishioners. “He used to say if you are a
parent you need to take on responsibility and so we used to have eight
or 10 students in our home and have CCD,” Nelson said.
The priest, whom Nelson described as “plain spoken and very matter-of-fact,”
often stressed accountability in the parish.
“We never played bingo at St. Charles because he wanted people to
give their money from their heart. He would say, ‘This is your parish
and you need to learn to support it,’” she said. “He
would also say, ‘You need to get involved because the time is going
to come when we are not going to have enough priests. It is time for the
laity so you need to step up and be accountable.’”
Some parishioners resisted Father Dollard’s message. “They
had a difficult time with it because they were used to the old school
where the priest did everything. And if the priest didn’t do it,
then it wasn’t valid,” Nelson said.
Over the years Father Dollard began to embrace theological views and administrative
policies that caused a division in the parish and Bishop Floyd Begin removed
the priest from the pastorate in 1976.
For some time the priest continued to hold prayer services with a group
of parishioners. Later he became reconciled with the diocese and was asked
by Bishop John Cummins to work with retired priests.
Survivors include his brother and sister-in-law, Patrick and Marian Dollard,
his nephew, Eric Dollard, his niece and her husband, Susan and Dave Penry,
and a great-nephew, Daniel Penry.
Bishop Cummins will preside at a Memorial Mass for Father Dollard on April
14 at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 1315 Lomitas Ave. in Livermore, at
12:30 p.m. Father Dollard was buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery in
Livermore.
Sister
Estelle Mary Hains, SNJM
Sister Estelle Mary Hains, a longtime educator who taught briefly at two
elementary schools in the Oakland Diocese, died March 10 in Los Gatos.
She was 97 and had been a Sister of the Holy Names for 77 years.
A native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, Sister Hains, also known as Sister Helen
Teresa, served as a teacher and principal at elementary schools in northern
and southern California. In the Oakland Diocese she worked at St. Augustine
School in Oakland from 1930-31 and at the former St. Francis de Sales
School in Oakland from 1943-44.
Survivors include her sister-in-law, Cora Hains, and many nieces and nephews.
The funeral Mass took place on March 13 at the Convent of the Holy Names
in Los Gatos. Burial was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward.
Sister
Gabriel McCarthy, OP
Sister Gabriel McCarthy, a former principal at Berkeley’s School
of the Madeleine, died March 3 in Fremont. She was 92 and had been a Dominican
Sister for 74 years.
Born in Los Angeles, Sister McCarthy served as principal at the School
of the Madeleine from 1971-72. She also worked as a teacher at schools
in San Francisco, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Gabriel and as principal
at schools in San Francisco, Portland, OR, and Anaheim. Her last assignment
in 2002 was to the apostolate of prayer.
The funeral Mass was held March 6 at the Dominican Sisters Chapel in Fremont.
Burial occurred the following morning in the Dominican Sisters Cemetery.
Sister
Alphonsus Nishikaze, OP
Sister Alphonsus Nishikaze, who worked for 30 years in the ministry of
child care, died March 9 in Fremont. She was 87 and in the 60th year of
her religious profession.
Born in Japan, she lived there for two years before her family moved to
Canada. At age 18 she became a Catholic, independent of her family and
with little support. She entered the French-speaking Missionary Sisters
of Christ the King in Canada in 1944.
Three years later she was sent on a mission to Japan where she served
as a liaison between the U.S. Army and Japanese orphanages. If a soldier
wanted to adopt an orphan, Sister Nishikaze acted as translator and it
was her responsibility to check with General MacArthur’s office,
and often with the general himself, to see if the adoption was approved.
In 1953 Sister Nishikaze transferred to the Dominican Sisters of Mission
San Jose. For many of the years that followed she worked at schools that
were residence homes for children: St. Mary’s of the Palms in Fremont,
St. Vincent’s School for Boys in San Rafael, and St. Catherine’s
Military Academy in Anaheim.
Assigned to the Sisters Motherhouse in 1988, Sister Nishikaze served as
receptionist for 10 years. Her final ministry was that of prayer.
Survivors include a brother, sister, nephew and other relatives in Canada.
The funeral Mass was held March 13 at the Dominican Sisters Chapel in
Fremont. Burial was in the Dominican Sisters Cemetery.
