Fr John Flader, Author at MercatorNet

Author Archives: Fr John Flader

I was born in Kohler, Wisconsin, U.S.A., and studied chemistry at Harvard University, graduating with a B.A. in 1962. Then I went to Rome where I studied Theology at the Roman College of the Holy Cross from 1962 to 1964, and where I had the great privilege of being very close to the founder of Opus Dei, St Josemaria Escriva. From 1964 to 1967 I studied Canon Law at the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain, obtaining a doctorate in 1967. My doctoral dissertation, which was published by the University of Navarre Press, was on mixed marriages. I was ordained a priest of Opus Dei in Segovia, Spain, in August 1967, and came to Australia in March 1968 to be the first chaplain of Warrane College, a residential college at the University of New South Wales which opened in 1970. I served as chaplain of Warrane and of Creston College, a college for girls at the same university, until 1991. From 1992 to 1997 I was chaplain of the University of Tasmania in Hobart and In 1998 moved to Melbourne where I was chaplain of RMIT University from 1998 to 2001. Then it was back to Sydney where from 2002 to 2010 I was Director of the Catholic Adult Education Centre, an agency of the Archdiocese of Sydney. I am currently chaplain of Tangara School for Girls, a school run by the PARED Foundation in Sydney. Since January 2005 I have written the “Question Time” column in “The Catholic Weekly” and since July 2007 the column has also appeared in the Perth Catholic newspaper “The Record”.

He’s just being realistic about widespread lack of commitment