July 17, 1919 -- June 15, 2002
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Gratitude Card
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Rev. Roderick Malachy Dooley O.P., age 82 years, June 15, 2002, beloved son of the late Mildred I. (nee Loney) and Daniel B. Dooley, dear brother of Josephine (Thomas) and the late Richard, Douglas, and Gordon. Remembered fondly by his nieces and nephews, the friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great, the faculty, staff, and students of Fenwick High School and his many friends. Wake services Monday and Tuesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, 7200 W. Division St., River Forest from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. Office for the Dead, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Funeral Mass Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1530 Jackson Ave., River Forest. Interment Dominican Plot, All Saints Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Society for Vocational Support, c/o Dominican Provincial Office, 1909 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60608. Info. 773-736-3833 Published in the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune on 6/17/2002.
Fenwick High School -- Tribute at http://www.fenwickfriars.com/alumnidev/dooley-RIP.htm
A Note from Bob Dixon
On behalf of the entire Fenwick community, I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to reflect on the life of Father Dooley with your kind e-mails, letters, mass cards and even contributions in his name. I would also like to say thanks again to all who were able to attend Father's Wake and Celebration of the Mass of the Resurrection.We counted nearly 2,000 people at these events and know that many more would have attended could they have done so. What a great tribute! If you were able to join us or just simply could not, please check:
http://www.op.org/domcentral/people/inmemoriam/dooley.htmAll of us at Fenwick remember how much Father Dooley loved a party, so we want you to be among the first to mark your calendar for THE DOOLEY'S HOOLEY. On Sunday, September 8th, we will have a celebratory mass followed by a light brunch right here at Fenwick. You and anyone you know who knew Father Dooley are invited to join us. We'll have a wonderful time, perhaps shed a tear or two, and likely laugh an awful lot. Mark your calendar and plan to join us. We'll get you more details as we get closer to the date.
Finally, Father Bernacki, O.P., former Fenwick President and longtime friend of Father Dooley, has put a few words together that I'd like to share with you:
"For almost 800 years, the desire of every Dominican at the time of their death was and is to be received into Heaven while his brother Dominicans sing the SALVE REGINA. Not only did Father Dooley enjoy that last moment just as he had wished, but he died while several of us were praying the Rosary at his bedside. His wry smile at the last moment seemed to fulfill his Dominican dream!
Such a great number of people had experienced his personal appreciation in a vast variety of ways, whether expressed through a welcome glance of his Irish eyes, a short flick of his hand, or a Dooley palms-up handshake. He was a close friend of the thousands whose names he rarely forgot. His love of everyone he met, of each human person, was instinctly accepted as genuine.
His often unseen prayer-life served as the foundation from which his smile eminated. His diverse apostolates, whether on the sidelines at a Fenwick basketball game, on the altar at a wedding, on the cliffs over Galway Bay, or at the quiet bedside of a friend in their last moments, helped him develop the unique "Dooley" personality that shall never be duplicated.
As we attempt to grasp the impossible we realize fully that God in His infinite wisdom never cloned a human being. Only he could, and if so, wouldn't it be wonderful to know and share another Malachy Dooley, O.P.!
But Father Dooley wouldn't want it that way. He would tell us -- and often did through his own peculiar way -- to be ourselves, to smile a lot, to love God. Everything will then be swell!"
For the final time, on behalf of my dear friend and colleague, Father Dooley, allow me to thank all of you who do so much for Fenwick.
Bob Dixon
REV. R. MALACHY DOOLEY, 82
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By Will Potter
Tribune staff reporter
June 18, 2002
Rev. R. Malachy Dooley, 82, was at nearly every wedding, funeral, baptism and party involving alumni of Fenwick High School. His giving spirit--from remembering the anniversaries of couples he married to taking friends on tours of Ireland--made him a cornerstone of the Fenwick community. .
"Everyone thinks of him as their best friend," said Bill Stein, a former student and longtime friend. "And he thought of everyone as his best friend. Asking for nothing and giving everything, that was him."
Father Dooley, a Dominican friar for 60 years and a teacher and fundraiser for Fenwick High School in Oak Park, died Saturday, June 15, of cancer in his home in the Dominican Priory of River Forest.
Father Dooley was born in Minneapolis. He started at Fenwick in 1950 as a theology teacher. When administrators asked him in the early 1950s to head fundraising projects for the school, he threw himself into the new task.
In the 1950s Father Dooley raised more than $1 million for Fenwick's first capital campaign that resulted in construction of the west wing, including an auditorium and classrooms. In the 1980s he raised more than $3 million for science laboratories and an endowment fund, and in the 1990s he raised $10 million for an athletics field house and pool.
From 1963 to 1973, Father Dooley was assigned to St. Pius V parish in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, St. Anthony Parish in New Orleans and Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas. He then returned to his work at Fenwick.
Father Dooley did not like asking for money and, in fact, he rarely did, said Leo Latz, a former assistant and longtime friend. He didn't have to.
"People give to things they feel connected to," Latz said. "Dooley got legions of people to be connected or reconnected to the school. He had a gift of creating community and connecting people to their alma mater and reminding them of why they should be grateful. He has been the common denominator in Fenwick's successes in the last 50 years."
He was awarded the Lumen Tranquillum, or Quiet Light, award, by the school in November.
Father Dooley is survived by a sister, Josephine Thomas.
Visitation is scheduled from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, 7200 W. Division St., River Forest. Mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, River Forest.
Copyright (c) 2002, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-0206180273jun18.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsobituaries%2Dhed
Chicago Sun-Times http://www.suntimes.com/output/obituaries/cst-nws-xdool18.html
BY GARY WISBY STAFF REPORTER
The Rev. R. Malachy Dooley, long identified with Fenwick High School in Oak Park, added as much to the school's spiritual presence as he did to its physical dimensions.
Father Dooley, responsible for an addition and other improvements at Fenwick, received its first Lumen Tranquillum Award, given annually to a role model for young people.
"He loved his faith, but he loved Fenwick second," said Bernard Judge, a 1957 graduate and editor and publisher of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. "There wasn't a function that went on without him. He was the real article."
Father Dooley, who served Fenwick for 44 years, died Saturday in his residence at the Dominican Priory in River Forest. He was 82.
Fenwick was his first assignment after his ordination in 1949. He served until 1963 and again from 1973 to the present.
In the intervening decade, Father Dooley worked at St. Pius V Parish in Pilsen, a New Orleans parish, a Dallas high school and the Province of St. Albert the Great Administrative Center in Chicago.
As Fenwick's building fund director, he was instrumental in construction of its west wing, a 14-year project completed in 1960. He directed a campaign in the mid-1990s that led to $12 million in improvements. In March, a $2 million renovation was finished.
Father Dooley established the Blackfriars' Dinner Dance, which raised millions for Fenwick's scholarship fund and marked its 50th anniversary last fall.
He organized alumni and parent trips to Ireland known as Dooley's Hooleys--"hooley" being Irish for a big party--and originated the Fenwick Golf Outings, which annually draw about 700 people with ties to the school.
A theology teacher, Father Dooley was a fixture in the student cafeteria, and his trademark tam o'shanter was seen at hundreds of Fenwick athletic events. He was moderator of the Fathers' Club.
"He was always giving and trying to please people," said the Rev. William Bernacki, who worked with him at Fenwick.
On anniversaries of weddings and funerals he had performed, Father Dooley for many years wrote or called families to tell them he had said mass for them that morning.
Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. today at the Dominican Priory, 7200 Division, River Forest. Mass will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1530 Jackson, River Forest, with burial in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines.