FSSP Names Fidelis Award Recipient
ELMHURST, Pa--Colonel Timothy M. Gahan, USMC (Ret) has been named recipient of the 2001 Fidelis Award presented annually by the North American District of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. This Award, which has previously been presented to His Excellency James C. Timlin, Bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania in 2000 and posthumously to Dr. William Marra in 1999, is in recognition of particular services to the Fraternity in enabling it to pursue its pastoral and liturgical work in the service of the Church, according to the particular apostolic character the Holy See has approved for it and its members.
Colonel Gahan served for seven years as the North American District's Business Manager, and was deeply involved in the Fraternity's intensive search to locate and acquire a ready-built home for its growing number of seminarians throughout the second half of the 1990s.
"The Colonel was unfailingly generous to the Fraternity and really took our interests to heart," said Father Paul J. Carr, F.S.S.P., North American District Superior, who announced the award at a "Friends of the Fraternity" banquet in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 30th. "Wherever there was the chance of a suitable site, the Colonel set out, no matter what the distance, to open discussions and inspect the property. When site after site proved unavailable, for a variety of reasons, he felt our loss as sharply as we did. In all he did for us, he wanted nothing more than to help us be part of the solution to the vocation crisis, and to support priests in bringing the Sacraments to souls."
The award was announced on the same day His Excellency Fabian W. Bruskewitz, Bishop of Lincoln, ordained six priests and five deacons for the Priestly Fraternity. "The Colonel came to work with the Fraternity in Elmhurst in the same year we began our seminary training there," reminisced Father Neal Nichols, F.S.S.P., one of the Fraternity's newly ordained priests. "We are all very happy to learn that he is this year's recipient." The Colonel recently retired from his post at District Headquarters in Elmhurst. "The Colonel was here at Headquarters almost from the beginning," said Father Carr. "Both his vibrant personality and the special contribution that he brought to his work will be sorely missed. We believe this award was well merited in recognition for all his help and support."
July 31, 2001