Obituary of Fr. Eugene Power S.J.

Fr. Eugene J. Power S.J. was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on September 29, 1919, the son of John Power and Helen Ciemneski. He was baptized into the holy Catholic faith in St. Mary's Church in Plainsfield, NJ, and graduated from St. Peter's High School, New Brunswick, NJ, in 1938. He entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on September 22, 1938 at St. Isaac Jogues Novitiate in Wernersville, PA, where he made his first ascetical and literary studies from 1938 to 1942. Weston College, Weston, MA, conferred on him an A.B. degree in 1948 and an MA on completion of his philosophy program there in 1945.

Fr. Power was then assigned to Georgetown Preparatory School, Garrett Park, MD, where he taught the sophomores mathematics and French from 1945 to 1948. He came to Woodstock College, MD, in 1948 to begin theological studies, and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 17, 1951 by Baltimore Archbishop Francis P. Keough. He completed studies in spirituality and ascetical theology at the Jesuit House at Auriesville, NY, in 1953, and made solemn profession in the Society at St. Mary's Church, Jamshedpur, India, on February 2, 1956.

 

Fr. Power's first priestly assignment, after a year of preparation for the Maryland Province Jamshedpur mission, was to Jamshedpur, India, in 1957. Here he taught both in Loyola School and in the Xavier Labour Relations Institute from 1954 to 1970. From 1970 to 1974 he functioned as teacher and administrator in De Nobili School, Dhanbad, India. The year 1995 saw Fr. Power return to the United States to undertake pastoral ministry and Jesuit Community services at St. Isaac Jogues Community at Wernersville. This he did until 2001, with a two year hiatus from 1997 to 1999 when he functioned as chaplain to the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Cherry Hill, NJ.

 

Health problems prompted Fr. Power's 2008 move to the Manresa Hall care facilities in Merion Station, PA, where he continued his prayerful support for the Church, his brother Jesuits, especially the several Jamshedpur colleagues there with him, and for all who sought his help, until God called him home on January 1, 2012.

 

Reverend clergy, religious, friends are invited to his Concelebrated Funeral Mass at 11:30 a.m. in Manresa Hall Sunroom, 261 City Ave., Merion Station, PA 19066, on Thursday, January 5. Interment in Jesuit Cemetery, Wernersville, PA. Friends may call at Manresa Hall Sunroom on Thursday morning from 10:15 until 11:15 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Father's name to the Jesuit Seminary Guild, Maryland Province Jesuits, 8600 LaSalle Rd., Towson, Maryland 21286.