Joseph F. Monaghan | Hospital chaplain, 89

The Rev. Joseph F. Monaghan, 89, chaplain at St. Joseph's Hospital in North Philadelphia from 1979 to 2010, died of heart failure Saturday, Jan. 29, at Manresa Hall in Merion Station.

Father Monaghan, a Jesuit, was a parish priest at the Church of the Gesu in North Philadelphia from 1967 to 1978 and then minister to the Jesuit community at St. Joseph's Preparatory School before beginning his career as a hospital chaplain.

Born in Cincinnati, he graduated from St. Joseph's Prep and as a 17-year-old entered the Jesuit religious order in August 1939.

After studies at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa., and West Baden (Ind.) College, he taught American history and English at Gonzaga College High School in Washington from 1946 to 1949.

Father Monaghan studied theology at Woodstock (Md.) College and was ordained a priest in June 1952.

His priestly ministry began at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., where he taught religion, sociology, and English for a year, before teaching Greek, French, and speech at the Wernersville novitiate from 1955 to 1958.

A pastor at St. John Francis Regis Church in Hollywood, Md., until 1962, he was minister to the Jesuit community at Wernersville until 1967, when he began his Philadelphia career.

He is survived by a sister, Ann Keeton.

The funeral was Friday, Feb. 4.