1940 – 2019 (May 21)
John Francis McAtee was born on January 26, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Francis A. McAtee and Dorothy Johnson, and was baptized on February 11, 1940, at Transfiguration Church. He attended Saint Alice Parish School, Upper Darby, Saint Cyril Parish School, E. Lansdowne and, from 1953 to 1957, Msgr. Bonner High School, Drexel Hill. He was received into the Order as a novice on September 9, 1957, and after a year at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, New York, he professed simple vows on September 10, 1958. He then attended Villanova University, and received his BA in Philosophy in 1962. He professed solemn vows on September 10, 1961, and was sent to Collegio Santa Monica, Rome, for his theological education, where he received the STL. He was ordained in the chapel of Santa Monica on February 12, 1966 by Cardinal Amleto Cicognani.
Father Jack was assigned to teach at Archbishop Carroll High School for one year. In 1967 he volunteered for the Province’s mission in Japan and attended language school in Tokyo before being appointed in 1969 associate pastor of Saint Monica Parish, Nagoya. In 1971 he was assigned as associate pastor at Our Mother of Consolation Parish, Nagasaki, where he also taught religion and English in the parochial school. In 1979, Father Jack was named pastor of Saint Augustine Church, Tokyo, and in 1981, pastor of Saint Monica Parish, Nagoya. In 1982, he was appointed pastor and teacher in Nagasaki and served in those roles until 1983. He remained in Nagasaki as head of the Sei Maria School, however until 1989. From 1989 to 1993 he was assigned to Fukuoka, as associate pastor of Saint Augustine Parish and headmaster of the kindergarten.
In 1993, after 25 years in Japan, Father Jack returned to the United States and was assigned to campus ministry at Villanova University. From 1993 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2009, he was a member of the Saint Augustine Friary Community, and from 1998 to 2006 was prior of Saint Thomas Monastery. In 2006 he was assigned to Saxony Hall, Rosemont. With a missionary heart still active and alert, he volunteered for the mission in South Africa and served there from 2009 to 2014. In April 2014 he returned to the United States and was assigned to Saint Augustine Friary, Villanova. On July 20, 2015, he was transferred to Saint Mary’s Friary in Waterford, New York, as parochial vicar for Saint Mary’s and Saint Augustine Parish, Troy.
Father Jack passed away suddenly at Saint Mary’s Friary on May 21, 2019. He had been a certified acupressure practitioner since 1995 and a Tai Chi practitioner and teacher since 1997. He could often be seen practicing Tai Chi, to the surprise and pleasure of passersby, on the lawn outside the communities where he lived.
A Requiem Mass was celebrated at Saint Mary’s, Waterford, on Saturday, May 25, 2019. Prior Provincial Michael Di Gregorio, O.S.A. was celebrant of the Funeral Mass at Villanova on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Father Liam O’Doherty, O.S.A. was homilist. Burial followed in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, PA.
