Father Conrad Harkins OFM

1935 - 2020

Father Conrad Harkins OFM obituary, 1935-2020, Dobbs Ferry, NY

Conrad Harkins Obituary

DOBBS FERRY - Father Conrad Harkins, OFM, 85, a professed Franciscan friar for 65 years who directed the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University, died Aug. 31 at St. Cabrini Nursing Home.

He spent most of his religious life in academia and was widely known for his efforts to obtain sainthood for five Franciscans killed in Georgia in the late 16th century.

Father Harkins was born Feb. 13, 1935, in Havertown, Pennsylvania, and baptized as James, to James and Helen Longwell Harkins. He attended elementary and high schools in Havertown, as well as St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon.

On Aug. 12, 1954, Father Harkins was received into the Franciscan Order at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, New Jersey, where he professed his first vows as a Franciscan a year and a day later. He then pursued studies in philosophy at St. Francis College in Rye Beach, New Hampshire, for two years, through which he received a bachelor's degree in 1957 from St. Bonaventure University, and then proceeded to study theology in Washington, D.C.

He professed his final vows as a Franciscan on Aug. 20, 1958, at Christ the King Seminary in Allegany, and was ordained to the priesthood Feb. 25, 1961, by Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi at Mount St. Sepulchre at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington. He earned a master's degree from St. Bonaventure, writing his thesis on John Henry Newman.

After ordination, Father Harkins was assigned to St. Anthony Shrine in Boston for a year of pastoral theology study. He then taught for three years at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean. In 1969, after four years of study at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto, where he received his doctorate, he was assigned to St. Bonaventure University, where he served as director of the Franciscan Institute.

Father Harkins spent 26 years at SBU, from 1969-95, with a pause from 1989-90 to study at St. Isidore's College in Rome. He spent most of those years serving as director of the Institute.

He moved to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in 1996 and from 2005-12, serving as associate professor of theology and history, as well as chaplain to the students, celebrating Mass and hearing confessions.

To his students and friends, Father Harkins was known as a modern-day renaissance man. Among his many interests and hobbies were marathon running and archeology.

He devoted many years to working to obtain sainthood status for the five Spanish missionaries killed by Native Americans on the Georgia coast. The cause for canonization was formally opened in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, in 1983 and was later forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome for consideration.

In 2007, Father Harkins accompanied Bishop J. Kevin Boland to Savannah on a pilgrimage to St. Catherine's Island, where the missionaries lost their lives in 1597. From 2012-13, while based at SBU, he served as postulator for the cause. From 2001-02, he lived in Savannah.

In April 2013, Father Harkins retired to St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg. In 2016, because of declining health, he was transferred to the Province's skilled nursing home in Ringwood, New Jersey, where he lived until March 2019 before moving to St. Cabrini.

Father Harkins is survived by a sister, Joan Cuff of Norwood, Massachusetts, and a niece and two nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Friday at St. Anthony Church in Butler, New Jersey. Burial will take place in Allegany at a later date.

Memorial donations may be sent to Franciscan Friars-Holy Name Province, 144 W. 32nd St., New York, N.Y., 10001-3202.

Published by Olean Times Herald on Sep. 5, 2020.
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Fr. Conrad was a spiritual director to me during my time at FUS. In a lot of ways a father figure, our sessions were mostly spent conversing about medieval theology, personal stories/ goals like his mission to get the Georgia Martyrs canonized and asking for a miracle that his work may come to completion, jokes that would make him roar in laughter. But most of all, he was there when I needed a father. He was there when I needed Jesus. He was always there. I'm heartbroken that he's gone, grateful that we shared fond memories; and will always carry his indelible mark on my formation. "My heart is like a head of lettuce; everyone gets a leaf, and some more than others."
RIP, Pater!

Gabriel

Student

March 26, 2021

I had the good fortune to be a student at Walsh during Fr. Conrad's tenure and remember fondly and often the genuine respect and affection he and the other friars engendered in us. He and they taught us by quiet example -- our better angels.
Sorry to read of his passing.
Fr. Conrad is gone but I, for one, will not forget him.
Bruce Smith, Walsh '66

Dana Bruce Smith

Student

September 8, 2020

I had the great joy of studying the early Church Fathers with Fr. Conrad at Franciscan University of Steubenville. I think I learned more in that class than any other that semester, even if Fr. Conrad never did get my name correct. I use the opening prayer he taught us for my catechetics classes-- ending "to the praise of your glory, direct out studies, so that after the course of this life we may enjoy you in heaven"-- a prayer he lived wholeheartedly. I pray he enjoys the chance to grill St Augustine for some of those details we discussed in class!

"Betsey" Lyle

Student

September 8, 2020

Fr. Conrad was my Latin teacher at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean, NY. I remember him as smart and reserved/understated witty. I often talked to him outside of class and appreciated his friendship and advice. I lost touch with him when I left the Olean area, but caught up to him again when he served as the director of the Franciscan Institute. May his soul Rest In Peace. Pax et Bonum.

Jerry Mikowicz

Student

September 7, 2020

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