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Fr. Joseph John Fulton, OP

BEHOLD A GREAT PRIEST

On December 12, 1998, a great priest, a bridge builder between separated Christians was summoned to meet the Jesus he loved face to face.  Father Joseph Fulton was known as Jack in his college days.  As a priest he was known as "Father Joy" because of his constant smile and joy in the Lord.

He was born and raised in Brooklyn.  Both parents were devout Methodists and he claimed descent from Robert Fulton the Scotch inventor.  His father died soon after Jack was born.  He spent the rest of his life looking for his father, and in his search he became a father to many, many people.  The homilist at his funeral Mass, Father Finbarr Hayes, OP, asked those in the overflowing congregation to raise their hands if they experienced him as father.  A show of hands went up from every pew.

His road to the Catholic Church was an interesting one.  His mother and grandmother decided to leave Brooklyn when Jack was 12 and to move to a quieter and perhaps less expensive area adjacent to a good university.  After prayer they chose Seattle.  Jack was "in Siberia" he said, as he missed his beloved Brooklyn.  They settled in the University district.  In his walks Jack saw the tall Gothic spire of the newly built (1908) Blessed Sacrament Church.  He was raised with the traditional misconceptions about Catholics.  He was told they "worshipped" Mary, paid little attention to Jesus, etc., etc.  Overcoming fears he entered one Sunday and was fascinated by the ritual.  As a student in Roosevelt High School he became acquainted with a Catholic girl who accompanied him to Sunday Mass.  He would also enter on his own to experience the peace and joy that he found in silent prayer.

About the same time, he found a neighbor who was Catholic.  This young man, Albert Burke, later to become a Carmelite priest, invited Jack to walk with him to St. James Cathedral to attend Sunday Vespers.  His mother heard of his attendance at Catholic services.  She was one of the pillars of the University Methodist Temple.  She requested Jack to postpone any decision about becoming a Catholic until he graduated from the University of Washington.  On his graduation in 1935, he won the President's medal for an outstanding academic record.  Prior to graduation he was in St. James Cathedral when the newly ordained Fr. Thomas Gill was blessing individuals kneeling at the communion rail.  Jack went forward and knelt.  As the future bishop blessed Jack he felt an overwhelming desire to become a priest.  In fact he went to the Chancery office to inquire about becoming a priest.  He was informed that he should first become a Catholic!

He was received into the Catholic Church in the red brick beloved Blessed Sacrament Church by a saintly Dominican priest, Father Hofstee, later to die ministering to lepers in the Philippines.  Drawn to the Dominican Order he was accepted for training and ordained a priest in 1942, taking the name Joseph.  He spent some years teaching at St. Albert's in Oakland, and served as Provincial of the Dominicans on the West Coast for two terms, during which he invited students from foreign countries to continue their Dominican training in America.  On completion of his duties as Provincial he came to Seattle and again became a doctoral candidate in Greek at University of Washington.  However, he was asked to become Pastor of Blessed Sacrament in 1966 and he left the academic halls for parish ministry.  For seven years (1964-1971) I was his neighboring Pastor in St. Patrick's Church.  Since 1962 he was my spiritual director, my Anam Cara (Soul Friend).  Following his retirement as Pastor he devoted his time to scripture study, charismatic prayer groups and interfaith ministry.

- Fr. William Treacy
Archdiocese of Seattle

• Provincial 1952-1960, Teacher of Scripture,
  Life member: Board of Governors, City University
  Degrees: B.A., S.T.B.,S.T. Lect. & Lic.
   

• Obituary Card
  God is love:  and he who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.
  1 John 4.16
  
  O God, grant that your servant Dominic Francis, whom You called to the religious life and raised to the priesthood, may now be with You, in whom he placed his faith, his hope, and his love.  Amen.

• Pictured preaching

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