 Fr.
John Joseph Klaia, OP
Fr. John was born Jan. 25,
1924 in Lancaster, N.Y. He died of cardiac failure at Mercy Care Center in Oakland Nov. 14, 2003. He had
one sibling a sister, Dorothy, a grade school teacher much of her life and now herself in prayerful
retirement at Mercy Center. John’s and Dorothy’s parents were devout Catholics, born and reared in Poland.
They deeply loved and were loved by their son and daughter.
At his
father’s wake at St. Albert’s chapel Fr. John spoke of his father’s life but mainly of his death. All
including his father knew his last hour was at hand. A visitor asked him if he was afraid of dying. John
said his father laughed and replied that long ago at the Battle of the Manic, one of the terrible battles
of First World War, he had faced and faced up to death and thereafter could only look kindly upon it. As
it turned out, son was like father in this as well as other things. In his last years, John was pretty
much debilitated by sickness but dealt with it even in its terminal phase with cheer and hope for better
things to come.
Even as a vigorous young naval officer during the Second Word War he
faced death with equanimity. One of his jobs was to sweep Pacific Island waters of mines laid by the
enemy. He said it was a nervous time for all aboard his ship including himself and yet he was unafraid.
More than his father, seemingly, he had within him a glad sense of immortality which only deepened through
the years.
Shortly after being discharged from the navy John visited St. Dominic’s
in San Francisco and there was received into the Third Order. A little later he visited St. Albert’s and
in a talk with Fr. Fulton, then master of students, asked if he might be admitted into the First Order and
prepare for the priesthood. He was accepted and admitted into the novitiate in Ross. He was the solitary
novice through most of his novitiate, experiencing first hand the contemplative half of his vocation. He
made his first profession in 1947, and after his years of prayer and study at St. Albert’s was ordained
priest, Aug. 111, 1952. It’s significant that it was at the Carmelite chapel in Berkeley that he offered
one of his first solemn Masses. The Carmelite nuns there became ever more nearer and dearer to him, his
contemplative spirit feeding and being fed by them. Through some 20 years he was their regular confessor,
often visiting them and offering Mass with and for them, and holding in his love that great little
Carmelite, Saint Therese of Lisieux, herself always simple and childlike as John himself aspired to be,
and was.
Being contemplative at heart, John had a full active
life. Because of his own native love and gentleness he effortlessly attracted others to be loving and
gentle also. No one could be afraid of John. Never or rarely an unkind word from him or about anyone, and
all felt welcomed by him. He was intelligent and articulate, one of the reasons the Navy chose him as
officer. He knew and loved the Bible and the theology that made it understandable in his day, and was a
devout reader of the lives of the saints. Thus he had right and good things to say to people whether
privately or from the pulpit. Speaking of the pulpit, he was a lively and effective preacher. It’s
recorded that once when he was preaching about one of his favorite Saints, Mother Frances Cabrini, he was
so alive with his subject that afterwards a man of the congregation came to him and asked where Mother
Cabrini lived,
since he’d like to meet and talk with her Another
Saint, the greatest of them all, who was
often in his preaching, was Mary, whose rosary was ever in his hand and on his lips. Serious to him but
amusing to most who hear of it is the fact that he possessed many rosaries, each of a different size.
shape, or color to match the current liturgical season, feast or fast.
All of this together with his graced empathy for others induced his
brother religious to appoint or elect him to positions of responsibility. After a brief period as vicar of
St. Dominic’s in Benicia. his first assignment. he was made pastor there. He was also pastor for several
terms of St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, St. Mary Magdalen in Berkeley, Blessed Sacrament in Seattle, and
was made prior of St. Albert’s during difficult years immediately following Vatican II. Here and there
along the way he also served as Director of the Dominican laity and as Catholic chaplain to both Travis
and Hamilton Air Force bases. He
even organized and tended to the Boy Scouts at St. Dominic’s in S.F. Once he held a grand affair for them
at St. Dominic’s to which he invited the then-governor Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy. They gladly
accepted the invitation. John saw to it that Reagan had his long frustrated desire to be a Boy Scout
himself finally fulfilled. In a brief public ceremony at St. Dominic’s Reagan was made an ‘Thonorary”
Scout. Nancy herself treasured this gesture, having a photo of the ceremony published in one of the
nation’s top periodicals.
As mentioned, his last years were years of personal sickness. But what
most disturbed him were the sicknesses of his parents. More and more his presence to them was
necessitated. His superiors recognized this and so permitted him to live with them through most of every
week, he together with his sister easing their final illnesses. Toward the end of his own life John
himself needed full time care, which his dear sister provided until the more professional care of Mercy
Center was needed. When death finally did come he was, as expected, unafraid. As always he was resigned
and cheerful in the loving presence of his Lord and God and all those favorite saints of his, his mother
and father now included.
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