In Memoriam
Father Joseph R. Lawless, MSF
May 2, 1926 - October 18, 2014

Father Joseph R. Lawless, MSF died on Saturday, Oct. 18, and will be laid to rest at St. John Cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 25. Father Lawless was a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi for many years, with his last parish being St. Joseph in Corpus Christi where he served for more than 25 years.

St. Joseph parish, located at 710 S. 19th Street in Corpus Christi will celebrate two Masses in memory of Father Lawless. The first will be on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. Ram Chavez and the Veterans Band and the parish choir will honor Father Lawless' service to the country. After Mass there will be light refreshments for parishioners in the annex building to remember and celebrate Father Lawless' life and service to the parish community at St. Joseph.

A second memorial Mass will be held on Friday, Oct. 31, at 6 p.m.

His ministries included visiting jails, hospitals, Mexican Missions, police chaplaincy, school administration, AIDS ministry and gangs. He also served on several bishops’ committees and task forces, as well as on the governing board of the Missionaries of the Holy Family.

Father Lawless was born during the Depression in East Orange, New Jersey on May 2, 1926 to Joseph and Alice Lawless and was the oldest of four siblings. After graduating from a Franciscan-staffed high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944 at the age of 18 and served as a combat infantryman until 1946.

The military unit he served in liberated the Dachau Nazi German concentration camp. Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp and the first one opened in Germany. Dachau served as a prototype and model for the other Nazi concentration camps that followed.

Father Lawless graduated from the University of Georgia on the G.I. Bill. He was a student staff member on the university newspaper. Later, while a member of the ROTC, he was called into active duty during the Korean Conflict.

He entered the seminary in 1965 as a late vocation. His studies began at the Blessed Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts. He later transferred to the Missionaries of the Holy Family in 1966. Further preparation continued at a Franciscan Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Father Lawless was ordained under the Holy Family Order on June 17, 1971.