Obituary

Apr. 17 2020

Obituary: Father George R. Flynn, missionary in South America

byFather Robert M. O'Grady Pilot Staff

Father George R. Flynn Pilot file photo

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One of the original members of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle, Father George R. Flynn died at Massachusetts General Hospital on Good Friday, April 10, 2020, a week shy of his 91st birthday.

Born in Chelmsford on April 17, 1929, he was an alumnus of the archdiocesan seminaries and was ordained at Holy Cross Cathedral on Feb. 2, 1956, by Archbishop Richard J. Cushing.

He served as an assistant in two archdiocesan parishes: St. James the Great, Wellesley, (1956-1958) and St. Patrick, Stoneham, (1958-1959). Responding to the call for priests to "go south," he rose to the challenge issued by Archbishop Cushing and signed up for the then fledgling Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle.

Boston's archbishop had formed the society with the hope that dioceses in the United States and beyond who had "extra" priests would share them with the "priest poor" dioceses in South America, especially in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Enlisting was to be for a set period of time and could be renewed. Father Flynn kept renewing. He never returned to the archdiocese for another stateside archdiocesan assignment save later in retirement when he moved to Regina Cleri.

Not only was he a pioneer member of the St. James Society, but he was also a pioneer in South America, creating Catholic Radio Station (PROSAN) which broadcast in Spanish but also in one of the major indigenous languages of the Andean peoples Quechau (pronounced -- ketch wa). In preparation for this endeavor he had returned to Boston (1972-1973) and studied communications at Boston University. The production studio eventually reached from Peru to Bolivia and Ecuador, broadcasting through 70 radio stations over 9,300 programs and to over one million people annually.

Because of the necessary limitations placed on gatherings by federal, state and local officials as well as archdiocesan guidance, all funeral services, including those of priests, are restricted to graveside services with Memorial Masses to follow at later dates. Father Flynn is the third member of his 1956 ordination class to have died within the past month: Father Arnold Kelley died on March 17 and Father Robert Blute died on March 18, 2020.