Rev. Charles Arthur Delaney, C.S.C., 91, died Friday (Jan. 18, 2013) in Penalolen, Santiago, Chile.
Fr. Delaney was born on July 27, 1921, in Binghamton, N.Y., to Patrick and Mary (Norton) Delaney.
Fr. Delaney attended St. Paul’s parish grade school and high school in Binghamton, graduating in 1939. He was received into the Congregation of Holy Cross on Aug. 15, 1941, and made his First Profession of Vows on Aug. 16, 1942. Fr. Delaney graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1945 with a degree in philosophy. He made his Final Profession of Vows on Aug. 16, 1945. Fr. Delaney studied theology at the Foreign Mission Seminary in Washington, D.C., from 1945 to 1949 and was Ordained into the priesthood on June 7, 1949, in Washington.
He taught at Saint George’s College in Santiago, Chile, from 1949 to 1952. From there, he went to San Jose Parish in Austin, Texas, to work for a year. In March of 1953, he founded Our Lady of Seven Dolors Parish in Austin and served there until December of 1959, when he returned to Chile. He was pastor at Centro Pastoral San Roque parish in Santiago and a teacher at Saint George’s College and other schools in Santiago. In 1968, Fr. Delaney became a Chilean citizen.
The majority of Fr. Delaney’s service in Holy Cross was spent in Chile approximately 55 years of serving the poor and the sick. Since 1974, he has run drug and alcohol counseling services for addicts and their families at the Pastoral Center of San Roque parish. For more than 20 years he has also maintained a ministry at Saint George’s College.
Preceding him in death are Fr. Delaney’s parents, his brother, James (sister-in-law, Catherine Delaney), and sister, Marion Telfer. Fr. Delaney is survived by three nieces and one nephew: Marie Davenport of Binghamton, N.Y.; Rosemary Bickford of Houston; Patricia Kring of Corpus Christi, Texas; and James Delaney of Houston.
A Wake was held on Saturday (Jan. 19, 2013). The funeral Mass was held at San Roque Parish in Penalolen, Santiago, Chile, on Sunday (Jan. 20, 2013). Fr. Delaney was buried in San Roque’s cemetery. The effect that Fr. Delaney’s Holy Cross ministry had on so many lives in Chile was evident. Hundreds of parishioners, Saint George’s students and alumni and those who he ministered through Centro Pastoral San Roque gathered for the vigil services, funeral Mass and burial to pay their respects. Fr. Delaney’s family will have a memorial Mass at St. Paul’s Parish in Binghamton, N.Y., at a later date.
