NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Rev. John Leonard Young, C.S.C., MD, died at Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, Ind., on October 8, 2026.
Fr. Young was born in Huntington, Ind., on April 26, 1943, the oldest of eighteen children. His father, Jay Alfred, married Anne Elizabeth Neff Young, and had twelve children. John grew up with eleven siblings – Paul, Cecilia, Michael, Joe, Andrea, Therese, Gregory, Thomas, Lucy, Margaret and Tonia. His mother, Anne, died when he was nineteen. His father then married Mary Ann Treacy, who had four children before becoming a widow herself – Eileen, Cathy, John, and Michael. His two youngest siblings, Jimmy and Larry, were born later to Jay and Mary Ann. After graduating from Central Catholic High School in Kingston, Pa., in 1960, he attended the Seminary Program at Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass., graduating in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. In 1963, during his years at Stonehill, he entered the Holy Cross Novitiate in Bennington, Vt., where he professed First Vows in Holy Cross on July 16, 1964, and professed Final Vows on April 1, 1970. In 1967, he began Theological studies, first at Holy Cross College, Washington, D.C., and then at the University of Notre Dame, from which he received a Master of Theology degree in 1970. He was ordained a Holy Cross priest on April 24, 1971.
After ordination in 1971, he studied science at the University of Notre Dame for one year before being accepted at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif., where he graduated with a Medical Doctorate in 1977. From 1977-1978, he was an intern for Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Conn., before interning at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., from 1978-1981. In 1982, he served as Psychiatrist & Forensic Fellow at Yale New Haven Hospital before serving as a psychiatrist there for the next two years. From 1986-1988, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University before assisting at the Whiting Forensic Division at the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, Conn., from 1988-2009. From 2004-2020, he also served as a clinical professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, before moving to Holy Cross House in Notre Dame, Ind., where he lived until his passing.
Preceding Fr. Young in death are his parents, Jay Alfred Young and Anne Elizabeth Neff Young, stepmother Mary Ann Treacy Young, brothers Gregory and Thomas Young, and sister Therese Inverso. He is survived by fourteen siblings and many beloved nieces and nephews.
A Wake Service will be held on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Moreau Seminary and Scholasticate, Notre Dame, Ind. A Funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, Ind. You may join via livestream at https://funerals.holycrossusa.org.
Burial will be in the community cemetery at Notre Dame. Kaniewski Funeral Home, South Bend, is in charge of the arrangements.
Memorial contributions in support of the mission and ministries of the Congregation of Holy Cross can be made to: United States Province of Priests and Brothers, Office of Advancement, P.O. Box 765, Notre Dame, IN 46556-0765 or online at https://donate.holycrossusa.org.
