Gleeson, The Last Vicar Apostolic of All of Alaska

PREFACE

The sun, already below the horizon at mid-afternoon on a November day in 1976, cast a faint ruby glow upon the snow as I waited to enter the chancery building and Episcopal Residence in Fairbanks, Alaska.  A perfect setting for the eighty-two year old retired bishop, I reflected.

I stood contemplating my motives for being on this doorstep at this time.  My writing experience to date was in journalism.   What worm within swallowed the hook baited by Charles J. Keim, a University of Alaska professor of Journalism, enticing me to write a biography of this quiet, almost mysterious, Reverend Francis Doyle Gleeson, D.D., Jesuit Bishop?  There was no time to answer the question. 

The bishop greeted me in the reception area of the chancery building and led me to a small conference room adjacent to the large, bright, double-windowed corner office he had recently used.  He seated himself behind a small desk as I turned on my tape recorder and reminded myself to speak distinctly to compensate for his slight hearing problem. 

To my half-query, I hope you don’t mind being interviewed, he answered, Well, I’m not especially thrilled, but I’ll make the best of it, I guess.  His answer was no surprise.  I knew that he tolerated the intrusion because his successor, Bishop Robert L. Whelan, S.J., suggested it for the sake of an historical record.

Turning his ring round and round on his finger, Bishop Gleeson searched his memory for a considerable time.  I soon learned that this merry-go-round with the ring was to Bishop Gleeson as doodling is to many other thoughtful people.  Almost tentatively, talking as much to himself as to me, he spoke of his early life as a hazy memory at best and possibly just a hazy memory of family stories told by friends and relatives.  And so began a series of interviews that eventually elicited a rich array of information about the bishop’s life, Jesuit esprit de corps, and the Church in Alaska. 

I was a comparative newcomer having participated in the Fairbanks faith community for approximately five years; consequently, there are areas I might have pressed for information, but did not.  Some readers may have questions that did not come up between us, and other questions for which I supply no answers.  Nevertheless, to the best of my ability this manuscript traces the life of Francis Doyle Gleeson who administered the Church in Alaska from 1948 through 1968.  Characteristically he gave few specific directions, but indicated his desires in a calm, kind manner.