Part-Hawaiian Marianist priest was a educator, preacher and musician
Honolulu-born Father Joseph Priestley, a Marianist priest of native Hawaiian ancestry known for his educational, preaching and musical skills, died in Honolulu on Oct. 11. He was 89 years old and a Marianist for 70 years.
In Hawaii, he served as a teacher in three Marianist high schools and as a pastor on Maui.
Father Priestley was remembered for his empathy and his personal touch.
“Father Joe and I began our life as newly professed Marianists together 70 years ago,” said Marianist Father Steve Tutas. “He had a remarkable memory of people he cared for over the years, often reminding me in great detail of a visit with my parents. This was typical of his relationship with people whose lives God touched through him — and they were many!”
Joseph Leonard Priestley was born in Honolulu on June 27, 1925, the youngest of three children of John and Emily (Barrett) Priestley. His father was a painter and his part-Hawaiian mother worked year-round at Libby and Del Monte pineapple canneries.
His first encounter with the Marianists was at age 8 as a student at the former Saint Louis College elementary school.
After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, he lived and worked at the school’s campus at Kalaepohaku, which had been transformed into the 147th General Army Hospital immediately following the Japanese attack.
Father Priestley entered the Marianist novitiate at Beacon, N.Y., in 1943 and professed first vows there one year later. In an accelerated wartime program, he earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Dayton in 1947.
His first teaching assignment as a Marianist brother was for a semester at Cathedral Latin School in Cleveland, Ohio. He then returned to Hawaii to teach at St. Mary School in Hilo for two years and at his alma mater, Saint Louis College, from 1949 to 1951. He made his perpetual vows on June 19, 1949, in Honolulu.
Father Priestley began seminary studies in Fribourg, Switzerland in June 1951 and was ordained there on April 17, 1955.
In the seminary he was the choir director and organist.
The ensuing years brought a flurry of teaching assignments. He taught religion, languages, music, history and other subjects at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, Chaminade High School in Los Angeles, Saint Louis School, and St. Anthony High School in Wailuku. From 1961 to 1963, he lived in Yokohama, Japan, teaching English conversation, Mariology and Gregorian chant at St. Joseph College.
Back in the United States, Father Priestley served as chaplain and teacher at Archbishop Riordan High School, then as chaplain at St. Joseph School in Alameda, Calif., and at St. Anthony High School on Maui.
Based in California from 1970 through 1986, Father Priestley traveled widely as a preacher for retreats and special liturgies, serving on the board of directors of Retreats International. During this time he wrote two books, “To Live Is to Love Now” in 1978 and “The Way Jesus Walked” in 1982.
From 1986 until 1995, he was pastor at St. Ann Church in Waihee, Maui.
In 1996, Father Priestley retired to the Marianist Hall Community on the campus of Saint Louis School and Chaminade University.
The Eucharist of the Resurrection was scheduled for Father Priestley for Nov. 4 in the Mystical Rose Oratory on the campus of Chaminade University and Saint Louis School. Interment of his ashes will be at Diamond Head Memorial Park.
