Harold R. Meirose (Father)

Harry gave extra time and care to students with personal or family struggles and maintained correspondence with prisoners, including several on death row.

Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Harold (Harry) R. Meirose, SJ, who died on December 30, 2015, at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Mich. He was 86 years old. May he rest in peace.

Harry was born on July 6, 1929, in Cincinnati. He graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1947 and studied pre-med at Xavier University from 1947 to 1950. Harry entered the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus on August 8, 1950, at Milford, Ohio. He was ordained a priest on June 10, 1962, at West Baden College in Indiana, and he professed final vows on August 16, 1967, at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.

As a Jesuit, Harry earned a bachelor’s in literature from Xavier University in 1954, a master’s degree in philosophy from Spring Hill College in Alabama in 1957, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from West Baden College in 1963. He also obtained professional guidance counseling accreditation from the State of Indiana in 1979.

 

During his regency, Harry returned to St. Xavier High School to teach English and Latin. After ordination, he taught religion and served as a student counselor at Saint Ignatius College Prep from 1964 to 1969. He then moved to Indianapolis, where he worked at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in various capacities: he taught religion from 1969 to 1980, was director of religious formation from 1969 to 1973, and was director of guidance and testing from 1971 to 1973. Harry also assisted in admissions from 1971 to 1973, and was director of admissions from 1973 to 1980.

 

When Harry was 50 years old, he transitioned from high school ministry to more direct pastoral ministry. He was an associate pastor at St. Xavier Church in Cincinnati from 1980 to 1985, the Chicago Province assistant for social ministries from 1985 to 1989, and pastor of Our Lady of the Gardens in Chicago from 1989 to 1992. After a sabbatical, Harry was a campus minister at Xavier University from 1993 to 1994. In 1994, Harry moved to Colombiere Center, where he served as the assistant to the director from 1994 to 1997, performed pastoral ministry from 1994 to 2006, and performed community service from 2006 to 2015.

Throughout his ministry, Harry had a particular affinity for people in difficult circumstances. He gave extra time and care to students with personal or family struggles and maintained correspondence with prisoners, including several on death row. At Our Lady of the Gardens, which was perhaps his toughest ministry, he gave care to families torn apart by violence, imprisonment, and severe poverty. For many years at Colombiere, he was master of the nightly UNO game.

 

VISITATION

Friday, January 1, 2016

4 – 7:30 p.m.

Prayer Service at 7 p.m.

Colombiere Center

9075 Big Lake Road

Clarkston, MI 48346-1015

FUNERAL

Saturday, January 2, 2016

10:45 a.m.

Colombiere Center

9075 Big Lake Road

Clarkston, MI 48346-1015