Rest in peace, Monsignor Michael T. Flanagan

What a beautiful soul. He had so much love in his heart, and you could see it every time you looked into his eyes.”

Erin Berry Hervey

CLICK HERE to watch the livestream video of Msgr. Flanagan’s Funeral Mass.

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A woman arose from the full-immersion baptismal font in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Columbia.

Water cascaded down her face.

“All I could see were those blue, blue eyes,” she recalled.

They belonged to her pastor, Monsignor Michael T. Flanagan.

And yes, they were smiling.

“Life is a cycle of death and resurrection,” Msgr. Flanagan once pointed out. “We die, we rise! We’re low, we come up back again. And if we believe in resurrection, then the Lord will keep raising us up, and we’ll keep walking away from the tomb.”

Msgr. Flanagan, 88, a retired priest of the Jefferson City diocese, died peacefully on Oct. 30 in his family’s home at Ardsoran, Killaraght, Boyle, Co. Sligo, Ireland.

He was surrounded by family and had recently finished celebrating Mass.

He had been a priest of this diocese for over 61 years.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Nov. 3 in St. Attracta Church in Killaraght, where Msgr. Flanagan had been baptized, received his First Holy Communion and offered his First Solemn Mass.

Burial was in the parish cemetery.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at a later date in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Columbia, where he served as pastor for 25 years and lived until returning to Ireland to visit family four months ago.

Friends, fellow priests and the beneficiaries of Msgr. Flanagan’s lengthy ministry remember him as a compassionate shepherd, faithful mentor, decisive administrator, enthusiastic golfer and portrait of a life well lived for God.

“Whenever I went to Confession to him, he was so kind and caring and really Christlike in all his love and care,” said Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner Alice Neville. “And he had a twinkle in his eye.”

Social media brimmed with accolades and memories.

“Oh, how we will miss this kind, holy man,” stated Julie Arment.

“His kind, wise way and his example and guidance brought many back to the faith,” stated Keith Wright.

“We were so lucky to have known him and that he was our priest at Our Lady of Lourdes,” wrote Beth Luebbering.

“Very kind, merciful, a great teacher to up-and-coming priests and deacons,” said Cheryl Scherer. “He was a marvelous Church leader.”

“He always showed up when needed,” wrote Annette Kline Robbins. “He was our spiritual anchor and will be so dearly missed.”

Rocky road to Missouri

In 61 years, Msgr. Flanagan ministered as associate pastor at St. George in Linn, Sacred Heart in Columbia and Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City; as a faculty member at the former St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal; and as pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine in St. Robert, Mary Immaculate in Kirksville and St. Rose of Lima in Novinger, Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City, and Our Lady of Lourdes in Columbia.

He became well-known for his pastoral instincts as well as his administrative acumen.

He was born on May 31, 1938, in Ardsoran Boyle, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, a twin son of the late James and Catherine (Rock) Flanagan.

He and seven siblings grew up on his parents’ farm.

His father was one of nine siblings and the only one not to eventually move to the United States.

Young Michael admired priests and thought about joining their ranks. Like his twin brother, Patrick, he wanted to be a missionary priest.

He went to a high school for future missionaries and spent a year in the novitiate of the African Mission Priests in Ireland.

Realizing that was not his calling, he followed some friends to St. John Seminary in Waterford.

Bishop Joseph M. Marling C.PP.S. (+1956-1969), founding bishop of Jefferson City, visited the seminary and invited the future priest to minister in central and northeastern Missouri.

Msgr. Flanagan never actually visited the United States until after he was ordained.

“But all of my father’s family was living in Connecticut,” he once recalled. “We had a liking for the people of the United States.”

He was ordained a transitional deacon on Sept. 7, 1964.

On June 12, 1965, in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Waterford, Ireland, Archbishop Morris ordained him to the Holy Priesthood.

The first place he offered Mass in Missouri was Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Columbia — which at that time was in the middle of a cornfield.

Mission field

Msgr. Flanagan was part of an impressive wave of Irish missionaries who became priests of the Jefferson City diocese in its first two decades of existence.

Many were ordained shortly before or after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which brought tectonic changes to Church governance and culture and to how the Mass was celebrated.

“They left their families, came to America, knowing almost nothing about central and northern Missouri, with its scorching summers, and adjusting their accents and to the ways of the Catholic Church in the United States,” said longtime friend Monsignor Gregory L. Higley, pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Ozark.

As “Vatican II” priests, Msgr. Flanagan and his contemporaries were obliged to draw forth the baptismal gifts of the laity for the good of the entire Church.

“So, they had to adjust to a new country, a new culture and a new expression of the Church,” said Msgr. Higley. “And they not only did it, they embraced it!”

They started parish pastoral councils, “and that’s when Msgr. Flanagan really learned to recognize the gifts and wisdom of the laypeople,” said Msgr. Higley.

Msgr. Flanagan trusted the people of his parishes.

“Granted, he never gave up his authority,” Msgr. Higley noted. “He was never afraid of exercising authority. At the same time, he was never afraid of adapting his authority.”

Mentor to many

Msgr. Flanagan served in Kirksville and Novinger for 10 years, then in Jefferson City for eight.

He became pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Columbia on Nov. 26, 1990.

His time there coincided with tremendous growth in the parish. He oversaw the construction of a new, 800-seat church, along with additional classrooms for the school.

He was also instrumental in establishing Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School in Columbia.

Nearly half the priests of this diocese at one time served as associate pastors or transitional deacons under Msgr. Flanagan.

He went out of his way to be a mentor and friend to all who were assigned to minister with him.

“He taught me how to always be kind to people, no matter how mad they made you,” said Father Michael Coleman, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Centralia and part-time chaplain at Tolton Catholic.

Fr. Coleman spent two summers as a seminarian with Msgr. Flanagan in Kirksville.

“He could be gruff, and he needed to be sometimes, but he always erred on the side of kindness,” said Fr. Coleman.

He recalled how Msgr. Flanagan saved up for a nice set of golf clubs and was getting ready to go buy them.

But first, he met with a young parishioner with two children, whose husband had recently deserted her.

She couldn’t pay her rent and was about to get evicted.

“She went into that meeting with him, crying her eyes out,” Fr. Coleman recalled, “and she was laughing when she left.”

Fr. Coleman then asked him, “Are you ready to go get those clubs now?”

“Let’s hold off on that right now,” Msgr. Flanagan replied.

Father Christopher Cordes, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County, succeeded Msgr. Flanagan as pastor in Columbia.

“He was supportive of me as a deacon and as a priest at Our Lady of Lourdes, and during the years in between,” said Fr. Cordes. “I admired his faith, commitment and passion. He served the parish and diocese faithfully and well. I’m grateful for him and will miss him.”

Father Simon Jude Kanyike, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Eldon and Our Lady of Snows Parish in Mary’s Home, was an associate pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes after Msgr. Flanagan retired.

“Everybody loved him,” said Fr. Kanyike. “He was a very practical man, a man of great experience. He loved the Church very much.”

Fr. Kanyike saw how Msgr. Flanagan handled the gradual breakdown of his own health.

“His doctors kept advising him to rest more, but that wouldn’t keep him away from the Church,” the younger priest recalled. “He would come and be a part of the congregation.”

Fr. Kanyike felt deeply humbled when Msgr. Flanagan came to the sacristy before Mass on Sunday and asked, “Would you let me celebrate with you?”

“He loved to celebrate the Mass!” Fr. Kanyike recalled. “He could see how much it defined his Priesthood. It gave him purpose.”

Father Christopher Hoffmann, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Monroe City and St. Stephen Parish in Indian Creek, spent a year at Our Lady of Lourdes as a seminarian on a parish internship.

Msgr. Flanagan had retired by then.

Things were quiet, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He was always a great storyteller,” Fr. Hoffmann recalled. “Fr. Coleman would come over, and we’d have dinners in the rectory, and they would go back and forth telling stories of happenings in their parishes and all sorts of things.”

By watching and listening, Fr. Hoffmann gained valuable insight into cultivating Christian fellowship and “how to love the people.”

Persuasive voice

Janie Theobald was certified to teach kindergarten through high school but had never taught grade school.

She had stepped out of teaching to raise her three young children at the time Msgr. Flanagan was pastor in Kirksville.

Aware of a sudden opening for a junior high teacher at Mary Immaculate School, he directed her to report for duty on Monday.

She objected, saying there would be no one to watch her youngest.

“I’ve taken care of that,” the priest told her. “I found you a babysitter.”

She spent the next 30 years lauding him for getting her back into teaching.

A few years later, the school was suddenly without a principal.

Several fellow teachers and parents at a school board meeting nominated Mrs. Theobald for the position.

Overwhelmed at the prospect, she refused.

Msgr. Flanagan, who had become pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, got word of the situation and drove more than two hours to give her a message:

“Stop being an ass. You know what you have to do.”

That story has a familiar ring to Debbie Portell, whom Msgr. Flanagan hired to be director of religious education (DRE) at Our Lady of Lourdes in Columbia.

The previous DRE retired, and Mrs. Portell was on the parish council.

The priest called her into his office after a meeting and asked if she’d serve.

“I said, ‘What makes you think I’m qualified for that?’” she recalled.

He fired back: “You’re Catholic, aren’t you?”

He then asked her to pray about it.

“I did, and I took the job,” she said. “And man, it was a privilege, a blessing to work with him. He was such a great mentor, a beautiful mentor!”

She marveled at how he ministered: “He always said the right things. He was part of so many families, from birth to death.”

“He was no-nonsense, but his compassion was abounding,” she said.

Carolyn Saucier got to know Msgr. Flanagan while raising her large family in Jefferson City.

She later served as diocesan assistant director of religious education.

“He was always a man of quick and dry wit but also a deep spiritual guide,” she recalled.

He became a friend, mentor and “an engaging conversation partner” to her.

“There was something about him — private and a bit mysterious but always inviting,” she said.

He challenged her to think in new ways.

“He was forward-thinking and had a solid vision for all that the parish could be,” she said.

Teeing off

Our Lady of Lourdes was on its way to becoming the largest parish in the diocese when Msgr. Flanagan was appointed pastor.

The parish hall that now bears his name was still serving as the church. Some people had to stand outside during Mass, even though an addition had been built a few years earlier.

The parish had a $400,000 debt.

“It looked a little bit impossible,” he recalled in 2015. “But I said, ‘Listen, this is a great parish. If you get it going, it will boom!’”

Parishioners “pulled up their socks,” paid down the debt and wound up planning and paying for an impressive new church with room for everyone.

Bishop John R. Gaydos, now deceased, who led the diocese from 1997-2018, dedicated the church in 1999.

On Feb. 14 in the Great Jubilee Year 2000, at Bishop Gaydos’s request, Pope St. John Paul II elevated Msgr. Flanagan to the dignity of a Prelate of Honor, accompanied by the title, “Reverend Monsignor.”

As pastor, he played a vital role in helping establish Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School.

He served on the executive committee, helped secure the land and supported the fundraising efforts.

He successfully battled cancer late in his tenure at Our Lady of Lourdes.

“I particularly appreciated the prayers of the schoolchildren,” he stated at that time. “The Prayer of Innocents, I call it. It’s most effective.”

Parishioner Kathleen Basi, whom Msgr. Flanagan hired as director of liturgy and music at Our Lady of Lourdes, recalled him baptizing her daughter, Juliana, in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit while the baby was on a ventilator and he was taking chemotherapy.

He retired as pastor that year.

“I am very proud of you as a parish,” he wrote to the people at that time. “I know that I have grown spiritually, and I know many of you have, too.”

Parishioner Gene Schmidtlein wrote a tribute to Msgr. Flanagan for the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Directory that year.

“He wanted his parishioners to join him in serving and helping others to grow in their love of God and his Church,” Mr. Schmidtlein wrote.

He said Msgr. Flanagan’s habits on the golf course gave insight into his success as a pastor.

“He doesn’t mess around with extended practice swings or sizing up his putts,” Mr. Schmidtlein noted. “He steps up and hits the ball.

“That’s how he deals with administrative challenges: Don’t mess around. Dig in and get the work done.”

Msgr. Flanagan embraced the Cursillo movement, which helps laypeople appreciate their Baptismal calling to get involved in the Church and share their gifts and talents.

“The role of the laity, the participation of the laity, the collaboration of the laity — he was a big supporter of all that,” said Msgr. Higley.

“That’s something I learned from him: ‘Trust the laypeople,’” he said.

Amazing recovery

Msgr. Flanagan served as senior priest in service at Our Lady of Lourdes until 2023, when another major health crisis nearly claimed his life.

A stubborn infection and an intestinal ulcer landed him in the hospital, where he wound up having a stroke and experiencing kidney failure.

“The bishop came and gave me all the absolutions,” Msgr. Flanagan noted at that time.

Fr. Cordes sent out an urgent prayer request to fellow priests and parishioners.

“I remember praying that God would take him just so he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore,” Mrs. Portell recalled. “But God wasn’t quite ready for that.”

The children of Our Lady of Lourdes Interparish School prayed for him several times each day.

He knew people were praying for him.

“I somehow could feel it,” he said. “I came to rely on the strength of those prayers. I could feel an energy beyond myself.”

His malfunctioning kidneys started functioning on their own. He began to bounce back and steadily moved toward full recovery.

“He wanted to be able to celebrate Mass again,” Mrs. Portell noted. “And he did.”

“Abundance of gift”

Msgr. Flanagan stayed in close contact with his family back in Ireland and his cousins in the United States.

“He gave so much of his life to his vocation,” one of his cousins said at his funeral. “He chose to serve. He chose to care. He chose to accompany our family and community and people through many seasons of their lives: Baptisms, weddings, funerals and everything in between.”

He often spent a few weeks each summer in his hometown, celebrating Mass each morning and spending his days with extended family.

He knew his health was failing when he left for one last visit in June.

He intended to come back to Missouri but wound up staying.

“I’m really pleased that he got to spend the last months of his life in Ireland with his family,” a longtime friend stated. “He was so happy. That’s part of what our faith is about: sharing it with friends and family.”

He offered Mass each day at the kitchen table of his family homestead.

Seven family members representing three generations were present the last time he did so.

Shortly thereafter, they could see he was tired and led him to bed.

He died shortly thereafter.

Hymns in English and Gaelic echoed during his Funeral Mass off the walls of the church of his childhood and of numerous summer visits.

Father Joseph Cauffield, pastor, presided.

Father Edwin Flanagan, a grade school classmate, friend and distant relative, concelebrated.

In procession, young relatives presented mementos before the altar: Msgr. Flanagan’s first prayer book, the certificate he received upon being named a monsignor, a golf ball, his Smartwatch, and a bulletin from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

“He did not simply occupy a place in church,” his cousin stated. “And what a wonderful story! A ministry marked by kindness, generosity, friendship, a sense of humor and an unmistakable zest for life.

“We give thanks today not only for the priest he was, but for the person he was.”

Preceding Msgr. Flanagan in death were his parents; a sister, Rita; his brothers, Bernard, William, Seamus and his twin brother, Father J. Patrick Flanagan of the order of St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan.

Surviving are a sister Jane Patricia; a brother, Francis; a sister-in-law, Joan; nieces and nephews, and his brother priests.

“We all need a Monsignor Flanagan in our lives,” Kathleen Bruegenhemke stated online. “A steady source of strength through every season, good or bad.”

“Thank you, Father Mike Flanagan, for your wisdom and courage shared with the people of this diocese,” said Mrs. Saucier. “What an abundance of gift you offered to so many!”

“What a beautiful soul,” Erin Berry Hervey stated. “He had so much love in his heart, and you could see it every time you looked into his eyes.”