[00:00:00] Jim: Hey everybody, welcome to the Equipcast. My name is Jim Jansen and I am your host, and I've got a story for you today. Well, I've got a bunch of stories for you today about one of the god willing future saints of the United States here, Omaha's own Father Edward Flanagan. Some of you, if you are, if you're from Omaha or if you watched the Boys Town movie, uh, you might think you know a little bit about Father Flanagan.
I guarantee we're going to share some stories today. I sit down with Thomas Lynch, the historian from Boys Town, and I guarantee we're going to share some stories that you do not know about Father Flanagan. It is super inspiring. Uh, Father Flanagan was way ahead of his time as a change leader in integration.
of race and religion, really creating one of the first integrated communities. Um, what he did to revolutionize, uh, the care for orphans and, uh, children in danger, his own personal devotion, his battles with health, such an amazing and inspiring story. You're going to love today's conversation. Take a listen.
Welcome to the EquipCast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. Designed to help leaders to transform their cultures, to embody the pastoral vision, to be one church, encountering Jesus, equipping disciples, and living mercy. 
Alright everybody, I am really excited to introduce to you, Thomas Lynch. Tom, welcome, how are ya?

[00:01:31] Thomas: Thank you, thank you for having me today, I'm great. Okay, 

[00:01:34] Jim: So, Tom, I want to give you a chance to introduce yourself, a little bit of your, your story here. I mean, before I even turned on, like, the recorder here, like, we just were, you know, as we were just kind of sitting down, setting, setting everything up, talking about Father Flanagan.
Gosh, it's just mind blowing, just the, how many amazing stories there are. Just before we, we jump into it too much, give people just a short, like, like, who are you? And then tell us about your role, um, how you got acquainted with Father Flanagan and your role at Boys Town. 

[00:02:09] Thomas: Well, I've been a native of Omaha my entire life.
I grew up here. My family's been in Omaha for about three to four generations. We were Irish immigrants who came to America. I, uh, went to school here in Omaha, and then when I graduated from college, I was looking for a new position. And, uh, they had jobs at Boystown. I actually did a little internship there through the of Nebraska.
And eventually they're creating a new museum program. And I worked on that museum program, helping to organize the archives and kind of set up the museum there. And then it was finished. They said, well, Tom, do you just want to stay and join us? And I said, sure, I'll do that. And that was about 38 years ago.
So, I've part of Boystown for 38 years. And it's, uh, it's been a very Great experience and life changing for myself. It's just not a job to be there, because it really is a village, and you, you live the lives with the children. And I was very lucky when I began 38 years ago, uh, men were still alive who lived with Father Flanagan.
So, people say, how do you know these stories about Father Flanagan? Well, every day I was privileged to talk with these men, and they tell me stories of growing up there, and their memories, personal memories of Father Flanagan, and then their stories of his life. So, I was very lucky. I was there to hear those stories and that's where I gained my knowledge of father.
And the more I learned about him, I realized what a special individual he was and what a special place Boys Town is to, uh, just not the children in Omaha, but children around the world. 

[00:03:37] Jim: Yeah. And for, for those who don't know, like the, I'm going to do like the five second sketch here, right? Like, you know, Father Flanagan born and raised in Ireland, came to the United States and Started this amazing ministry, literally it became a town, it's a village caring for, uh, homeless and troubled boys.
And now, of course, the ministry of Boys Town goes on and Father Flanagan's cause is opened. Uh, he's, I think, officially servant of God, entering into the process, uh, maybe becoming a saint. And... Well, we'll talk more about that because you got to, I mean, you know, as a historian, you got to like, sure, I can find some papers for you as the Vatican requests stuff.
Just for those who are coming in again, maybe not from Omaha, give us a little bit of introduction of like who Father Flanagan was. Uh, and his, kind of his early life and work. 

[00:04:34] Thomas: Father Flagon was born outside a little tiny village in Ireland called Ballymo in 1886. He was one of, uh, 11 children. He was born very sickly, very sickly child.
He spent majority of his childhood in bed recovering from illnesses, especially lung related illnesses, pneumonia. Uh, when he had the chance and was healthy, he'd actually work in the fields. His father worked for a local landlord. So, he'd be tending the sheep out in the fields and he would take a Bible with them or a Dickens novel.
And that's how he spent a majority of his childhood. That's great. He grew up at a time when Ireland was part of the British empire. Uh, he saw the disparity in wealth and privilege. He, uh, saw 1 percent owned everything. His parents only owned the clothing on their back, otherwise everything else was belonging to the landlord.
Yeah. Large family, right? It was a large Catholic family, a very devout family. Uh, his father was a little older than his mother, but his father was very devout and would say the rosary every day. And he would say the rosary with his father, and they'd hear the bell rings, uh, at, in the church for the, um, Anglaise?
What is that? Oh, the Angelus. Yeah. The Angelus. Yeah. They would hear the Angelus. They would hear it in the fields. Yeah. When the Angelus would be played. They would stop immediately and say the rosary. And so Father Flanagan witnessed his father doing that. And then his father was kind to the other people in the village.
They'd come to him if they had problems or issues. So all that led to him having a very strong spiritual life and the willingness to help people. Yeah. So eventually, uh, when he immigrated to America when he was 18 years old, he had the dream to become a Catholic priest. And he ended up in Omaha, Nebraska because his older brother Patrick Flanagan had been assigned here to open a parish.
So eventually Father Flanagan and his older sister Nellie Flanagan, uh, moved to the city of Omaha. And they were followed a few years later by his entire family because they were evicted from their home in Ireland. When his dad retired, the landlord said, if you're no longer going to work, you cannot live here anymore.
So, since they were going to be homeless, they decided they would come stay together as a family and they all moved to Omaha. And that's why even today at Boys Town, we talk about family. A lot of that is based on his own family, that he saw these people. Uh, through great love, they wanted to stay together.
So that's why they moved, uh, to thousands of miles to live in, uh, same location. 

[00:06:55] Jim: Wow. I, I knew that they had emigrated, but I didn't know it was because they were evicted, and they were about to be homeless. Wow. Well, I love how you shared, like there's, he also saw the discrepancy and kind of the injustices and it wasn't just the faith formation, but it really was the context of the kind of injustice that, that he lived in that helped form him.
To address again, I, I was not aware, I mean, you know, you don't have to read much of a Dickens novel or know a lot of the history of both England and then the United States that, you know, that we didn't do a great job of caring for, you know, homeless and, and troubled use, but I had no idea how bad it was until reading a little bit about father flag in his life and how Aggressively, he challenged that broken system.

[00:07:49] Thomas: It did. Father Flanagan always talked about love. That was his main content concepts of his entire life was love And when he saw children not receiving love it broke his heart And in America, at the turn of the century, through the 1920s, the 30s, families broke up during, during the Great Depression, and for the most part, boys would be homeless, girls would be taking it in to be servants or maids, little children might go to an orphanage, but usually when a boy is young as 8 or 9, Was considered old enough.
They were just on their own. And on any given day, you'd see homeless boys wandering up and down the streets in major cities, country roads, where you can imagine what happened to these poor children. And father Flanagan wanted to help them. And he was incensed that no one was actually wanting to help these children because he was always an advocate for the least in society.
It's beginning with homeless men and then changing to working with homeless children. 

[00:08:41] Jim: And maybe we can talk a little bit more about it later, but yeah, there are little anecdotes of his letters and speeches where, like, if a boy would get in trouble, you know, be on trial, there was no such thing as juvenile court.
And so, they'd be tried as adults and He would go to these trials and he's like, this is not right. And, and I mean, I would, a little bit of my own, like, you know, maybe my own Irish temper. Like, I love to see his kind of righteous anger at the way these kids were being treated. It's fun to see. I don't know if you have any, any particular anecdotes.
There's a couple.

[00:09:14] Thomas: Oh, uh, we have many stories at Boys Town. There's one I love. There was the governor of Missouri and he put two little boys, one eight and one nine in prison. Because they had done something wrong, uh, stole a piece of some bread or something. Well, Father Flannery was incensed. And he wrote to the governor of Missouri saying how insensitive you were.
Because he said often you have to look at what's going on in that child's life. Uh, is it the parenting or who's around that child who's influencing them? Because children are basically born innocent and then things happen to them. So, he had a running battle with the governor of Missouri. To save those two boys, but that's just one instance.
He went to, uh, Washington state to try to save a 12-year-old boy who had been put in prison for life and he fought with that governor for many, many months and eventually campaigned to have that governor, uh, not reelected. And he did, he lost his reelection partly in case due to Father Flanagan's advocacy, because he was a great champion for children and he felt no one else was helping him.
He did have some supporters, but mainly he was the point person for going around the United States trying to save children.

[00:10:16] Jim: Yeah, and he'd go public. I love it. Like, he'd stand outside of the courtroom and he's like, Everybody, don't vote for this judge. Like, throw this judge out of office. And he'd, yeah, he'd take on governors and he'd get the press involved.
I mean, I love that just because it's, I love the cause that he's fighting for. And I, but I also love. How it, it corrects the kind of airbrushed version that we sometimes imagine saints to be that they're just, they're always nice and they always have their folded hands and father Flanagan would roll up his sleeves and get in the mix with politicians and, um, even maybe a bishop or two, just to like to challenge people, to care for the poor.

[00:10:56] Thomas: Uh, definitely, definitely he, he felt it was a terrible crime to see children and, uh, and people, poor people, anyone being abused and neglected. Uh, he would actually go work with adults too, because there would be people that would not be old enough to come to Boys Town. Like there was a young man in Louisiana, he was an 18-year-old African American gentleman.
He had, uh, killed a sheriff. And he was going to be electrocuted. Father Flanagan was anti-death penalty. So, he tried to save that young man. That young man was electrocuted but did not die. And he survived the electrocution. So, Father Flanagan led an even larger campaign with Mayor LaGuardia of New York.
Joined in the campaign to save this young man from being electrocuted for the second time. And unfortunately, he didn't save him, but he would go across the United States to save children that were on trial for murder. Yeah. And he brought a hundred boys who convicted murder to actually live at Boystown during his lifetime.
And you can imagine the hate letters that poured in, and we have one of the letters where he wrote back saying, I am doing the work of Christ. I am saving, uh, in an individual who's maybe broken the law, but you have to look and see what drove that child to engage in that behavior. And he always felt that children should be given a second chance to improve their lives because he said they are our future.
And if the way we treat our children is the way we'll be treated, uh, they'll treat us when they get older. Yeah. Well, 

[00:12:16] Jim: and, and he appealed at so many different levels. He would appeal to faith. He would appeal to common sense. He's like, really? Is this a good idea? These, you know, we're, we're going to spend a lot of money to incarcerate this person.
What if we could rehabilitate them? And of course, he did. Amazing track record. Bringing people into this village, this home, family environment, um, how did he, how did he first get started working with young people? 

[00:12:41] Thomas: He started, he was in the city of Omaha in about 1916 and he actually had three homeless shelters.
They were for a beginning working with homeless men, uh, working poor men and they kind of evolved into true homeless shelters. Right. But the type of men coming to the shelters. Really did not want his aid because he, his vision was to give him an employment, agency, medical care, just changed their lives.
Majority came and some had drug and alcohol problems, psychological problems, they just wanted some place just to stay. And he did a case study of 2, 000 of these individuals. And that's one thing about Father Flanagan, he just wouldn't do anything, just. Uh, on the fly, he would investigate and see what the problem was.
And he discovered from interviewing these 2000 homeless men, they all had the same story. Their families broke up, nobody wanted them, and they just drifted from town to town. And at the shelters, homeless boys started to come in. These were the boys living in downtown Omaha, and nobody wanted them. And they were living on the streets, and they were scared at night.
So, they would come to a shelter for protection. And that's when he decided, I am working at the wrong end of the spectrum. I need to be working. with these Children. I can change their lives. So, he went to Douglas County Courthouse. And even now we encourage people go to the courthouse and sit in juvenile court and watch what happens every day.
And he witnessed how infants or toddlers are brought in. They were sent to orphanages. Girls were brought in. They were sent off to be maids or servants. And then when these boys came in, nobody wanted the boys. So he said, I'm going to be an advocate for the children nobody wants. 

[00:14:09] Jim: Yeah. He asked for them.
He's like, I'll take them. Definitely. Which sounds just like Mother Teresa, right? You know, she's like, there's no such thing as an unwanted child. She's like, I'll take them all. Definitely. 

[00:14:19] Thomas: And then once he began, people would bring him children because once, uh, he had the courthouse. Unfortunately, everything was segregated by race or religion.
Father Flang worked with Catholic children. There was a gentleman there named Mr. Henry Monsky who worked with Jewish children. And he told Mr. Monsky, we're not succeeding with these children being paroled to us. We need to actually put them in a location where they can receive care. So, he borrowed 90 from Mr.
Monsky and rented an old boarding house down downtown Omaha and started Boys Town. 

[00:14:46] Jim: Yeah. And under 90. I don't know if you mentioned this, but Mr. Monski was not Catholic, not Christian, he was Jewish, but they were lifelong friends. 

[00:14:56] Thomas: Yes. Mr. Monski worked pro bono as the attorney for Boys Town to the day he died in 1947.
He helped to negotiate the contract for the movie Boys Town. He helped father work to bring children to Boys Town through the court system. And he did everything in his power to help Father Flanagan. 

[00:15:13] Jim: You know, I I mean, this is probably a good time to talk about, like, from the very beginning, Father Flanagan's work with Boys Town included all races and all religions.
And I think about, you know, his partnership with Monsky and then right away welcoming it, welcoming in boys of all races and religions. Talk a little bit about that because that's... That was so unique at the time. 

[00:15:39] Thomas: Well, Father Flanagan, again, had grown up in Ireland, and he saw what it was to have someone be discriminated against due to their race and religion, because to many people, the English especially, they considered the Irish to be a different race.
And even in America at the turn of the century, Irish people were considered a different race, and being a Catholic was considered very foreign. And we answered to the Pope and, and he told us what Catholics what to do. So there's great hatred against Catholics in America. And then Father Flanagan growing up had felt that his entire life.
And then he had for a time lived in New York City, uh, Sal Hill's kitchen. And saw what it was like to see homeless children there and all the different people and races brought together. And he realized everyone is the same. We are all God's children. Yeah. And when he created Boys Town, he said, I want to bring in all children to live with me.
That's why he took no funding from any religious organization or community chest because he said, they'll put parameters on how I can operate my home. So he created Boys Town as an independent children's home, which we remain today. And then from the very beginning, he accepted all children of all different races and religions to come live together.

[00:16:46] Jim: Yeah, I mean, I look, gosh, there's so, so many things there. I mean, people know, of course he was a Catholic priest. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha. We're really proud of that. But he wasn't funded by the Archdiocese of Omaha. He wasn't getting checks from, you know, from the archbishop. It was an independent organization and.
He, from the very beginning, included that, or included everyone in that, which I think is, you know, it's fascinating. I know so often when people experience that, there's a temptation to kind of run to your own and become even more tribal. And Father Flanagan went the other way, as he experienced kind of, you know, Segregation and persecution in Ireland and then here the United States.
He's like, no, no, no, no, no We're not gonna do it that way. 

[00:17:37] Thomas: Definitely. He it was his life experiences because many people say where did he come up with these ideas? And why was he doing this? Well, he often said he learned from every child that came to live with him and it was just life experiences because he had grown up in Ireland.
He studied for a while in Rome. He had been in Europe in Innsbruck Austria, where he was ordained. So he had traveled the world and saw different aspects of life. Even in Rome, he saw the homeless children on the streets of Rome. And then he just devised these concepts to work with these children. And it was always organic and growing because every day.
He wrote, I am learning something new for every boy that comes to me. They have a series of issues and problems, and it's my responsibility to try to figure out how I can help that child. And he all did it based on his religious faith life. Yeah. 

[00:18:22] Jim: Well, I love how, again, so often when people experience, I mean, to me, this is one of the things that I think shows his, his sanctity.
Often when people experience injustice, they get bitter. Or insular or whatever, and you can see his faith. Like, he's like, no, I'm going to go the other way, right? He responds in love. Definitely. I don't know, Tom, can you talk about, because we look now and we're like, wow, that's beautiful. That's so cool.
He's ahead of his time. But he, he received a fair amount of resistance at the time. 

[00:19:00] Thomas: Oh, he did when he created Boys Town, just his revolutionary idea that children would come and live as a family. There'd be no walls or gates, because if you see our village, Boys Town, there's no fences or gates around our village.
Right. And the children would not be spanked or yelled at or hit, because he said, you beat a child, all you're doing is creating a more angry child. So, his ideas were totally different than the way. Children are being treated in America for the most part at the turn of the century. And his ideas are very, very radical.
So, he had the court saying it would never succeed. Judges, uh, politicians would denounce him saying he was a showboater, that he just was in it to his own glory. And then he had Ku Klux Klan members that would call. And, uh, not call, but write letters and threaten him. And uh, when his traveling show would go to a town, the Ku Klux Klan would set up a tent nearby and do recruitment saying, look at Father Flanagan, this Catholic and all these strange children of different races and religions.
We don't want this in our town. Come join us and join the Ku Klux Klan. There's actually a group of Klan ladies filed a lawsuit against one of the boys who was traveling on the roadshow because he supposedly was inciting, uh, racial equality back at that time. And so there was a. Number, number of stories of that, but Father Flanagan met it with love.
Now he did stand up. He would not allow his children to be, uh, hurt in any way or to someone disrespect his children. And it would happen. He would leave because they would go to hotels and restaurants, be denied access. He would turn around and march out and say, I will not do this. If all our children are not welcome, no one's welcome.

[00:20:32] Jim: Yeah. Yeah, I, yeah, there's a great story where they're like, well, uh, how about these boys sit in the back and he's like, nope, get up and leave. And it's just a, it's a fantastic story. And I think about where, you know, where, where we're at now in the United States is we're, you know, sadly kind of reawakened to the injustices that remain.
His example is just as timely as it's ever been. We just touched a little bit there like he's kind of revolutionized the care Give us maybe a little bit of like the context of like the contrast because I was I mean a little shocked at like what was happening in these reform schools a little bit of the context of like How typical care was, and then how he, he really, yeah, just how he changed, not just what he did at Boys Town, but how it kind of spread as a, as a revolution in, um, in thinking around the care for orphaned and, yeah, kids that were in trouble.

[00:21:33] Thomas: Uh, back in 1917, when Father Flank created Boys Town, there were basically three paths. A child might follow if they were homeless or needed help. Uh, one of them was to go to an orphanage, and some orphanages were great, but the vast majority were not very good places. Usually at an orphanage, when a child turned 13, they were expelled because they did not want to deal with teenagers, whoever was operating the orphanage.
Girls would go to, again, to a family as a servant or maid, uh, boys often were just turned loose. And then if a child got into trouble, ended up in the courts, they go to a reform school. And many reform schools are horrible places. Uh, children would actually commit suicide, uh, because the guards are so violent.
And that's what Father Flanagan witnessed because he would visit these institutions. And if you see the movie Boys, uh, second version of the Boys Town movie called Men of Boys Town, there are scenes in there showing Mickey Rooney recreating how these children were being abused in these, these reform schools, terrible places.
Many were founded on the theory of eugenics. And Father Flanagan hated the theory of eugenics, also. Wow. 

[00:22:34] Jim: Say, just for those who don't know, just give like the quick sketch of what that means. 

[00:22:38] Thomas: Eugenics is a form of basic social Darwinism, saying certain individuals are superior to others. Uh, and if you're inferior, it's because of your race, you're inferior.
Race, ethnicity in the United States are actually sterilization programs that took place even in the state of Nebraska. People were forcibly sterilized because they were considered inferior. And again, it was usually individuals that were, that were poor, uh, had no representation were ethnic groups, new immigrants.
They were considered the lowest of the low. Father Flying hated that theory saying everyone is equal in the eye of God, no matter who you are. Uh, and then going back the other, uh, path for children was homelessness, just being, wandering the streets, being homeless. So, he came forward and said, I want these children to come live with me.
They're gonna live in love. I'm gonna give them an education. I'm gonna teach them a trade. They're gonna be productive citizens. They can go out in the world. And eventually President Franklin Roosevelt said America needed 49 more Father Flanigans. His ideas and concepts were adopted as a norm and many of the ideas in child care today in America began in the village of Boys Town because he was an advocate going across America because he could point to Boys Town and say, here's the success because he would often do studies and show the research of, and the former boys were his example of their success and gradually other states began to follow his theories and concepts.

[00:23:54] Jim: Yeah, I love that, and you've mentioned that twice now like there's a sociologist in Father Flanagan, right? He's he's studying these homeless men hearing their stories and recognizing my gosh the common denominator here is their childhood and and then of course, you know with the success of Boys Town He's he's able to show hey, look at what happens When you give these young men, these boys, then becoming men, the right conditions.
Yeah, I, gosh, I, I love that. We've been cutting the heavy stuff. Uh, a lot of people, maybe they're only, you know, exposure to Boys Town, they're only, uh, you know. Uh, all they know about Father Flanagan is from the Boystown movie, right? Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, um, it really puts Boystown on the map. How did Father Flanagan in the, in the movie handle that Hollywood invasion?

[00:24:48] Thomas: Well, it, the movie came about and it was a great success. And when it was filmed at Boystown, every day they gave Father Flanagan the script. So he edited the script every day, which was very, very rare. Hollywood almost never did that. Yeah. But the Hollywood producers realized. What Father Flying was doing at Boys Town was so special, they allowed him to do that.
And after the movie came out, he was a worldwide celebrity because it was shown all around the world. People were inspired by the movie. Uh, up in Montreal, Canada, children below the age of 12 couldn't go to the movies. Well, they changed the law just so all the children could go see the movie Boys Town.
Oh my gosh, that's fantastic. And he, uh, he loved it. Because it allowed him to have a bigger platform to reach out and talk about his childcare, uh, programs. And then his nephew, Patrick Norton, who would travel with him, once wrote, it was terrible to travel with Father Flaggin through a train station at this time.
Because people would recognize him, and they would stop him. And people all walks of life, different backgrounds, would stop and talk to him about their, their personal problems or family problems. He was kind of like a priest for America, because even at the archives at Boys Town, we have letters where people would write to him who had, uh, stepchildren they were trying to deal with.
They were going through a divorce, uh, parents who lost children during World War II and their hatred of different groups. And they would all write to Father Flanagan, and he would write back letters to them of, of, uh, counseling them. And so, he was kind of like a, a priest for America. And he loved that role because that's what he loved to help people.
[00:26:15] Jim: Wow. And he ended up, I mean he, lifelong friendship with Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy. For those, right, who are, who are into it, the Oscar that Spencer Tracy won for portraying Father Flanagan is in the museum, right? Still at Boys 

[00:26:29] Thomas: Town. It is, that Spencer Tracy was presented the Best Asked Oscar award.
Award. He won it consecutively the first individual to do that male actor So he gave it to Father Flanagan and it is on display at our museum And it's very worn because father had it on his desk for 10 years People would rub it for good luck. They rubbed the gold right off the Oscar. And that's great.
It's it's a very special artifact we have.

[00:26:52] Jim: That's great. Tom Let's talk a little bit Father Flanagan’s health was always a little weak and he has This crazy, I mean, those of us who are parents are like, Oh my gosh, it's an entire town of boys. Uh, so not just caring for the boys, but he had exhausting travels.
I mean, he would, you know, he would. Across the country advocating eventually across the world as World War two ends crazy amounts of orphans. And I mean, ended up kind of ultimately, I think probably accelerating his death. How did he handle. Such an active ministry given his health limitations. 

[00:27:29] Thomas: He would not stop He would start the morning very early at mass at Dow Chapel. And then, he would be in the chapel till eight nine o'clock at night Reading the Bible and the boys could come talk to him and then throughout the day.
He was dictating letters He was making phone calls. He was meeting with new boys coming into the village He just lived this very very active lifestyle. We have his itinerary Where he would travel and it was amazing, uh, every day he was booked from morning to night. Uh, the main emphasis was always children though.
He was always working to work with the children at Boys Town and he was always open to the children. His office was open and after school the boys could come talk to him and then again, he'd be in the chapel reading at night, reading the Bible. Uh, and his talks during the day would be from homeless children to the President of the United States.
Because we had, uh, one gentleman, uh, Father Dunn, our beloved Father Dunn, who just passed away not too long ago, told us how he was eating dinner with Father one night at Boys Town and Father said, I need to call President Truman and talk about that childcare program. So, he picked up the phone and in a matter of seconds he was talking to President Truman at the White House.
So, his friendships were just a wide spectrum, spectrum of individuals, plus just ordinary people. Yeah. Because we had a person that was his driver who would drive him through Omaha, and he said father had a list of people and he'd go visit them throughout the city of Omaha from very wealthy neighborhoods to very poor neighborhoods.
These were just his old friends that he would go and visit and console with, uh, meet with them. Same thing when you go to Ireland, we have a list, it's called his call list. And my gosh, there's a list of 50, 60 people on there, old family, friends, or relatives. And he would go and visit and have tea with them and meet with them.
So, he was very much. Social at being again is probably his Irish background of going and visiting and having tea So he was very busy his his entire life. 

[00:29:16] Jim: Yeah, well, and I'm I am struck by how Christlike that is, you know the extrovert in me loves that loves those anecdotes, but also just the just Regardless of rank, or wealth, or stature, connecting with it, and you see that, you know, in the life of Christ as he's like, you know, centurion one moment, and then a leper the other, and it's, that's fantastic.
I mean, let's, let's talk a little bit about, I mean, you can't miss the fact that Father Flanagan is a Catholic priest. Let's talk a little bit about like his, his faith life and his, his devotion. 

[00:29:53] Thomas: He had a great devotion to his Catholic faith and as director of Boys Town, sometimes people would actually say, well, you can't be a Catholic priest and engage in the work he was doing in that he was having children live with him that were following other faiths because he famously said, every boy must learn how to pray, how he praises up to him and people, some people objected to that.
But he said, no, he said, you must allow people to come to their own faith. And that was part of his life, too. He is, again, very, very great devotion. He loved to say the Mass. Uh, and then he loved to read his Bible. He read the Bible, again, every day. And...

[00:30:29] Jim: It sounds almost like office hours. That, like, he would...
I mean, this was, like, a set time. Everybody, the boys all knew he's gonna be in the chapel reading the Bible. Yeah. Wow.

[00:30:39] Thomas: And he would often talk about Christ and Christ's work. And he would not compare himself directly to Christ, but say, I am doing the work of the Lord by saving the children, the little sheep, as he called them, that had been turned out and nobody wanted.
And that's what he kind of learned as a child. And now he was living that at Boys Town, and it just broke his heart. When children would come and not all children succeeded and he often said he had sorrows and he had great joys When the boys voted to change the name of the village from Overlook to Boys Town he actually was sad because he said Overlook had so many memories both happy and sad of Life there because he did have failures in his life both personally and then working with children, but he continued on because he knew the successes outweighed those And everyone is burdened down with problems.
He had great financial problems where the home was almost closed numerous times. And people would come to him and say, Father, other religious orders would say, you, you go do what you want. We're going to take over and run your home. And he'd always say, no, I'm in charge of this home. I will run it. And, uh, it was a great burden on him, but he, he loved it.
That was his, his mission. 

[00:31:48] Jim: Yeah. Before we turn on the mic, microphone, we talked about deep devotion, uh, to the blessed Virgin Mary. You did, yeah, you like made my jaw drop as you're telling a story about his childhood and probably something that he didn't remember from his childhood, but his you know when his his health was very fragile this Interaction which probably sealed his relationship with Mary before he could even remember. 

[00:32:21] Thomas: Definitely.
Yes. His family lived in a little two room stone cottage, uh, in a, a cow pasture basically. And in that cottage, there about 15 people lived. His brothers and sisters, parents, they actually had his grandfather Flanagan living with them too. Wow. His grandfather Flanagan was like a veterinarian for the village.
Father Flanagan again had very, very poor health. Uh, when he was two years old, he actually was on the verge of, of death due to bronchitis. And, uh, and pneumonia, his lungs, he just couldn't breathe. So, his mother and sisters were all crying, uh, that he was going to pass away next to his bed. His grandfather Flanagan, the family story goes, came in, grabbed him out of his bed, walked him to the corner where the family had a statue of the Virgin Mary, held him up and said, let this baby live.
And then put him back into his, his bed, went outside and then suffered a massive heart attack and he himself passed away a few days later. Uh, that story was related to Father Flanagan as he got older, and that statue remained in the family home his entire life till he came to America. So, he had that great devotion to the Virgin Mary, and that's why at Boys Town, our chapel is named for the Immaculate Conception.
And our colors for our village are blue and white, again, for the Virgin Mary. And so, he, he always found, had that great devotion to her. And St. Patrick, too, because St. Patrick brought the light of Christianity to Ireland, and Father Flanagan considered himself bringing the light of new youth care issues and concepts to the people of America around the world.
So, he held St. Patrick up as a role model, also. 

[00:33:51] Jim: Gosh, Tom, what are your, like, if there may be one or two things that people don't know about Father Flanagan that they're like, oh my gosh, you need to know this. Just little anecdotes, teases. What would you, what would you say to things, just little anecdotes that people just don't know?

[00:34:09] Thomas: Father Flanagan loved to play sports. He was a handball champion, even with his health when he was in school. And when he was at Boys Town, he, he loved to play football and baseball with the boys. And as he got older, uh, his mother lived with him for a while, his mother, uh, Nora. And we have the story one day he was playing football with the boys on the grounds, and she came out on the front porch and yelled at him to come in the house that he was going to hurt himself playing out with the boys.
So he, he was very. Very, very one on one with the children at Boys Town in, in protecting them and wanting to know how their lives were. And uh, he stayed in contact with them even when they became adults. And he had friendships again with these families for a long time. And then many people don't realize during World War II, he took in Japanese Americans too.
He was opposed to the internment. Yeah, please. 

[00:34:58] Jim: Yeah. Tell those stories. That's an amazing story. 

[00:35:01] Thomas: Uh, it began with, uh, uh, When the internment began in California, there was a Japanese couple, uh, who wrote a note to Father Flanagan saying, uh, do you need help at Boys Town? So, Father Flanagan investigated, and at that time, majority of the men who worked at Boys Town were going away for the war effort, and he had all these boys who needed care.
So, he, uh, wrote to the administration and said, the government, I would like to bring in these families. Well, eventually, over 200 Japanese Americans left the camps and came to stay at Boys Town. Some for a little bit longer, others just traveled on through. Uh, the ones who did come and live there, they lived in their own homes on the grounds and they, they worked on the farm there, planted the gardens, some work with the boys.
Several of the single men he helped get into the, uh, military units, especially I think it was the 442, the Japanese unit. And one of them was killed and Father Flanagan wrote the letter to the family saying, uh, his name was Katsu, that Even though Katsu was in his twenties, he still considered him to be a boy, one of the kids at Boys Town.
So, these great stories of these Japanese American families he helped, and we've stayed in contact with these families. Many, many generations later, uh, they still are in contact with us. And so thankful that Boys Town did that and Father Flanagan did that help. And he got into trouble with that too. He was denounced in the U.
S. Senate. Oh, sure. By the Un American, uh, at, at Un Americans Activities Committee they had at the Senate. His name was put forward as a sympathizer. And another senator said, we were not even going to discuss this even further. Uh, but there was great hatred that he was doing that, helping Japanese Americans.

[00:36:39] Jim: Yeah. Gosh. Okay, so tell us just a little bit, like, how is the cause for canonization, uh, going, like what is the, just how does the process un unfold? I mean, I, I can't imagine there's gotta be a fair number of like, just fun stories there where we start getting, you know, document requests from, from, from the Vatican.
How's, how's the cause going? 

[00:37:02] Thomas: Well, uh, I'm a member of the cause board in, I was appointed by the archbishop to be on the historical commission. Uh, there's actually a group of lay Catholics in Omaha working on father's cause. Boys Town is separate from it due to that we're a separate children's home from the cause, but I am part of it due to my work at the historical commission.
Uh, well, it began, we had a visit from Dr. Ambrosi, the postulator who came to the archives at Boys Town. And we have three million documents and he said, Tom, these all have to go to Rome. And I said, really Dr. Ambrosi? So, I started to organize them and then he came back and said, no, we better reduce it. So, we reduced it to 10, 10, 000 pages.
I went through the archives; I picked the best of the best. We had a Father Flanagan's writings; they wanted his religious writings and other aspects of his work. And just selecting those, uh, in some of those letters to be sent to Rome was a really fun experience. Then we send it all off to the Vatican. A historian at the Vatican has already reviewed the historical documents and that group of cardinals have approved it and now the Theological Commission hopefully will begin its work here this year and God willing, potentially, Father may be declared venerable within a year or two.
God willing, again, if that would happen. 

[00:38:15] Jim: Yeah. Wow. And that's, that's fantastic. I could imagine. I mean, I can see your eyes. Some of the Rome was like, okay, 10, 000 documents. Could you just like copy these real quick and put them in the mail to Rome? Uh, gosh, that's fantastic. Tom, our time has flown here. I just want to give you a chance, you know, many of our listeners, some, you know, kind of.
Have professional, maybe like work for a, for a nonprofit or for a parish or, but, but many are just, just good people who are trying to let the Lord guide them. But given the circumstance of the world and the church today, find themselves. As change leaders, even if it's just a small way, trying to, to live family more deeply and more authentically, trying to learn how to share their faith with family and friends, uh, trying to address, you know, some of the, uh, issues of injustice in their little corner of the world.
What do you think Father Flanagan can teach those who, big or small, are leading change in the world today? 

[00:39:25] Thomas: Father Flanagan always believed in the concept of love. And even when hatred would come its way. He would not, uh, accept that hatred, but he would counter it with love. And he said kindness is so important too.
And that's even what we do today with our boys and girls at Boys Town. Many people have not been kind to them in their lives. Just smiling and saying hello to an individual, especially like a teenager. Some of them have never had that before and they're just shocked. And just going out of your way to be kind to someone.
in any given day. It doesn't cost any money. Uh, it's not much of a great effort. It's just a smile and a thank you or a hello can really change someone's attitude for the day, especially our young people today. Cause some people say, Oh, they're out of control. They're there to have terrible lives and they won't listen to everyone.
Well, sometimes they just need someone to say hello to them. And that's what we do every day with our boys and girls. We say hello to them. What's going on today? Uh, how was your day? Just a little bit. Because some of our kids and even some adults today, they have no one to say that to them in their lives.
And that little bit of kindness can go a long way to helping someone's life. 

[00:40:33] Jim: Gosh, that's fantastic. Tom, what would you say for somebody who wants to learn? They're like, oh my gosh, like I want to learn more about Father Flanagan. It's like, okay, they can do the do the movie. What's next after they watch the the movie?
What, what's another step to take to learn more about Father Flanagan and learn to imitate his example? 

[00:40:53] Thomas: People can go to boys town. org and at boys town. org there's an area called About Us and it lists our history of Boys town, resources that we have, documents on Father Flanagan, books on Father. And then there's always a chance to visit Boys Town.
We are open for visitors the year round. We only close five days out of the year, but people are more than welcome to come and visit the museum. They can go to the chapel, see father's tomb. Uh, they can actually come and have lunch Monday through Thursday. In our, at our visitor center and actually walking the grounds and seeing where Boys Town is operating today and what we have there, uh, actually on those grounds, we had St.
Teresa of Calcutta walked the grounds, and we had St. Hurtado of Chile. He came in the 1940s and learned concepts from father and went on to create his programs. So, we, we can document at least two saints have actually worked, walked on our grounds and God willing, Father Flanagan may be the third. 

[00:41:47] Jim: Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful campus and the museum is fantastic.
I know that's, that's your work. Yeah. It's a beautiful museum and you just, you get, uh, you can feel the, the difference. Uh, I mean, one being on campus, but just, you know, the, the museum gives such a taste of like what he was doing and how avant garde it was. Yeah. If you didn't catch it, we'll put it in the show notes, but it's boys town.
org and just go to the about us tab and you can find everything you need to know for a visit. I think there's probably some books there, um, stories, other, there's a couple of biographies on Father Flanagan, Tom. Thank you. Thanks for what you do. Thank you to everybody, uh, at, at boystown and thanks for, thanks for being with us today.

[00:42:31] Thomas: Thank you for having me today. 

[00:42:33] Jim: All right, everybody. Uh, you know somebody who needs to, to hear this. God willing, there are more, more than a few, um, people who are maybe gonna, gonna feel a little bit of a nudge to, to take that step, uh, step out in faith like Father Flanagan did. Uh, go ahead and share this out with a friend, someone that you know needs to hear it.
All right. Thanks, everybody.