Father Paul James (Jude) Johnson, OP died on May 7, 2020 at St. Mary Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Chicago. Paul was 88 years old.
Father Johnson was born on August 28, 1932, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Paul Berger Johnson and Catherine Elizabeth Clancy Johnson. Paul had two siblings: Mary Virginia Flanagan and Thomas Francis Johnson (d). Paul’s nieces and nephews are: Mary Sue Walsh, Kathleen Walsh, Maureen Walsh (d), Mary Johnson Breeser (Dave), Anne Spott (Brian), Matt Walsh (d), Paul Walsh, Tom Johnson (Julie), Paul Johnson (Lisa) and step nieces Patti Flanagan, Laura Flanagan, and Debbie Flanagan (d). He has fifteen grand nieces and nephews.
Paul grew up in Minneapolis. He attended Annunciation Primary School and Saint Thomas Military Academy, and then the University of Notre Dame (1950–1952) to study chemical engineering.
Paul entered the novitiate of Saint Albert the Great Province on August 30, 1952 at Saint Peter Martyr Priory in Winona, Minnesota and took the religious name Jude. From 1953 to 1960 he studied Philosophy and Theology at Aquinas Institute. He was solemnly professed on August 31, 1956 and ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1959.
From 1961 to 1964 he attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and received a master’s degree in anthropology while serving as a campus minister at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center. From 1964 to 1972 Father Johnson served in campus ministry at the Newman Center at the University of Houston, and as director of the Center after 1966.
In 1972, Father Johnson was appointed Personnel Director of the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great. From late 1976 to 1978 Father Johnson served in campus ministry at St. Cloud State University, and from 1979 to 1988 at the campus ministry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Following a sabbatical in 1989 Father developed a ministry of retreats, workshops, conferences, and renewals in parishes throughout the United States and Canada, then later, as his health began to fail, shifted to parochial ministry in California and Minnesota.
In 2018, Father’s health began to seriously decline and to impair his mobility. In October he moved to St. Pius V Priory, Chicago, and then to hospice at the St. Mary Home. Father Johnson will be buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Dominican Society for Vocational Support, 1910 S. Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60608.
