Fr. John Halligan, S.J., who passed away in December at age 92, taught English and Latin at Prep from 1954 to 1959. But he spent most of his life building an incredible legacy of humanitarian service in Quito, Ecuador, where he founded the Centro del Muchacho Trabajador (Working Boys Center) in 1964. Along the way, this truly outstanding Jesuit provided inspiration to many—including Prep men separated by decades, generations, and a few thousand miles.
The then-Mr. Halligan came to Grand & Warren in 1954 as a Jesuit scholastic. Bob Goger, ’59 recalled a favorite Halligan expression from the classroom: “‘Excelsior’…With his insistence to advance ever upward, he introduced us early on to the notion of excellence in leadership.” And for those who learned those lessons in the classroom from Mr. Halligan, S.J., seeing what Fr. Halligan, S.J. achieved away from Prep only added to the impact.
“Halligan was an authentic and unique mensch who consistently emulated Christian principles, and in his humble way turned his Working Boys Center into a practical, successful institution,” wrote John Cozzi, ’59. “There are precious few people I have encountered in my 81+ years on the planet who could qualify for the title of ‘Saint,'” he added.
In 1964, Fr. Halligan established the Working Boys’ Center at La Compania Church in Quito, aiming to provide both spiritual and practical support to some of the thousands of shoeshine boys who worked in the streets of the Ecuadorian capital. From a few dozen boys in those early days, the center grew to offer services not only to the working boys, but to the families the boys worked to support. Today more than 300 families a year rely on the center, which offers services ranging from meals, showers, and daily Mass to education and technical training, medical and dental care, and savings programs. Over the decades, the center has helped more than 6,000 of the city’s most vulnerable families acquire the tools to leave the cycle of generational poverty. The center has evolved into a “family of families” defined by the institutional values of love, teamwork, loyalty, honesty, solidarity, spirituality, justice, and dignity.
More recently, a new generation of Prep men were introduced to Fr. Halligan and his work. This time the setting was not Jersey City, but Quito. In the 2010s, the Working Boys’ Center became a fixture on the annual calendar of upperclassman service trips. Prep’s director of alumni relations, Mike Murcia, ’08, recalled two service experiences in Quito, one as a student at Saint Peter’s University and the second while chaperoning a Prep service experience. “I met Fr. Halligan both times I visited and was so blown away by his work and commitment to serving the people of Quito,” he said.
Although his time on the Prep faculty was relatively short, Fr. Halligan has certainly modeled life as a “man for others” to Prep students and alumni.
“John [Cozzi] and I met this man when we were boys,” Bob Goger wrote. “He galvanized us back then and has continued that effect on us over the years and from thousands of miles away. Even to this moment and into our old age.”