Father David A. Curran (1942-2021)
Born in Boston, MA (USA) on July 15, 1942.
He was a missionary in the Dominican Republic and USA.
Died in Arlington, VA (USA) on October 15, 2021,
at the age of 79.
David Allen Curran (Dave), our loving “Uncle,” died on October 15, 2021. Dave was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1942, and baptized at St. Mary’s Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Dave was the son of Daniel Alexander Curran and Bertha Elaine Gallant, a devout Catholic family from Ipswich, Massachusetts. Father Dave and his family were “of very high ethical standards,” according to his nephew, Dan.
Dave was very proud of his maternal Scotch-Irish heritage, which traces its origins back to the 18th century and rooted in St. Alexis of Matapedia, Quebec, Canada.
Dave was an exceptional man with a compassionate awareness of humanity’s brotherhood and suffering. He received a special gift from God that allowed him to empathize strongly with human misery. His gentle heart would nearly take on the agony of the moment, and he would genuinely do what St. Paul stated. “I am fulfilling in myself the sufferings of Jesus.”
Dave made his first vows on September 8, 1964, and was ordained on October 9, 1971, at Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale, Virginia, by the Most Reverend Carlo van Melckebeke, CICM, Bishop of Ningsia, China, Apostolic Visitor for overseas Chinese. He left for the Dominican Republic (RD) in August 1972. He evangelized there for 23 years and served as the RD’s Provincial Superior from 1988 to 1994. One of the joys of his missionary experience in the Dominican Republic was ministering to the Haitian sugarcane cutters in the country’s southwest. “Although I was only there for two years, I learned a lot about discovering the Lord of Life in the lives of the poor of the earth,” he wrote. He was also a member of the Formation Team for Theology Students in Mexico City. In 1981, he was a Regional Delegate at the CICM Chapter, and in 1993, he was a participant as Provincial Superior.
From 1998 to 2000, he returned to the United States and worked as the Coordinator of Catholic Outreach in San Antonio, Texas. Then he returned to his home state of Massachusetts to care for his ailing mother. He also served as Chaplain in the Prison Ministry from 2001 to 2013 and as Chaplain to the Xaverian Brothers, where he was greatly appreciated.
Following his mother’s death, he was eventually assigned to the Dominion House, the CICM retirement house in Arlington, Virginia, due to his Parkinson’s disease, from which he ultimately died. Speaking with him frequently, he would explain that the following poetry eloquently describes how he understood his life:
“Win by losing...
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve, I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey...
I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things…
I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise...
I asked for power that I might have the praise of people, I was given weakness that I might feel that need of God...
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I got nothing that I asked for ... but everything that I had hoped for...
Almost despite myself, my unspoken were answered, I am among all people most richly blessed.”
May he rest in peace.
Ricardo Terga