By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Report
(From the issue of 4/14/05)

Msgr. Thomas P. Scannell served the Lord and His Church for more years than most people have lived. At age 94, Msgr. Scannell was not only the most senior priest in the diocese, also the oldest. He died April 4.

His funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Michael Church in Annandale on April 11 by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde with about 60 diocesan priests concelebrating and six deacons assisting. Father Christopher Pollard, parochial vicar at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, served as homilist. Interment followed at Fairfax Memorial Park.

"What must you always remember?" Father Pollard asked at the beginning of his homily, echoing the words spoken so often by Msgr. Scannell. "That I am a child of God," answered those who filled the church to remember the priest.

Father Pollard spoke of the many faces worn by Msgr. Scannell, his stern attitude when it came to living the faith, but also his kind demeanor while getting to know his parishioners and brother priests.

"The man you admire so much scared the daylights out of me as a child," Father Pollard said. But, "He inspired admiration among many of us in many settings."

When Father Pollard was growing up, he played soccer and traveled for tournaments. He remembers the first Sunday he missed Mass because of a soccer game. He went to St. Michael Church to confess his sin and the voice on the other side of the wall said, "My boy, what do you want to do forever — play ball or go to heaven?"

Once he was ordained a priest and lived with Msgr. Scannell at St. Agnes Church, Father Pollard came to know Msgr. Scannell as a brother priest.

The senior priest shared that nothing he learned in the seminary prepared him, practically, for being a priest to the people.

"He found out how to be a priest simply by taking care of his parish. He learned how to be a father by taking care of you," Father Pollard told the congregation at the funeral.

Thomas Patrick Scannell was born Sept. 19, 1910, in Brooklyn, N.Y., one of seven children of Daniel and Anna Scannell. He attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., on a football scholarship.

He attended the North American College in Rome where he was ordained on March 19, 1937, just a few months after his seminary classmate, the late Msgr. Francis L. Bradican was ordained.

In his 68 years as a priest, he served as assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Norfolk from 1937-41; assistant pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington from 1941-43; Army chaplain from 1943-46 in England during World War II; pastor of St. Mary of Sorrows Parish in Fairfax Station from 1951-53; and founding pastor of St. Michael Parish from 1953-86.

He also served as founding director of Catholic Charities of Northern Virginia, a position he held for five years, diocesan consultor in 1966 and dean of Alexandria in 1967.

He was named a monsignor by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

Bishop Loverde referred to Msgr. Scannell as the "patriarch of the diocese," being the eldest priest and one of several who were on the board that helped organize the Arlington Diocese in the early 1970s. "He served with foresight and distinction, priestly love and pastoral care," the bishop said.

"Msgr. Scannell could be direct," he said. "You didn’t have to guess what he was thinking. But he was also caring and kind."

"With Msgr. Scannell’s death, there comes an end of an era in the diocesan Church and the state," said Msgr. John T. Cilinski. "He was a spiritual giant in the Dioceses of Richmond and Arlington. I will miss his presence."

Msgr. Cilinski, who resides at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, has been tending to Msgr. Scannell’s sacramental care since he moved to Powhattan Nursing Home in 2003.

"He always had a twinkle in his eye and a rosary wrapped around his fingers — living out his vocation to the ‘children of God,’" Msgr. Cilinski said.

Father James Gould, pastor of St. Raymond of Penafort Parish in Fairfax and former pastor of St. Agnes, also remembered Msgr. Scannell’s devoted spiritual life.

Father Gould recalled the priest often praying the rosary while walking around the church parking lot or sitting in the back of the church praying a holy hour.

"He was a wellspring of many blessings for people of the parish and priests of the diocese," Father Gould said.

He was also a priest who was so devoted to being a priest, he fought retirement.

"It was not because he was afraid he would lose control of the parish, but that he thought he would lose the fraternity of the people and priests in a parish," Father Gould said. "The priests, especially the young priests at St. Agnes, offered him the same spirit and image that attracted him to the Diocese of Richmond. They are adventurers who were men of prayer and who could preach with courage, teach with clarity and serve with charity. The reason why I think he lived so long is he shared their enthusiasm for the priesthood, the Church and life."