Boys Town grad seeks cancer cure, with Father Flanagan’s aid

When Jerry Albin was a student at Boys Town High School, he knew, at least indirectly, the influence of Servant of God Father Edward J. Flanagan, the famous Boys Town founder.

“We didn’t have a high school course on Father Flanagan or anything,” the 1974 graduate said, “but the imprint was certainly there.”

Now, more than 50 years later, Albin has turned to the late priest in a more personal way, seeking his intercession for healing from an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A Jan. 15 healing service at St. Bonaventure Church in Columbus was organized because of Albin, though more than 100 others sought healing there as well.

Father Patrick Harrison, pastor, organized the service in part to reconnect Albin, his parishioner, with Father Flanagan, whose cause for canonization is in need of a miracle to hasten his path to sainthood.

Father Harrison asked Father Jeff Mollner – pastor of Boys Town’s Immaculate Conception Parish and national director of mission and spirituality for Boys Town – to offer a presentation on Father Flanagan and lead the healing service.

Father Mollner brought with him one Father Flanagan’s most closely held possessions: a cross he carried with him in his travels and held as he was dying in Germany in 1948.

When Father Mollner briefly prayed over individuals at the evening service, he invited them to hold the cross.

Albin was moved by his experience.

He told his wife, Sylvia: “It’s just amazing to me that in my hand is the cross that Father Flanagan carried in his life.

“Sometimes you just feel the Holy Spirit right there with you, and that was certainly one of those moments.”

When Albin was at Boys Town, during his junior and senior years of high school, stories about Father Flanagan made the priest seem more like a legend. But his methods of influencing youths were practical and successful, as Albin learned from experience.

He said he and many of his peers at Boys Town “knew how to get into trouble without much help, but we were still good kids. So how could you not be impressed by somebody who was willing to take a chance and fight for those kids – us kids – who needed some help?”

Father Jeff Mollner talks about Servant of God Father Edward J. Flanagan and Boys Town during a Jan. 15 presentation at St. Bonaventure Parish in Columbus.

Boys Town changed his life, Albin said.

“Fortunately, I ended up meeting the right people along the way, who either saw some potential in me or took enough interest in me to help me move along in my life,” he said. “I was just blessed.”

Though he had been baptized as a baby, Albin didn’t grow up in a religious home, he said. But during his two years at Boys Town, he became a full member of the Catholic Church, receiving his First Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

Albin had been aware of Father Flanagan’s canonization cause before the presentation and healing service at St. Bonaventure. But now, he said, he will be seeking Father Flanagan’s  intercession with greater intensity.

Promoters for Father Flanagan’s sainthood cause have urged people to seek his intercession. A miracle would hasten the path to sainthood for the priest, who has been recognized by the Church as a Servant of God.

People line up at St. Bonaventure Church to have Father Mollner pray over them with Father Flanagan’s cross.

Supporters are hoping for a new title for Father Flanagan – Venerable – as his sainthood process moves forward. From there, a verified miracle would be needed for beatification, and another for canonization.

Albin said he has an army of people praying for him, including parishioners at St. Bonaventure and a number of Dominican nuns and priests. Among those Dominicans is a son, who serves as a priest in Texas.

The Albins have three other sons and eight grandchildren. Many of them were able to attend the healing service, along with extended family members.

Albin was diagnosed with cancer last year, on Palm Sunday, April 13.

He had been serving as a lector. The day’s long Scripture readings helped make his wife and others realize that something was wrong. They noticed him struggling, with words and walking.

After Mass, Sylvia said “I think we need to go to the hospital.”

There he received scans and imaging that indicated a tumor. Doctors later told him that they would “remove as much as we can safely remove.”

Radiation and chemotherapy followed the surgery. But his medical team has reminded  him that almost certainly the tumor will return.

“That’s not what you want to hear,” Albin said. “It’s not a great diagnosis, but so far I haven’t had to go back for a second surgery or anything. We’ll see.”

He continues to be monitored. And he still has symptoms.

Yet he holds out hope for a miracle as he prays to Father Flanagan for intercession.

“I would love, love, love to be able to call Father Mollner or somebody at Boys Town and report to them that the miracle is me,” Albin said. But if he doesn’t get that miracle, he said, he hopes “it comes to somebody, so we can move Father Flanagan along on his path to sainthood.”

Father Mollner, right, hands a microphone over to Father Patrick Harrison, pastor of St. Bonaventure Parish in Columbus.

People wait for healing prayer with a Father Flanagan’s cross at St. Bonaventure Church.

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