History of K of C Council 5268

The Reverend Thomas Cushen was born near Hamilton, Ontario, on October 27, 1877. Following ordination in 1904, he was assigned as an assistant at the Cathedral of Saint Paul and then to a post at St Joseph’s Church.

Archbishop John Ireland appointed Father Thomas Cushen to the Parish of Saint John the Baptist in December 1910 in “pro tem” status due to concerns over his health. After a little more than a year at his post, Father Cushen took a seven-month leave of absence due to a battle with tuberculosis, moving to a sanitarium in Walker, Minnesota.

In May 1913, Father Cushen returned to Excelsior to take up his duties again. To fight back against his poor health, he began to walk everywhere, even making parish calls as far away as Tonka Bay.

By November 1914, he was able to move into a new rectory, built on a tract of land adjoining the church and fronting on First Street. Encouraged by his improving health and the substantial commitment of the local parish, Father Cushen settled into a long pastorate. Many parishioners, recalling his personality, noted both his kindness and his gruffness. As one parishioner said, he “had a special presence which caused you to respect him.” Another parishioner recalled Father Cushen telling a churchgoer who couldn’t give anything to the parish collection to put an empty envelope in the basket, and he would be the only one who would know what she gave.

Father Cushen quietly made a mark on the community. In 1917, he was elected president of the Commercial Club, a position he took seriously.

In September 1925, led by Father Cushen, the parish purchased nearly seventeen acres on the eastern shore of Christmas Lake. About nine acres of this land was set aside and developed as the cemetery and named Cemetery of the Resurrection. The cemetery was expanded in 1946 through the generosity of Father Cushen, who bequeathed a substantial amount to the parish building fund.

As peace came in 1945, after two world wars and the great depression, Father Cushen celebrated his thirty-fifth year as shepherd for the local flock. As one parishioner said, “It was a mark of his compassionate and steady leadership during these years that the parish continued to function and go forward.”

As the parish grew, parishioners pressed for an addition to the church as well as a school for the children. Father Cushen was instrumental in securing new property on Mill Street but insisted that the nuns should have a proper home before the parish built a school or new church building, as the nuns always seemed to be thought of last when it came to housing. The new school and convent were completed in 1952.

Father Cushen was hardly ready to rest on his laurels. Almost as soon as the school opened, he campaigned for a major addition with an auditorium/gymnasium, arguing that it would be a great facility for the school kids as well as a place to hold bingo games to help raise additional funds for the parish. Never one to avoid his personal responsibility, Father Cushen donated an inheritance of $30,000 to build a gym.

As Father Cushen grew older, he took on an almost mythical quality among the parishioners who never knew life without the presence of the tall, Lincolnesque pastor.

In the fall of 1959, Father Cushen, in poor health, entered the hospital in September and returned again in January 1960. In early 1960, Father decided to take some time off and travel to Europe. In March of 1960, the parish received word from London, England that Father Cushen had died. His body was brought home and, following a funeral service in the auditorium, he was buried in Resurrection Cemetery.

Towards the end of his life, Father Cushen wrote a pastoral letter for the parish newsletter, counseling, “Although many people place an undue importance on material things of life, we all know that the material things cannot be taken from this world into the next. When we stand before God, it is not our house we lived in on earth, nor the balance in our bank accounts that we are judged. God judges us by the state of our souls and by the record of our good works in His service in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

History of K of C Council 5268

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