Storyteller Jay O'Callahan ’60 to Perform "Father Joe: A Hero’s Journey"

In honor of Veterans Day, renowned storyteller Jay O’Callahan '60 will perform “Father Joe: A Hero’s Journey,” on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. in the Seelos Theater. The event is free and open to the public. Veterans are especially welcome to attend, and will be recognized during this special performance.

“Father Joe” tells the story of Holy Cross math and physics professor, Rev. Joseph T. O’Callahan, S.J., Navy Chaplain, who earned a Medal of Honor during WWII. Fr. O’Callahan was the first Jesuit from the New England Province to enter the Navy during WWII. On March 19, 1945, he was onboard the U.S.S. Franklin when the ship was attacked by a Japanese bomber. He was injured while rescuing shipmates and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions. O’Callahan left the Navy in late 1946. He later returned to Holy Cross to teach philosophy. In 1956, he wrote a book, titled I was Chaplain on the Franklin, recounting his experiences.

Jay O’Callahan ‘60, Fr. O’Callahan’s nephew, is a professional storyteller whose performance credits include Lincoln Center, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Winter Olympics, and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. His audio recordings have won numerous awards, including the ALA/Carnegie Award, the Birmingham International Educational Film Festival Award, the Indie Award, and the Parent’s Choice Classics Award.

In “Father Joe,” O’Callahan re-enacts that fateful day on the Franklin, interweaving his narrative with personal reminiscences of his uncle during his student days at Holy Cross. O’Callahan draws the audience into the story with his re-creation of “bursting explosions, the bewilderment of the sailors, the flames scudding about as though alive, the sight of smoke and burning flesh, the intense battering and subsequent shaking on that ‘burning city,’ the Franklin.” The story concludes with his uncle emerging “a figure of extraordinary calm amid chaos who snaps sense into the men, creates order from disorder, and again and again risks his own life to save others.”