REST IN PEACE
April 30, 2008
John Dunnigan was a missionary priest in Korea when he felt that God had called him to the dual ministry of being a married priest. He, and his wife Suk Ja, went to work for about two years, living in a garbage dump in Korea, evangelizing the poor people who lived by scrounging around in the dump.
John was influenced by a personal friend, that great Christian and writer, Anglican bishop Archer Torrey, who steered John to the Church of the East and to John Stanley.
Later, in obedience to the Lord, John returned to the USA with a vision of getting married Roman Catholic priests back into ministerial service. He and Suk Ja first lived in Maui, Hawaii, where they fellowshipped with YWAM, and its founders. This added a whole new dimension to their view of evangelizing, Church planting, and the sanctification of the Church.
From there, the Dunnigans moved to Phoenix, AZ, where John had family. There, he started an Eastern Catholic Diocese. Several years later, they moved to Florida, where Suk Ja had family. From there, John worked assiduously to motivate his contacts in the Eastern Church and in Rome to use the Eastern Church as a conduit for former Roman Catholic priests who were desirous to get back into service unto the Lord's body. Unfortunately, the Rome contacts were unable to move the Vatican in this direction. This led them to insist that John and I close down a group of Spanish priests whom we had been preparing for priestly service in the Eastern Catholic Church's formation program in 1985-1987.
Underlying John's whole effort was a desire to help in the sanctification of the Church.
After John fell sick with cancer of the bone some nine years ago, John continued working from his home on this "project." Seeing that most married priests are "bivocational," --meaning that they have to engage in secular jobs as well as ministering on a voluntary basis--John looked for a number of ways to secure financial support for married priests. Unfortunately, those efforts were not successful. In his final years, John became so weak that he could no longer even work very much at his computer, writing or doing Emails, or even phone very much. But when he was bed-ridden or armchair-ridden, he stayed close to the Blessed Sacrament and engaged in some mystical prayer and writing.
He is now hearing "Euge, servum bonum et fidelem" from His Lord and Saviour. John died April 30, 2008.
We are grateful to our Lord for having sent John to minister to us.
Best personal regards and every blessing!
+Sean and Emma Walsh
Eastern Catholic Diocese of Peru