The late Fr Francis Moloney SDB. (PHOTO: Wipf and Stock publishers website)
The renowned Australian biblical scholar Rev Prof Francis Moloney SDB AM has died after a long illness, aged 85.
“The death of Fr Francis Moloney SDB brings to a close a life of remarkable commitment, fidelity and scholarship,” said Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in a statement released by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. ”A member of the Salesians of Saint John Bosco, Fr Moloney understood instinctively the wisdom of St John Bosco’s famous saying that ‘It is not enough for young people to be loved; they have to know that they are loved’.
“In his dealings with people of all ages, including the young, Fr Moloney displayed a remarkable gift for friendship: he loved sincerely and generously and was deeply loved and admired in return,” Archbishop Costelloe said. “A world-renowned Johannine scholar, Fr Moloney’s whole life was dedicated to his belief that ‘this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’ (John 17:3).”
Born in Moonee Ponds to Denis and Mary Moloney in 1940, Fr Moloney was one of four children in a devout Catholic family. Educated by the Christian Brothers at St Bernard’s College, he was an excellent cricketer and keen sportsman, playing district cricket for the Essendon Cricket Club. He would pursue a variety of sports—especially AFL, cricket, athletics, swimming and tennis—well into his thirties, and remained a sports fan throughout his life, later describing his passion for sport as “a great support for my life of teaching and research. Not only does it open an entirely different and healthy world, but it provides a great point of common interest with others, and valuable social contacts”.
After completing the first year of an Arts degree at the University of Melbourne, Fr Moloney joined the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1960. As a young scholastic, he taught for three years at Salesian College Rupertswood, where he was also a highly regarded sports master, coaching the First XI cricket team and playing an instrumental role in establishing a turf cricket pitch on the lower oval. He maintained an association with the Rupertswood Cricket Club into his final years.
From Rupertswood, the young Br Frank—as he was then known—travelled to Rome to study for the priesthood at the Salesian Pontifical University. It was during this time that his Salesian superiors in Australia suggested he undertake postgraduate study to equip him in the academic formation of young Salesians, something he had not considered until then. “I was told to consider any field of specialisation that appealed to me,” he would later recall.
At the time, he enrolled in a course on Romans with Belgian biblical scholar Jules Cambier. “I wanted to be like him. That set me off (while still doing my theology course) on the study of Hebrew, brushing up some rusty Greek, learning German (every summer in a German community), and perfecting my schoolboy French. The rest is history.”
In 1970, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop James Knox in the ‘ballroom’ chapel of Rupertswood. Fifty years later, he recalled the pride of his parents on that day. “It is not possible to describe the gratitude to my mother and father that this day generates,” he said at a Mass to celebrate his golden jubilee of ordination. His “overpowering memory”, he said, was “the joy and pride that it brought into their remarkable and self-sacrificing lives”.
After ordination, he returned to Rome, and would spend the next 11 years in Europe, with stints in Rome, France, Germany Israel and the United Kingdom. “I learnt the languages. I visited the great natural beauties and artistic achievements,” he later recalled. He was also awarded two Master’s degrees (in theology and biblical studies) in Rome, and completed his PhD in biblical studies at the University of Oxford. His dissertation, The Johannine Son of Man, was published in 1976.
From there, he embarked on a distinguished career as a teacher and scholar, first in Rome, then back in Australia as Dean of Studies and Rector at the Salesian formation house in Oakleigh, before being appointed to the faculty of Catholic Theological College (CTC). During his years at CTC, he was a founding editor of the Australian theological journal Pacifica and served as an associate editor of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. Over the course of his life, his teaching appointments took him to Europe, Israel, the United States, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Appointed in 1984 to the International Theological Commission by Pope John Paul II, he remained on the advisory body for 18 years and was the only Australian to ever serve three terms.
In 1992 he was the first theologian to be elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and in 1994, he was awarded an Order of Australia for services to Australian religion and culture, the same years he became the Foundation Professor of Theology at Australian Catholic University.
In 1999, he became Professor of New Testament at the Catholic University of America, being appointed to the endowed Katherine Drexel Chair of Religious Studies in 2002. He was also the first non-US citizen to be elected President of the Catholic Biblical Association of America.
As well as his many distinguished academic appointments, Prof Moloney led his religious order as Provincial Superior of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Australia and the Pacific from 2006 until 2011, returning to full-time teaching and research roles at Catholic Theological College and Australian Catholic University in 2012.
Throughout his academic career, he never lost sight of his early calling to help form young Salesians. “I can say that I have either been ‘in formation’ myself, or ‘forming’ young people for 60 years,” he said in 2019. “I have worked in universities, but always from a background community of young Salesians who are studying, seeing to their professional, psychological, religious and social formation. That ministry has been a constant part of my life.”
He was a prolific writer, publishing more than 50 books—including internationally acclaimed works on the Gospels of John and Mark, and the Book of Revelation—along with scores of journal articles.
His many students around the world continue his legacy in their own way of living and spreading the good news of God’s love and gift of eternity life.
Fellow biblical scholar and Professor Emerita Mary Coloe PBVM of Yarra Theological College says that “with the death of Frank Moloney, many people around the world will be grieving the loss of an outstanding biblical theologian, writer, teacher, colleague and friend. His classes on John revealed both the theology and the beauty of the Gospel, and he welcomed any questions”.
“For all his international awards, the years teaching in Washington, Berkeley, Jerusalem and Rome, Frank remained a proud Australian, in his humour and down-to-earth language, delivered with Aussie idioms and accent,” Prof Coloe says. “His many students around the world continue his legacy in their own way of living and spreading the good news of God’s love and gift of eternity life.”
This article is drawn from an ACBC media release and an article in Melbourne Catholic.