Father William F. Mullan, died on August 3 in the Assisted Living Unit at Maryknoll,
New York. He was 87 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 60 years.
William Francis Mullan was born on January 16, 1935, in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Joseph and Julia Heffernan Mullan. He had three brothers and one sister. He graduated from Good Shepherd Grammar School in Brooklyn, and after attending St. Francis Preparatory High School for one year, he joined Maryknoll at Maryknoll Junior Seminary (Venard), Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, in September 1949.
He obtained a BA in Philosophy while at Glen Ellyn (1957) and an STB (1961), and an MRE (1962) from the Maryknoll School of Theology.
Father Mullan was ordained on June 9, 1962, and sent to mission in Guatemala, where he served until 1980. In 1980, he was elected regional superior for the Maryknoll Society in Central America.
In 1985, he was one of six Maryknoll missioners honored with the Papal Cross for his religious and social work.
His service in the U.S. has included work in the order’s mission promotion department, 1987-90; and as Maryknoll’s U.S. regional superior, 1991-97.
After attending a sabbatical/renewal program at Notre Dame University in January 1998, Father Mullan was re- assigned to the Central America region to work in Guatemala.
Upon his return, Father Mullan worked with the Mayan Q’eqchi people in Peten, Guatemala. He was assigned to the San Francisco Parish, consisting of 28 Q’eqchi villages. Father Mullan considered his mission work: “a gift of knowing the Mayan people, their culture, their faith, their community spirit, their respect for nature and their family values. I have learned much from the people; they have helped mebewhoIam.”
In July 2012, Father Mullan left his beloved Mayan people and began a new assignment with the Initial Formation Department in Chicago, Illinois. He was reassigned to the Latin America region in December of 2014 and returned to Guatemala.
Father Mullan was assigned to the U.S. region with senior missioner status in June 2019 and to the Senior Missioner
Community later that same year. He resided at the Maryknoll Society Center and celebrated his 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll priest in June 2022.
Father Mullan is survived by his nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Julia Anne Maher, and his brothers, Joseph, James, and Raymond Mullan.
Wake services were held on August 10 in the Holy Spirit Chapel and the Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Society Center, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial concelebrated in the Queen of Apostles Chapel.
According to his wishes, Father Mullan was cremated and his ashes placed in the Maryknoll Society Columbarium.
Brother John Dunbar, S.C., died on July 29, at the age of 82, after 69 years of religious life. He was born and raised in the South Bronx in St. Luke’s parish, where he attended the parish school, conducted by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, from thesixth through eighth
grades. He also attended the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Juniorate H.S. in
Metuchen, New Jersey. He professed first vows in 1958 and final vows in 1961. He earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala., and a master’s degree in theology at Fordham University, the Bronx.
Brother John was a history and English teacher before beginning a long missionary career in Africa. With a facility for languages and a compassionate heart, Brother John entered into the lives of those he served for 25 years in Kenya at Nyeri, Nkubu, and Meru. In addition to teaching, he served in the Meru Diocese as an advisor and assistant secretary of education. He ministered another five years in Malole, Zambia, before returning to the States in 1998.
Dedicated and generous, Brother John served another 23 years in a variety of roles, including teaching computer literacy, art history, and global studies at Msgr. McClancy H.S., East Elmhurst.
Brother John is survived by his siblings, Maureen and Ann, nephew Kevin and his wife Maureen, grandnieces, and many cousins. He was predeceased by his beloved brother Martin.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Aug. 5.