† Fr. James D. Campbell, OP

† James D. Campbell, O.P. 1920-2004

James D. Campbell, O.P. died February 11th in Raleigh, NC. After a bout with pneumonia, and after many years of suffering from a leg accident, which occurred soon after he began his work as a missionary in Honduras in 1991, it seemed only appropriate that Jim would be called home to God on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Jim Campbell was born in Coatesville, PA on May 26,1920.

He served as a 1st Lieutenant and a navigator on the B-29 during WWII, lived in Brazil as an investment banker and worked in Shanghai in the oil business.

Jim entered the Dominican novitiate in Somerset, OH in 1955, after trying out Trappist life with the monks at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky for a year. He received degrees from Providence College and Harvard University, along with theological studies with the Dominicans in Washington, D.C. He also received an S.T.M. at Union Theological Seminary in N.Y. Jim dedicated his entire Dominican life to preaching the Word of God and working for peace and justice, especially during the Vietnam era. He worked in campus ministry at Emory University in Atlanta, and also as a hospital chaplain in Nashvil1e, TN. He spent time ministering in Africa, as well.

At age 71 Jim volunteered as a missionary to Honduras, but after a tragic accident, he returned to the U.S. and spent the next twelve years working in migrant and pastoral ministry in Louisburg, and throughout Franklin County, N.C.

It is perhaps his faithfulness in the midst of the many deserts of the spiritual life that is the greatest gift he leaves to us. He directed many spiritual meditation retreats during his final years. Jim enjoyed teaching people the art of Lectio Divina - the prayerful listening to the sacred scriptures, in his Advent and Lenten preachings throughout the Raleigh Diocese. He loved to read and devoured the New York Times every single day. He carried the people of the world - especially the people of Africa - in his heart. For us, his Dominican brothers, Jim was precisely that - a brother. He was our older brother, a man who taught us to see God when God is not always easily seen.