Bishop Joseph W. Regan, M.M., D.D.
Graduating class: 1921
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2006
Hall of Fame Category: Lifetime Achievement
"There are no great men......only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet." This was said of Joseph William Regan, the first communicant of St. Joseph's Church in Fairhaven to enter the priesthood.
Following his graduation from Boston College and St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, NY, Father Regan began his lifelong service as a Maryknoll in China. During his 32 years of dedication there he was known as a doctor, teacher, friend and father. He aided 5,000 refugees, treated 10,000 sick persons and distributed relief to another 4,000.
During World War II Father Regan was an army chaplain. He aided 8 American aviators who had been forced down, assisted moving unexploded shells from streets and was responsible for directing the primary reconstruction of a city that was badly damaged.
When the communists invaded Laipo, China Father Regan found his activities increasingly restricted and he became a virtual prisoner in his own mission. He "was placed under house arrest and was put in solitary confinement." Upon his release and suffering from dysentery, he was expelled from China (1951) and eventually transferred to Lipa, Philippines.
In the Philippines he founded a primary school, was a high school teacher and began an adult education program. Father Regan opened a dispensary and organized programs that promoted personal hygiene, health education and control of communicable diseases. He began child welfare programs, counseling and clothing distribution. In addition, he established recreation, sports, music and drama activities.
On April 25, 1962 Pope John XXIII appointed him Bishop of Tagum of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. His good works intensified, establishing additional schools, a hospital, radio station and seminary. He was lauded for his support of the Boy Scouts, the Tuberculosis Society and providing :invaluable help in the implementation of the religious and moral program of the Bureau of Prisons in Davao, Philippines." He was a delegate to the Second Vatican Council in Rome.
Bishop Regan was the only Maryknoll to have spent all of his priesthood overseas. However, he never forgot his hometown and always spoke of Fairhaven with great affection. He died in 1994 at the age of 89 in Tagum, Philippines. His wake lasted a week and thousands of his parishioners lined the streets, holding candles, as "a defender of human rights was laid to rest."