Msgr. Arthur Calkins, St. John Henry Newman scholar, dies at 78

Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, a native of Pennsylvania who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1970 and wrote extensively on the life of St. John Henry Newman, died Feb. 3 in Lake Charles. He was 78.

Msgr. Calkins, who was named a monsignor in 2010, lived for the last seven years in Lake Charles and assisted with Masses at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church in Sulphur.

Father Ed Richard, pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, delivered the homily at Msgr. Calkins’ Funeral Mass Feb. 16 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in New Orleans.

Father Richard met Msgr. Calkins in Rome in 1993 when he was a young priest completing his doctoral studies in moral theology, and he maintained contact with him over the years.

“I asked Monsignor if it would be possible for him to come over to Sulphur, live in residence, continue his writing and speaking, and help out when he was able,” Father Richard recalled. “I am happy that all worked out. It was a blessing for us here in the parish, and it was a blessing for him, as well. There are many people around who loved him very much. He will be missed.”

As a then-27-year-old priest in 1978, Msgr. Calkins won a prized appointment to Oxford University in England to do further studies on the life of Cardinal Newman, an English theologian who was canonized in 2019. In his college and seminary days, Msgr. Calkins did several papers on Newman, including his bachelor's and master’s theses.

“My first vocation is as a priest,” Msgr. Calkins said at the time. "My intellectual pursuits are an avocation. I would never want to not be involved in pastoral work.”

That same year, on the Dec. 8 solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Msgr. Calkins made a “personal consecration” to the Blessed Mother.

“Every priest becomes a symbol of the resurrection, and so it is with our brother, who embraced not only the consecration to the priesthood but also the ‘totus tuus’ of (Mary’s) fiat,” Father Richard said. “In the priest and those consecrated, we see visibly manifested the future glory of the resurrection.”

Without realizing it, on the same day Msgr. Calkins consecrated his life to the Blessed Mother, Pope John Paul II announced in Rome a global program of Marian consecration and entrustment.

“In a relatively short period of time, I became conscious of a new dimension in my life, a new confidence in God’s providence, a new freedom,” Msgr. Calkins wrote. “I sensed the gentle, maternal, yet powerful presence of Mary.”

The son of Kenneth Elton Calkins and Frances Catherine Crawford, Msgr. Calkins attended St. Mark’s Seminary High School and Gannon College in Erie. He attended seminary at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Oxford University, in England, the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton and the Pontifical University of St. Bonaventure.

He was ordained to the priesthood on May 7, 1970, in Erie and served as associate pastor at St. Edward the Confessor, Metairie; St. Agnes, Jefferson; and Immaculate Conception, Marrero. He was also in residence at St. Angela Merici, Metairie; St. Louis Cathedral and St. Luke the Evangelist, Slidell.

Msgr. Calkins was named a prelate of honor of his holiness in 2010, and he was assigned to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” in Rome.

He served as associate chaplain of Archbishop Rummel High School and Immaculata High School as well as of Christopher Inn. He taught historical theology at Notre Dame Seminary.

Msgr. Calkins retired in 2017, and was residing in Lake Charles until the time of his death. 

He is survived by his sister, Joyce A. Gerrity of Erie; sister-in-law, Marianne Calkins of Erie; nephew Kevin G. (Angela) Calkins of Erie; niece Stacey F. (Jamin) Rogovoy of Germantown, Maryland; great nephew Jacob Calkins and great nieces Abigail Calkins, Ella Rogovoy and Jane Rogovoy.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 16 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in New Orleans. Interment was at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. A Memorial Mass was also celebrated Feb. 10 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles.