Father Christian Aloysius Janson, SM, former Nolan teacher, dies at 83
Father Christian Aloysius Janson (courtesy photo, Society of Mary)
SAN ANTONIO — The Marianist Residence Community of San Antonio announced the passing of Father Christian Aloysius “Cris” Janson on September 14, 2024, in San Antonio, at the age of 83 with 64 years of religious profession.
Father Janson was a beloved teacher, pastor, chaplain, campus minister, and vocation director who considered learning “the core passion” of his life. As a young man in formation, Fr. Janson noted to a superior that he had “no special desire to be sent to the missions.” Still, his priestly ministry would eventually take him to Mexico for 16 years — where he served in four different cities. He literally came to be identified by this mission work, adopting “Cris” as his nickname because it was easier for Spanish speakers to pronounce than “Chris” (as he’d been known before going to Mexico.)
Christian Aloysius Janson was born on March 6, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the third-oldest child in a large family, one of 14 siblings born to Gregory W. and Emma C. (Groner) Janson. Baptized as an infant, Cris attended various parish grade schools in the St. Louis area and enjoyed an upbringing “in a totally Catholic environment,” as he later wrote.
From early on, Cris developed an attraction to daily Mass and other religious practices and remembered thinking, even as a grade-schooler, that he might become a teacher one day. He first encountered the Society of Mary when he enrolled at St. Mary’s (South Side) High School in the mid-1950s. Asked by one of the Marianists in his sophomore year whether he’d ever thought of becoming a brother, he replied “yes” — a response that led to Cris finishing high school at Maryhurst in Kirkwood, Missouri.
He then entered the novitiate at Marynook in Galesville, Wisconsin, and professed first vows there in 1960. Brother Cris returned to Maryhurst to begin scholasticate studies. He went on to enroll at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1963.
Prior to commencing seminary studies, Brother Cris taught Latin and English for several years, serving first at St. Joseph’s School in Victoria, Texas, and then at Don Bosco High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He returned to St. Louis in 1968 and enrolled in graduate studies at Saint Louis University, earning both a Master of Arts in Education (1969) and a Master of Divinity (1972). He was ordained to the priesthood on January 20, 1973, at Our Lady of the Pillar Church in St. Louis.
For the next seven years, Father Janson continued working in the classroom while also serving as chaplain, first at St. Michael High School in Chicago and later at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth, Texas. Then came a turning point in his ministry when he was asked by his Provincial to consider a parish assignment in Mexico. “That I did not know Spanish did not disturb him,” Father Janson later wrote. “He simply replied, ‘learn it.’” Agreeing initially to a three-year commitment, Father Janson would spend most of the next 16 years in Mexico — serving as a pastor, teacher, and chaplain in three different cities as well as working in formation at the Marianist novitiate in Querétaro.
Upon his return to the United States, Father Janson taught and served as chaplain for two years at Chaminade College Preparatory in St. Louis and then joined the provincial staff as assistant vocation director in 1998. He moved to San Antonio in the early 2000s, working in campus ministry at St. Mary’s University until 2005, when he was named pastor at Holy Rosary Parish. Father Janson served in that role for the next 11 years, always bringing to it his love for teaching.
He continued in parish work after leaving Holy Rosary, serving as a pastoral associate at St. Joseph’s Parish in Sykesville, Maryland, until suffering a debilitating stroke in 2019. Father Janson then moved to the Marianist Residence in San Antonio, where he began to “devote a great amount of time to the ministry of prayer…[and] to the ongoing fraternal support of my brothers in the Marianist residence, especially [those] in our St. Joseph nursing wing,” he wrote in 2023.
Marianist Lay Affiliate Nancy Davies remembers Father Janson as “a joyful person with a smile for everyone. I recall his support for the affiliates and for his help with retreats and prayer days. I give thanks to Jesus with Mary for his gift to the Marianist family.”
Provided by the Society of Mary in the U.S.A. with editing by NTC staff