Health issues force Fr. Cleary to end Scripture column

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- After nearly a quarter-century of interpreting the weekly Scripture readings for readers of the St. Louis Review, newspaper of the St. Louis Archdiocese, Jesuit Father Francis Xavier Cleary reluctantly is putting down his pen.

Health issues forced his hand, said the 75-year-old priest, whose column also has been carried in several other diocesan weeklies. His final column ran in the Jan. 7 issue of the Review.

Father Cleary, a biblical scholar, has written more than 1,000 scriptural columns for the Review since he first began writing for the paper in 1980. His column has consistently ranked near the top in popularity in multiple readership surveys over the years.

Msgr. Edward J. Sudekum, Review editor from 1981 to 1994 and now pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in University City, said Father Cleary "was not afraid to exhibit some interesting, fresh insights into the Gospel and the Gospel message, which makes all of us from time to time stop and think."

Source-Catholic News Service.