Alumni News

Remembering John M. Scott, S.J.

We all probably keep a similar file.

Ours is a little gray folder that's labeled, "Kudos." We've had it for years. And, by far, the greatest majority of the notes enclosed in it are signed, "Fr. John."

They always followed publication of first Window, then Creighton University Magazine, when a Fr. Scott story would appear.

And his stories were really hymns to creation, always about some wonderful aspect of the earth and its beauty; the wonderful logic and majesty of science; the great, mysterious cosmology; the marvelous dance of the planets, the seasons and the stars.

A memorial Mass for the Rev. John M. Scott, S.J., was held on a blustery Sunday, Jan. 13, at St. John's Church on the Creighton campus, and we couldn't help but note that Fr. Scott would have found something wonderful to enjoy about the day.

Fr. Scott died on Dec. 27 at St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 94.

But Creighton alumni would have seen him on campus from 1978 to 2002, when he was part of the Jesuit community. He was a prolific writer. He also had served for a year as associate pastor at St. Agnes Church in Omaha.

But, according to an article written about Fr. Scott in the spring of 2000, the Creighton Jesuit saw himself in a certain way: "Despite a body of work that includes textbooks and learning guides, dozens of pamphlets, and hundreds of articles, Fr. Scott sees himself as priest, teacher and scientist first, and an author second."

Fr. Scott was born in Omaha, on April 8, 1913, but the family soon moved to Butte, Mont., where he attended Immaculate Conception Grade School and then Christian Brothers High School until 1927.

Returning to Omaha, he graduated from Creighton Prep in 1931 and entered the Society of Jesus that same year. Fr. Scott went on to St. Louis University, earning the A.B. and M.A. degrees in philosophy. Soon, he was assigned to the Holy Rosary Mission in Pine Ridge, S.D., where he taught mathematics and general science from 1938 to 1941. From 1941 to 1945, he studied theology at St. Marys College in St. Marys, Kan., and was ordained on June 21, 1944.

After receiving his licentiate in theology from St. Louis University, Fr. Scott went on to earn an M.S. in physics there in 1947.

Then, for 30 years, Fr. Scott found his "home," as a physics teacher at Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wis. From 1948 to 1978, Fr. Scott was a stern, yet endearing, scientist whose colorful physics experiments dazzled his students and ingrained in them a love of learning. One of his former students still remembers him today as the best teacher he ever had. Another remembers that Fr. Scott so interested him in science that he would "sneak my physics book into my Spanish class," just to figure out the previous experiment.

Fr. Scott was acting superior of the Campion community from 1975 to 1978.

After Campion closed, Fr. Scott spent one year as associate pastor of St. Agnes Church in Omaha, and, until 2002, was a writer and member of the Creighton Jesuit Community. Due to failing health, he moved to the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wis., where he spent the rest of his life.