Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Tennessee Register
Father Ryan High School in Nashville has established a new scholarship in honor of alumnus Monsignor Owen Campion, a native of the Diocese of Nashville who served in East Tennessee before a long career as an editor and publisher.
In a ceremony Dec. 21 at Father Ryan, school president Paul Davis surprised Monsignor Campion by announcing the Monsignor Owen F. Campion ’58 Scholarship. Mr. Davis said almost $200,000 of a $250,000 goal had been raised for the scholarship as he spoke at the event attended by Monsignor Campion’s classmates, fellow priests, and friends.
“What a beautiful occasion, and what a surprise,” Monsignor Campion said. “Father Ryan has meant so much to me throughout my life, and I am honored to be remembered in this way. Thank you all very much.”
Monsignor Campion was born in Nashville and educated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation at Overbrook School in the city. He graduated from Father Ryan in 1958 and St. Bernard College in Cullman, Ala., and he completed his theological training at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore.
He was ordained to the priesthood at his home parish of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville on May 21, 1966, by Bishop Joseph A. Durick. The new priest’s first assignments were at St. Jude Parish and Notre Dame High School, both in Chattanooga, and then at Holy Ghost Parish in Knoxville.
For four years, he served as associate director of religious education for the Diocese of Nashville, with the special duty of training teachers and directors in parish programs.
Then-Father Campion served as editor of the Tennessee Register, newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville, from 1971 to 1988 before becoming associate publisher of Our Sunday Visitor. He was active in the Catholic Press Association, which he served in several roles, including as president from 1984 to 1986.
Along the way, Pope John Paul II conferred on him the dignity of Prelate of Honor, with the title of “Reverend Monsignor,” expressly complimenting his involvement in Church communications worldwide and especially his service to Catholic journalists in Eastern Europe and developing states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Monsignor Campion also was appointed by the Vatican to serve as an ecclesiastical assistant to help establish relationships between the Holy See and Catholic publishers around the world.
He retired as editor of OSV and of The Priest magazine in 2016, the year he celebrated his 50th anniversary in the priesthood, and now serves both OSV as a chaplain and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Huntington, Ind.
Portions of this article were obtained from Today’s Catholic, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.
