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Monday, May 21, 2007, saw the Catholic community of our diocese say goodbye to one of those rare believers that you were simply grateful to have known. Dr. Joe Holoubek was more than just a rare individual; he was in many respects, the finest Christian gentleman and physician I may ever have met in my lifetime.
While Dr. Holoubek’s many accomplishments have been noted since his passing, one thing has always stood out to me about Dr. Joe and his approach to his Catholic faith, and that is simply his consistent supportiveness. I cannot recall how many times in nearly 20 years of diocesan employment that I received a note of thanks or encouragement in his familiar cursive script. I used to see them on Bishop Friend’s desk quite often. They were always short messages that usually included phrases like “last night’s program was fantastic,” or “you really did a good job with…” and his brief notes to me almost always included “the Church is blessed to have you, keep up the great work.” It is difficult to express what those little missives from Dr. Joe did to keep me moving forward in difficult times as well as good.
I visited Dr. Joe’s home on River Road about two months before he died. It was my pleasure to bring a framed picture of him and Bishop Friend taken just before the bishop’s departure for Florida. He was so thrilled to receive it and immediately decreed that he would place it in a worthy location within his home. We spoke for about thirty minutes and Dr. Joe held my hand some of the time. I knew better than to ask him how he was doing because experience told me what his self diagnosis would be. He knew he was in the final stretch of life and one didn’t argue with Dr. Joe about such things. We discussed his usual pastoral passions; St. Joseph Church in Broadmoor, his latest book, Greco Institute, vocations and stewardship. We also recalled his saving my motherin- law’s life so long ago when she suffered renal failure and Dr. Joe led a team of physicians in performing rudimentary dialysis (before such a thing existed) making possible her incredible survival when there was very little hope. “Mary Barbour making it through that ordeal was one of the greatest miracles of medicine I ever witnessed” he said. Mary was present for Dr. Joe’s funeral, a living example of his devout medical care.
During Dr. Holoubek’s Mass of Resurrection at the Cathedral, his daughter Martha Fitzgerald beautifully read Paul’s treatise on love in the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians. That’s right, the “wedding” reading. Yet it was so appropriate for the deceased, because Dr. Joe was all about love. Dr. Holoubek left this world on Ascension Day and the Gospel featured the final paragraphs of Luke which describe our Lord’s last moments with His disciples before ascending to the Father. Like Joe Holoubek MD, Luke was the Christian physician, and the swansong of Dr. Holoubek’s many writings was his remarkable book, Letters to Luke, his gift to us and the entire Christian literary world. Homilist Rev. Peter Mangum called Dr. Joe a “true witness” to the wonders of God, just as Christ had commanded in the Gospel reading.
Fr. Mangum also assured everyone that Dr. Joe would recognize his beloved Dr. Alice in heaven. Truer words were never spoken. A remarkable pair of healers, a witnessing couple who accomplished so much for Christ’s kingdom, two wonderful physicians have now been reunited in the Lord. Dr. Joe told me during our last visit that “soon, I will be dancing with Dr. Alice again.” I know the heavenly waltz is playing on God’s dance floor, and I feel more than confident that these two fine people are moving in complete union upon it forever.
John Mark Willcox
Director of Communications & Vocations
Reprinted by permission from the
Catholic Connection.
