The Rev. Thomas More Janeck, who ministered to Colorado’s migrant laborers for more than 20 years, died Sunday. He was 88.
Janeck died at St. Francis Friary in north Denver.
A vigil service is planned for 7 p.m. today at St. Patrick’s Oratory, West 33rd Avenue and Pecos Street. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Annunciation Catholic Church, East 36th Avenue and Humboldt Street.
Janeck died a week after his birthday and three days before the 62nd anniversary of his ordination.
A member of the Capuchin Order, Janeck, often called “T More,” visited migrant camps throughout northern Colorado, saying Mass, giving the sacraments and counseling, said the Rev. Blaine Burkey, spokesman for the local Capuchins.
He collected and distributed food, clothing and mattresses and took treats to the children, Burkey said.
He organized lay people to help him in his work with the laborers and “probably excelled” at raising money for his migrant work, said his nephew and namesake, Tom Janeck of Aliquippa, Pa. “He didn’t strong-arm us, but we all tried to help him.”
Many times Janeck traveled from Texas with the laborers as they followed the harvest north, said his nephew, and he would visit the laborers in the off-season at their homes in Mexico and Texas, Burkey said.
Janeck started the work in 1982 after a lengthy career in teaching in several states and serving his order in various capacities, also in several states. He learned Spanish while serving in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
He was pastor of Denver’s Annunciation Church from 1975 to 1981 and worked with migrants from 1982 until 2004. Janeck was given several awards, including one from the late Pope John Paul II in 2000.
When at Annunciation, “he’d walk the neighborhood, so that people knew he was always approachable,” said the Rev. John Lager, former director of Samaritan House shelter.
The Rev. Charles Polifka was a junior in high school at St. Joseph’s Military Academy in Hays, Kan., when Janeck taught there. “He showed me the seminary and said, ‘You ought to make arrangements to move here.’ ” The next year Polifka decided to become a priest. “He had a way that made things he said seem like the right thing,” said Prolifka, of Denver.
Janeck was born in Salem, Ohio, on June 1, 1920, and was reared in Aliquippa. After ordination he earned a master’s degree in physics and taught it for 11 years at St. Joseph’s.
Since 1988 he had been the chaplain for the Poor Clares, a religious order for women, in north Denver.
In addition to his nephew, Janeck is survived by his sister, Lillian Kelliher of Aliquippa, and several nieces and nephews.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
