Possible Beatification
After suffering from several illnesses, Father Hardon died from bone cancer at the Jesuits' Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan on December 30, 2000. William J. Smith, who worked with Hardon at Eternal Life, reported that in the priest's final weeks, Hardon "suffered tremendous physical pain, but he made himself 'a true victim soul.'" He willed that at his death his extensive library and correspondence would go to Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. Each year Catholics in the Detroit area have a memorial Mass said for Hardon on December 30.
Having been known throughout his life as a holy man, there is interest among some Catholics for his canonization, and a Church-sanctioned prayer for that cause has been written. Cardinal Raymond Burke, when he was serving as the Archbishop of St. Louis and was the national director of the Marian Catechist Apostolate (began by Hardon), initiated Father Hardon's cause for canonization in 2005. Father Robert McDermott is the postulator for the cause. An effort is underway to establish a Father Hardon library and study center at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
A concern for Hardon's cause for canonization arose in early 2012 when documents concerning fellow Jesuit Donald McGuire surfaced and were featured in a story by Peter Jamison in the San Francisco Weekly. McGuire was arrested on charges of sex-abuse in 2005 and found guilty of sexually molesting boys in federal and state courts. Documents show that McGuire had previously admitted to Hardon that he had taken showers with a teenage boy from Walnut Creek, solicited body massages from him, and allowed him to read pornography in the room they shared on trips together. In spite of these admittals "Hardon concluded that his fellow Jesuit's actions were 'objectively defensible,' albeit 'highly imprudent,' and told McGuire's bosses that he 'should be prudently allowed to engage in priestly ministry.'...The situation is aggravated since McGuire went on to abuse more children after suggestions to return him to ministry were heeded."
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