SLUH Junior Theology Course '07-'08
Faith and Morality...

By Kevin Casey
Web Assign 5: A Model of Faith ~ Tom Dooley

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"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do."
- Doctor Thomas Dooley
Thomas Dooley, a St. Louis, Missouri, native, was born on January 17, 1927 and raised Catholic. Although his parents pushed him towards a career as a concert pianist, he instead choose a career in medicine. Although he started his university schooling at the University of Notre Dame, he eventually transferred to St. Louis University’s School of Medicine, where he still struggled with keeping up his grades. Despite these struggles, Dooley finally graduated in 1950 and enlisted as a doctor in the United States Navy Medical Corps.
Dooley’s first assignment put him on the USS Montague in the Philippines, where he aided in the transfer of anti-Communist Vietnamese from Ha Long Bay to Saigon. It was called Operation Passage to Freedom, and most if not all of the refugees were Vietnamese Catholics escaping harsh punishment for their beliefs. A few months later he was dispatched ashore to help with the establishment of medical facilities for these refugees. It was at this time that Dooley seemed to find his calling.
Dooley’s interactions with the Vietnamese led him to write about his experiences, which his superiors in turn used to promote their cause among both other American soldiers serving in Vietnam and the general American public. His passionate accounts of the refugees he served moved audiences and promoted his anti-Communist beliefs when his book, Deliver Us From Evil was published in 1956. On a promotional tour for the book, though, Dooley was accused of homosexual activity and subsequently forced to resign from the Navy with an honorable discharge.
This setback did not deter Dooley from his cause of helping foreign refugees and perhaps gave him new opportunities to fulfill the vocation he believed God was calling him to. He quickly returned to Southeast Asia, this time to setup a clinic in Laos under sponsorship from the International Rescue Committee, an organization founded in 1933 to provide aide to refugees of war.
Then, in 1958, Dooley and Dr. Peter Comanduras established the Medical International Cooperation Organization (MEDICO) to bring medical care to war-torn nations where it would normally be less than adequate. Under his leadership hospitals were built throughout Southeast Asia in places such as Nam Tha, Muong Sing, and Ban Houei Sa, with Dooley personally helping to train local doctors in the regions. He would eventually establish 17 medical programs in 14 different countries. In a period of just nine months, Dooley supervised the treatment of 610,000 people.
Under Dooley’s leadership, MEDICO raised millions of dollars for their cause, including money Dooley raised himself through the selling of his three major books (Deliver Us From Evil, The Edge of Tomorrow, and The Night They Burned the Mountain- all telling of his experiences as a humanitarian worker) and the various lectures he gave.
Dooley entered a hospital in Hong Kong in early December 1960, where it was discovered he had rapidly spreading malignant melanoma. He was transferred to New York for treatment, where he died on January 18, 1961, at the age of 34.
Numerous awards have been bestowed upon Dooley, including the Congressional Gold Medal, the Medal of Freedom, the Navy’s Legion of Merit, and a national award from the South Vietnamese government (the highest award that could be bestowed on a foreigner). He was also honored with an honorary doctorate Doctor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame, included in Gallup’s list of the ten most admired men in America, and named the 88th top Catholic of this century. He has also been briefly considered for sainthood.

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There is no doubt in my mind that Tom Dooley is a great person of faith. Although he did believe strongly in God (big "F" Faith) he also had a faith in himself and his causes- what he thought was right. It could not have been easy serving in the Navy to Vietnamese refugees, yet even when he finished his service overseas, he went back to those refugees and dedicated his whole life to them. He probably missed his home and even had doubts about what he was doing; could he, one person, really make a difference? He persisted and never gave up, though, and in the end helped and inspired many people. His convictions that the ideals he was striving for were the right and moral thing to do and that he was answering the vocation God had called him to made him not only a man of great faith but a truly great man.
Sources Cited
Brush, Peter. "Dr. Tom Dooley." 2001. 26 October 2007 < http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/brush/Tom-Dooley.htm>.
"Campus Life." Irish Legends. 3 November 2007 < http://www.irishlegends.com/Pages/campuslife/campuslife11.html>.
Dowling, Tracy. “88. Dr. Tom Dooley.” Top 100 Catholics of the Century. Daily Catholic. 10 August 1999. 26 October 2007 <http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/archives/1999Aug/149aug10,vol.10,no.149txt/aug10top.htm>.
"Dr. Tom Dooley." ND Vision. University of Notre Dame. 3 November 2007 < http://www.nd.edu/~ndvi/pages/inspiration/models/049.html>.
"Thomas Anthony Dooley III." Wikipedia. 10 October 2007. 25 October 2007 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Anthony_Dooley>.
Other Links
Back to My Junior Theology Homepage
Great Dooley Website from Dooley Foundation
Photos of Dr. Dooley
A Dooley Exhibit (with Photos)
Have some questions or suggestions? Email me at irishbooscoop@charter.net