File 31 - 1940 Constitutions: Commentary on the Constitutions, 1962: Final draft by Rogers Pelow, SFM, J.C.D.; John Kelly, SFM, J.C.D.; and Kenneth Dietrich, SFM.

Fr. John was born January 7, 1913 in Sebastopol, Ontario, one of three sons and two daughters born to Patrick and Sophia Kelly. He attended St. James Primary school and Continuation School in Eaganville, Ontario and after a few years at St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Scarborough was sent to study at Brignole Sale in Genoa, Italy from 1936 to 1938.

Fr. John was ordained to the priesthood in St. Columbkille’s Cathedral in Pemroke on August 15, 1936 by Bishop Patrick Ryan. Fr. Kelly left for China in 1938 and remained there almost continuously until 1944. He spent his first two years at Kinwha learning the Chinese language. Subsequent years saw him serving in such places as Tungyang, Huenshin, Hunan, Dolu and Lishui. Due to the Pacific War, he returned to Canada briefly in 1944-1945. While home he helped out at St. Francis Xavier church in Renfrew, Ontario and St. James Church in Eganville. In 1947 he returned to China and in 1948 was appointed Regional Superior there. In 1949 Fr. Kelly returned to Canada to participate in the Second General Chapter of the Society and was unable to return to China because of the Communist revolution. Fr. Kelly then took post graduate studies in Canon Law at the University of Ottawa and was awarded his Doctorate in that field in 1950. The title of his thesis was “Legal Status of Mission Stations.”

From 1953 to 1961 Fr. Kelly was professor of Missiology, Mission Law and Latin at St. Francis Xavier Seminary. From 1959 to 1961 he held the positions of vice-rector and librarian. In 1959 he was elected as a member of the third general chapter of Scarboro.

In 1961 Fr. John was appointed the first regional superior of Scarboro’s mission in St. Vincent, West Indies. During his time there he was also pastor of the Parish of the Assumption. After his term of office in 1966 he became pastor of Our Lady of Fatima parish in St. Lucia where he stayed until 1970 when he was appointed to Scarboro’s mission in the Bahamas.

Fr. Kelly experienced health issues from 1970-1972 for which he received treatment in Canada. He died suddenly at his mission in Rock Sound, Bahamas, on November 17, 1972. At Fr. Kelly’s own request he was buried on the mission where he died. Respecting his wishes, he was interred in Nassau, the Bahamas on November 23, 1972.

Born November 9, 1917 and educated in Kingston, Ontario, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1940 as a Scarboro Foreign Missionary. He immediately went on to study Canon Law and was appointed Rector of the Seminary of the Scarborough Foreign Mission Society in 1944.

In 1950 he left for Japan on his first missionary assignment. For most of the next 27 years, until 1977, he lived and worked in Japan where he held many responsibilities. In the beginning he was pastor of a large Japanese parish in Nagasaki diocese. He became Regional Superior in 1956, and edited a small missionary newsletter for English-speaking missionaries in Japan. He worked as a member of the Tokyo Archdiocese Marriage Tribunal.

From time to time he returned to Canada where he worked in an advisory capacity to the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society in questions of church law arising out of the Second Vatican Council.

From 1977 until the time of his first heart attack in June of 1989, Fr. Pelow worked at the Catholic Marriage Tribunal in Toronto as Associate Judicial Vicar. In 1987 he was appointed, in the same capacity, to the Canadian Appeal Tribunal in Ottawa.

“Rog” or “Doc” as he was known to his colleagues had many friends both within and outside of the Society. His early years in Japan were characterized by a deep association and friendship with priests from other religious groups, most notably the Australia-based Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

During his time as pastor of Scarborough’s parish in Fukuoka City (south Japan), he taught English at the diocesan seminary and was thus known to many Japanese clergy in that area.

Fr. Pelow lived with the Scarboro Missions Founder founder, Monsignor John Mary Fraser, up until Fraser’s death in Osaka, Japan, in 1962. He was a source of many interesting stories about Monsignor Fraser, some of these told in the historical documentary Restless Mission Flame, a video produced by Scarboro about Monsignor Fraser.

Fr. Rogers Pelow died of congestive heart failure on Monday, January 22, 1990 at Centenary Hospital in Scarborough, Ontario. A wake service for Fr. Pelow, attended by many friends and relatives was held here at Scarboro Missions on Wednesday, January 24, 1990. On January 25, Bishop Robert Clune of the Archdiocese of Toronto concelebrated the funeral mass at the Scarboro Missions chapel.