Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Johnston, Joseph

Theologian; born Newark, New Jersey, USA, 3 March 1918; died Melbourne, 13 April 2000, aged 82.

Joseph Johnston will be remembered as a much-loved human being and Jesuit, who could show great pastoral care, especially with people who had a mental illness. He was experienced as someone able to draw out the shreds of sanity in those who were unwell. He could also be an encouraging and helpful spiritual director. But at the same time he was totally at odds with prevailing theological views of the modern church and Society. His devotion to Thomism in its purist form was his constant study. In his earlier days he enjoyed lecturing on St Thomas in Latin to the brighter classes, but the weaker students found his style unhelpful. He represented a certain form of religiosity which adhered to a selected past as an unchangeable norm. No one could doubt his sincerity and tenacity in following this norm.

He entered the Society at Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, 20 September 1939, and, following his juniorate there, studied philosophy at both Weston and Boston College, 1943-46. Regency was at St Peter's College, Jersey City, theology at Western College, 1949-53, and tertianship at Auriesville, NY, the following year.

Johnston was sent to the Gregorian University, Rome, for doctoral studies under Bernard Lonergan. His thesis was on the Trinity in the works of St Thomas Aquinas. He had wanted to work on St John of the Cross, but was not permitted.

Instead of working at the Gregorian, or returning to New York, Johnston went to the missions in the Philippines, 1956-1962. First, he professed philosophy in Cebu, and then theology at San Jose Seminary, Manila. He arrived in Australia, 1962, and taught theology at Canisius College, Pymble, and Corpus Christi College, Glen Waverley, until 1968.

After sabbatical studies and a period of teaching at Canisius College, Buffalo, USA, he returned to Australia and taught theology to some laity at Jesuit Theological College, 1972-99. In his last year his health deteriorated and he lived at the home for the aged, Justin Villa, Balwyn, Victoria.

When he first arrived at Pymble, the scholastics found him very kind but intensely shy. One described him as good-willed and enthusiastic but lacking in charisma, even though he did not understand his lectures. Private discussion on theology in his room revealed a patient heart and a sharp mind. He taught how to read Aquinas and how to think for oneself. He was also enthusiastic about Lonergan and enthused a few to become disciples. Others found his lectures intolerable and refused to attend. Eventually, the rector made his lectures voluntary, and three scholastics attended. His disciples believed that if Johnston had been able to make himself understood, he might have transformed theology as it was taught at Pymble in those days, from being a process of indoctrination into an exciting, intellectual quest for a deeper understanding of the rich Catholic tradition.

During his time at the Jesuit Theological College, scholastics remember him for his love of ice-cream and 'Mash' on TV, his faithfulness to the breviary, his uncluttered room with perhaps one or two books on his desk, his walking stick and greeting 'Hey, boys', and the pleasure of having him join the community once a year at the Holy Thursday Mass. For the rest of the year he communicated only minimally with other Jesuits. However, while this was his pattern of life in Australia, in the Philippines he was more sociable, enjoying the company of Jesuit friends, two especially, one who muttered and another who shouted. When in Manila, he accompanied Fr William Hayes when he went driving on business, but he had no idea of directions, and only knew one street in downtown Manila. He never learnt to drive a car.

Johnston’s life was one of study and prayer, and for the last 25 years of his active life he attracted a group of lay people who were interested in theology. Together they discussed the texts of Thomas Aquinas, especially two Summas and the Questiones Disputatae, the Greek New Testament, the Exercises of St Ignatius, and the poems and commentaries of St John of the Cross. They admired his clear intellectual exposition of these texts, and believed that his theological and spiritual synthesis was basically Trinitarian and Incarnational. These people particularly grieved his passing leaving appreciative poems attached to flowers on his grave.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)