A funeral Mass for Marianist Father Christian Aloysius “Cris” Janson was offered Sept. 22 at Holy Rosary Church in San Antonio, Texas. Father Janson died Sept. 14. He was 83.
Father Janson was born in St. Louis, Mo. He entered the Marianist novitiate at Marynook in Galesville, Wisc., and professed first vows there in 1960. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1963 at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and a master’s degree in education (1969) and a master’s of divinity (1972) from St. Louis University, He was ordained to the priesthood on Jan. 20, 1973, at Our Lady of the Pillar Church in St. Louis.
Father Janson was the pastoral associate of St. Joseph in Sykesville from 2017 until 2019, when he suffered a debilitating stroke. Elsewhere, he ministered in Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois. He spent 16 years in Mexico, where he served as a pastor, teacher and chaplain in three cities and worked in formation at the Marianist novitiate in Querétaro.