Joaquin Martinez Mari Odena

Rev. Joaquin Martinez-Mari; dedicated life to family issues By Shari Rudavsky, Globe Correspondent | April 24, 2004 If the family is not in good shape, the world will not be in good shape either, the Rev. Joaquin Martinez-Mari often told his good friend Daisy Gomez. The Jesuit priest dedicated his life to counseling Boston Hispanics on their marriages and family lives. Father Martinez, 81, who died April 17 at Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton after his lungs collapsed, went beyond the pulpit with his message, hosting a popular drive-time radio show and contributing to local Spanish-language newspapers. People often wondered how Father Martinez could offer such sound advice about marriage and family. After all, he had no firsthand experience. "Many times I ask him, you are not married, how do you know?" said Gomez, a longtime friend and Dorchester resident. "He'd say 'Precisely, since I am single, I'm not in the middle of the problem. I can be objective.' " From 1997 to 2001, Father Martinez hosted a half-hour radio show on WRCA-AM on Wednesday mornings beginning at 8. Originally, the station envisioned the show running an hour, with the second half reserved for calls, said Alberto Vasallo III, who at the time produced the drive-time slots for the station. But Father Martinez adamantly refused to take calls. "He said if he was going to offer that kind of personal advice, he would need to see the person face to face," said Vasallo, editor of El Mundo. Neverthless, Father Martinez, who held a master's degree in psychology from Boston College, became wildly popular with listeners who tuned in regularly and flooded the station with calls. Father Martinez was just as loyal. If he couldn't make it to the studio, he'd tape the show in advance. When the radio station designed a promotional package featuring its most popular on-air personalities, Father Martinez's beaming face was among them. "He was a priest, but he didn't preach," Vasallo said. "He just absolutely had a unique way of reaching people through the radio. Everyone I talked to who was a fan of the show thought that he was talking to them directly." Father Martinez never refused a person in need. He'd take calls in the middle of the night and scoffed at his colleagues who scheduled times for confession instead of keeping an open-door policy. Nor did he skimp on his time. Even if he was scheduled to start a Mass, he'd do a thorough job in the confession booth, leaving the worshipers waiting in the pews if necessary. "He'd do 35 minutes. I said 'Father Martinez, that's not a confession. That's a consultation!' " Gomez said. Born in Barcelona, Father Martinez was destined for the priesthood from an early age, said the Rev. John McLaughlin, pastor of St. Benedict's Church in Somerville, who worked with Father Martinez for the past 13 years. When Father Martinez was born, his mother placed a medal with an image of Jesus Christ around his neck, "dedicating him to God," McLaughlin said. Father Martinez wore it for the rest of his life. He began studying for the priesthood in 1941 at age 17. Originally he asked the Jesuits to assign him to a mission in India. "He wanted to help people with less means in this world," said his nephew, Carles Martinez-Mari of Barcelona. But his superiors had other ideas. They sent him to Bolivia where he completed his studies and was ordained in 1954. He spent the next 17 years on pastoral work there, developing an interest in strengthening marriages. While in Bolivia, he wrote three books, two about married life and one about the country, Gomez said. Noticing that many Latin Americans were immigrating to the United States, Father Martinez followed in 1971, hoping to continue the work he had done in Bolivia. In Boston he started at St. Kevin's in Dorchester. Hispanic immigrants had just started to move into the neighborhood and Father Martinez tailored his efforts to them. He founded the Christian Family Movement for Hispanic people in the Boston Archdiocese and was director of the Pre-Cana and Marriage Encounter programs in Spanish. When St. Kevin's closed in 1991, Father Martinez moved to St. Benedict's in Somerville, where he continued to minister to a largely Hispanic population. He lived most recently in Weston. No matter where he was, Father Martinez reached out to those around him and was never condescending. "He said to me, the way he liked to talk to people was [as] the 25-cent preacher, not a $1 preacher," Gomez said. In addition to his nephew, Father Martinez leaves two brothers, and a sister, all of Barcelona. A funeral Mass was said Wednesday in St. Benedict's. Burial was in the Jesuit Cemetery at Campion Center in Weston.