FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Fr. James R. Blaney

Fr. James R. Blaney, OMI, died on Dece. 4, 2013, in Sitka, after a brief illness. He was 76 at the time of his death and was serving as the pastor of St. Gregory Nazianzen Catholic Church in Sitka.
Fr. Blaney, a member of the missionary religious order of priests, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was born on July 30, 1937, in South Boston, Mass., the son of John Blaney and Anna O’Sullivan Blaney. He grew up on the grounds of the maximum security state prison in Charlestown, Mass., where his father was deputy warden. 
In 1965, he and his twin brother, Joe, were ordained together as priests at St. Bridget’s Church in South Boston by then Cardinal Cushing of Boston. He was assigned by the Oblates to work in parishes and hospital and prison ministry in the Midwest and in the South.
In 1988, Fr. Blaney was assigned to the Diocese of Juneau and first served as the pastor of St. John’s-by-the-Sea parish in Klawock on Prince of Wales Island. During his tenure there, he worked closely with Sr. Laeticia Lariviere, IHM. While serving there he oversaw the construction of a new parish church which incorporated into its design elements of Alaska Native art and spirituality.
While pastor in Klawock he was adopted into L’eeneidí, the Raven/Dog Salmon house of his adoptive mother, the late Clara Peratrovich. She gave him two Tlingit names, which translate as “Eagle at Dawn” and “White Top.” He is survived by his adoptive father, Alva Peratrovich, and adoptive sister, Chickie James and adoptive brother Marvin George, of Klawock and Roberta George of Ketchikan.
After 12 years serving in Prince of Wales, his next assignment in 2000 was to serve as pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Haines and St. Therese Catholic Church in Skagway. In 2004 his assignment changed again and he became the resident pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Hoonah and served as the priest for the parish of Yakutat and the missions of Gustavus, Pelican, Kake, Tenakee, Elfin Cove and Excursion Inlet, working closely with Sr. Judy Gomila and Sr. Zita Simon OP.
In 2006 he was assigned as pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Petersburg and St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Wrangell. When Fr. Pat Casey – fellow priest in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate – came to serve in the diocese as pastor of St. Catherine’s, Petersburg in 2007, Fr. Blaney continued as pastor of the parish in Wrangell.
He returned to Haines to pastor Sacred Heart Parish again and it was from there that he was transferred in 2011 for his final assignment as a pastor in Sitka.
He is survived by his sisters and brothers-in-law Mary and Gary Johnson, Port Orchard, Wash., and Margaret and Joseph Quirk, Brockton, Mass.; his brothers and sisters-in-law Paul L. and Karen Blaney, Pembroke, Mass., and  John F. and Jane Blaney, Bayside, N.Y.; as well as loving nieces and nephews from coast to coast.
Fr. Jim was preceded in death by his parents John A. and Anna Blaney;  his twin brother, Fr. Joseph E. Blaney, OMI; and his sister Claire A. Blaney.
The Most Reverend Edward Burns, Bishop of Juneau, will preside at the Funeral Mass at noon at Centennial Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 10, and at the Vigil, which will be 6 p.m. tonight at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church.
Following the funeral Tuesday, a reception will be held at the church.
Following the Mass of Christian Burial in Tewkesbury, Mass., Fr. Blaney will be buried next to his twin brother, Fr. Joe.
In lieu of flowers, the Blaney family requests that contributions be made to St. Gregory’s Catholic Parish in Sitka.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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