November 7, 2009

Father Charles Mallen, 90: ‘Model priest, prolific preacher’

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO & BOB REDDY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Posted: 09.10.09 | Updated: 09.11.09

MIAMI | A model priest and prolific preacher: That is how those who knew him will remember Father Charles Mallen, a Redemptorist who served in the Archdiocese of Miami for more than 30 years before moving to the Diocese of Venice in 1985.

Father Mallen, 90, died peacefully Aug. 30 at St. John Neumann Residence in Timonium, Md. He had been in frail health since 2007, when he suffered the first of two strokes and moved to the Redemptorist residence in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He had just marked his 70th anniversary as a Redemptorist and his 65th year in the priesthood.

A memorial service for Father Mallen is planned for 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at Epiphany Cathedral in Venice.

“He was exceptional,” said Msgr. Vincent Kelly, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale and vicar for Christian formation for the archdiocese.

Msgr. Kelly and Father Mallen had been friends for 40 years.

“He was a wonderful example and model of a priest,” Msgr. Kelly said. “He reflected a deep spirituality and a passion for the Lord.”

Msgr. Kelly said Father Mallen was well–respected by the priests of the archdiocese, as he led Miami’s newly founded Ministry to Priests office from 1981 to 1985.

Father Mallen also served for 22 years at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Opa–Locka. He was based there while assigned as a full–time missionary from 1959 to 1977, and served as pastor from 1977 to 1981.

Father Mallen was known throughout the southern United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for the missions he preached.

“As a missionary, he holds the record for the most parish missions preached in the South,” said Father Jerome Chavarria, vice–provincial superior for the Redemptorists of the Richmond Province.

Father Chavarria noted the special bond between Father Mallen and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pointing out that his first assignment was at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Tampa in 1945, and except for a seven–year stretch from 1952 to 1959, “every place he went was named for Our Lady.”

“Wherever you go throughout the South, no matter how out–of–the–way the place, if you see a picture of Perpetual Help, you know that Father Charlie was there to preach,” Father Chavarria said.

At Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Opa–Locka, Father Mallen met Sister Carmella DeCosty of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, who served as the school’s principal from 1969 to 1976.

She described her friend and colleague of 40 years as “bigger than life. He had a gift of preaching and he always wanted to be remembered that he preached the truth of the Gospel.”

In 1985, both were lured to the Diocese of Venice by its founding bishop, John Nevins, a former Miami priest and auxiliary bishop.

“It was his preaching and his love for the priests that stands out when I think of Charlie,” said the now–retired Bishop Nevins, a friend of Father Mallen’s for 50 years. “He will be meeting me and welcoming me when I enter heaven because I know he is already there.”

Sister DeCosty now serves as administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Retreat and Spirituality Center, which Father Mallen founded in 1995 at Bishop Nevins’ request.

“I knew he was the man to do it,” Bishop Nevins recalled. “He held his own retreats for the priests and for the faithful and he was anxious to have a place to call his own.”

In Venice, Father Mallen also served as vicar of religious, director of continuing education for clergy and director of the Cursillo movement.

Born June 8, 1919, in Corona, N.Y., Father Mallen entered the Redemptorists right out of high school in 1936. He professed his first vows in 1939 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 18, 1944, the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Father Mallen is survived by a younger brother, James, who is also a Redemptorist priest, his widowed and now–remarried sister–in–law, Joan McGuire, nine nieces and nephews and 20 great–nieces and great–nephews.

A funeral Mass was held Sept. 3 at the Stella Maris Chapel in Timonium, Md. Burial was Sept. 4 at Mt. St. Alphonsus in Esopus, N.Y. For more information about the memorial service, call 941–484–9543.

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Father William Mylchreest, 83

JACQUELINE SCHUCK | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 07.31.09

MIAMI | A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, Aug. 1, 11 a.m., at St. Sebastian Church in Fort Lauderdale for Father William Mylchreest, a U.S. Army Air Force veteran and archdiocesan priest who died July 29 of complications caused by leukemia.

He was 83 and had been a priest for 29 years. The viewing will take place tonight, July 31, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at St. Sebastian, 2000 E. 25 Ave., where he served as temporary administrator and then parochial vicar since 1995.

Father Liam Quinn, pastor of St. Sebastian, remembered Father Mylchreest as a very good, holy person who was very dedicated to his work.

Born Aug. 11, 1925, in Wheeling, W.Va., Father Mylchreest entered the U.S. Army Air Force after graduating from high school in 1943. After his honorable discharge in 1946, he attended Syracuse University, N.Y., and then Columbia University School of Public Health.

In 1976, he felt called to the priesthood and entered the seminary, explaining in his application that, “I want to serve and please God and find greater self–fulfillment in life.”

He was ordained June 2, 1980, and assigned to St. Brendan Parish in Miami as associate pastor. He served there until 1988. During those years, he was also a priest representative at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

In 1988, he became associate pastor at St. Andrew in Coral Springs, serving there until 1994, when he was assigned to St. Sebastian. For a month in 1995, he served as temporary administrator of St. Sebastian, where he remained until his death.

He will be laid to rest at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale.

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Oblate Missionary, Father Leo J. Dionne, 77

Posted: 07.30.09 | Updated: 07.31.09

MIRAMAR | A viewing will take place Friday, July 31, from 5 to 8 p.m. at St. Stephen Parish in Miramar for Oblate Missionary Father Leo J. Dionne, 77, who served in various parishes in south Florida for more than 20 years until his retirement in 2005.

He died unexpectedly July 29 at Baptist Hospital in Miami, having just celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination. The viewing will be followed immediately by a Mass of Christian Burial. Father Dionne’s remains will then be transported to Tewksbury, Mass., for final services and burial.

Remembered as the priest of the “eternal smile,” both by parishioners and fellow Oblates, Father Dionne was noted for his “availability to everyone,” according to Father Alejandro Roque, an Oblate Missionary who served his first assignment under Father Dionne and is now pastor of St. Stephen Parish, where Father Dionne had been pastor and where he continued to minister long after his official retirement.

“To the Latinos, he was the Spanish–speaking priest, to the French–Canadians he was the French–speaking priest, and so forth,” Father Roque recalled. “He took over the pastorship of Christ the King Parish in Perrine at a time of crisis and devastation due to Hurricane Andrew, when he was happy working in St. George’s in Fort Lauderdale. For more than two years, Father Leo lived and worked from a tiny one–room trailer on the property there. He did so with a smile.”

Father Roque remembered arriving at St. Stephen just after his ordination in 1987. “Every morning he would go to Costco and buy fresh fruits so that the other priest and I could eat healthy.”

Father Dionne also “came out of nowhere” in 2002 to take over as pastor of St. Monica after Father Roque, the pastor at the time, was assigned to be vocations director for the Oblates.

“Father Dionne never really retired. He worked always here at St. Stephen and at Annunciation Parish, hearing confessions, visiting the sick, doing wakes and funerals and celebrating Masses. He celebrated Mass right up to the day before he died,” Father Roque said.

Born May 16, 1932, in Gloucester, Mass., Father Dionne was educated in Newport, R.I., and Gloucester, Mass. He completed his first two years of college at the Oblate Seminary in Newburgh, N.Y., and made his first vows as a religious in 1953.

He was immediately assigned to Rome and studied at the Pontifical Angelicum University, where he received licentiates in both philosophy and theology. He also received a master’s in physics from the University of Buffalo and later attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., receiving a master’s degree in liberal sciences. He was ordained to the priesthood in Roviano, Italy, on July 12, 1959.

Father Dionne spent his years of priesthood in education and in parish ministry. He taught from 1961 to 1976 at Bishop Fallon High School in Buffalo, N.Y.; Our Lady of the Snows Oblate Seminary in Pass Christian, Miss.; Our Lady of Hope Junior Seminary, Newburgh; and Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach.

From 1976 to 2005 he was assigned to many parishes as a pastor or associate pastor. He ministered at Sacred Heart in Princeton, W.V., and was then assigned to parishes in Florida: St. Timothy in Miami, St. Stephen in Miramar, St. George in Fort Lauderdale, Christ the King in Perrine, St. John Fisher in West Palm Beach, Holy Redeemer in Miami and St. Monica in Opa Locka.

He retired in July of 2005 and moved to the Joseph Gerard Residence in Miramar where he remained until his death. Father Dionne is survived by three sisters and three brothers–in–law: Marie Cantwell of Waltham, Mass.; Janice and Robert Knowles of Papillion, Neb.; Priscilla and Fred White of Gloucester, Mass., and Dominic Libro of Jacksonville. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Burial will take place in the Oblate cemetery at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence and Infirmary in Tewksbury, after a Mass of Christian Burial to be celebrated Aug. 5 at 11 a.m. in the chapel of the residence. Donations in Father Dionne’s memory may be made to the Oblate Infirmary Fund, 486 Chandler St., Tewksbury, MA 01876–2849.

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Augustinian Father Cyril Smith, 80

JACQUELINE SCHUCK | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 07.27.09

MIAMI | To those who knew him at Msgr. Edward Pace High School, Father Cyril Smith was not just a priest, but an adorable grandpa who shared his wisdom every day.

And when it came to making people smile, neither the biggest of football players nor the tallest of basketball players stood a chance against the diminutive, gray–haired 80–year–old.

An Augustinian friar and longtime member of the staff at the Miami Gardens high school, Father Smith walked the halls wearing his collar and greeting everyone along the way. Part of his undeniable charm was that he seemed to know exactly what to do when anyone was having a bad day.

“He was the most loving, caring, genuine man and the funniest person I’ve ever met,” said Monica Muñoz, a 2007 Pace graduate. “Any day that I was down, Father Smith read my eyes in a second. He would ask me what was wrong and turn my day around by using his compassion and his humor. I will never forget him and he will always be missed.”

Father Smith died July 23 following a brief illness. He had been a priest for 54 years, an Augustinian since 1945, and a member of the staff at Pace High School since 1985. A Mass of the Resurrection was scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, 11 a.m., at the Church of the Little Flower in Hollywood.

In addition to the Augustinians of his community, Father Smith is survived by four sisters: Sister Carmelita, a Sister of St. Joseph; Sister Ann Louise, of the Medical Mission Sisters; Kathleen Giddings; and Mary Cecilia Murphy; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

A public viewing was held at St. Anthony Chapel on the campus of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens July 27. Burial will take place July 30 at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, Pa. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Msgr. Edward Pace High School or the Augustinian Friars.

Read the complete story HERE.

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Augustinian Father Anthony Tomasulo, 75

‘Story time’ priest and former pastor of Resurrection Parish is remembered.

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Posted: 06.17.09

MIAMI| Parishioners of Resurrection Parish in Dania Beach celebrated a memorial Mass June 17, sharing memories of their “story time” priest, Father Anthony J. Tomasulo.

The Augustinian priest, who served as pastor there from August 1999 to February 2007, died June 11 at age 75 while attending the convocation in Chicago of the four North American Augustinian provinces.

Known as the “story time” priest for the way he always ended his homilies, Father Tomasulo had been serving as parochial vicar at St. John Neumann Parish in Charlotte, N.C., since leaving the Archdiocese of Miami.

“He touched so many lives in so many ways,” said Gary Garofalo, a Resurrection parishioner who became close friends with the priest. Both were originally from New Jersey. Both were dedicated Knights of Columbus who together spearheaded the creation of a Knights council at Resurrection Parish.

“His legacy of story time will prevail,” Garofalo said. “You mention ‘story time’, people say Father Tony.”

Garofalo explained that Father Tomasulo always ended his homilies by announcing, “Now, it’s story time,” and proceeding to tell a story. “It could be personal. It could be something that he heard. It just always had a good, pleasant and humorous meaning. People walked away with a smile, which is what he was all about.”

Born May 5, 1934, in Elizabeth, N.J., Father Tomasulo attended Villanova University in Pennsylvania, which is operated by the Augustinian Order. While there, he applied for admission into the order and was received in September 1953. He professed his first vows in 1956, professed solemn vows in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood June 3, 1961, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

During his first assignment as teacher and administrator at Msgr. Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, Pa., he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“The operation was successful and gave Father Tony an understanding that every day was a gift from God,” said the obituary posted online by Stretch Funeral Home in Pennsylvania, where Father Tomasulo’s funeral Mass and burial took place.

After working at the high school, he was named Master of Professed at the Augustinian Collegiate Seminary at Villanova University, a position he held until 1976, when he became active in parish ministry. He served at a number of parishes in New York and Pennsylvania before coming to Resurrection Parish in the Archdiocese of Miami.

The obituary noted that Father Tomasulo often said the greatest loves in his life were his family, his life and experience of brotherhood in the Augustinians, his friendship with Jesus Christ “and the opportunity to be God’s instrument of peace as a priest.”

“He was an influence in the lives of many of us as a priest, mentor friend and Knight of Columbus,” said Garofalo.

Father Tomasulo was instrumental in Garofalo’s own post–retirement discernment process, one that led him to go to graduate school at St. Thomas University and become a loss and healing counselor.

“He was just very personable to people,” Garofalo said. “He loved them and they loved him.”

Donations in Father Tomasulo’s name may be made to the Augustinian Fund for the care of sick and elderly Augustinians, c/o The Provincial’s Office of Development, 214 Ashwood Road, Villanova, Pa. 19085–0340.

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Chorbishop Joseph Abi–Nader, 87

The Maronite leader is credited with helping build up Maronite Catholic faith in U.S.

JACQUELINE SCHUCK | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 06.11.09

MIAMI | Though short in stature, Chorbishop Joseph Abi–Nader exerted a tall influence on the Maronite Catholic Church in the United States.

The 87–year–old spearheaded the establishment of a national Maronite newspaper and is credited with helping build the Maronite faith in America, paving the way for all of today’s Maronite bishops and priests.

He died peacefully June 6 at his home in Lighthouse Point. His funeral Mass was celebrated June 11 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Lighthouse Point, where he had been assisting for the past few years.

“He may have been short in stature, but he was very big–hearted. He was always willing to help. He wanted to do every good to be useful,” said Msgr. Frederick J. Brice, pastor of St. Paul. “He could really preach from the heart about the faith.”

Last year, Chorbishop Abi–Nader had marked his 60th anniversary in the priesthood with a celebration at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Miami.

Born Dec. 29, 1921, in Uniontown, Pa., he moved with his parents at age 3 to Abdelly–Batroun, Lebanon. He was ordained a priest June 28, 1948, and became a professor of languages at St. Joseph’s Catholic University, his alma mater, in 1949 and at St. Maron’s Seminary in 1950.

He was appointed pastor of St. Abda’s Church in Baabda in 1954 and St. Roch’s Church in Hazmieh in 1956. In 1957, he was transferred to the United States where he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph’s Maronite Catholic Church in Atlanta.

In 1967, he was appointed vice chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of St. Maron in the U.S. He became chancellor in 1972, and in 1973 received the Knighthood of the Order of the Cedars of Lebanon. He was ordained a chorbishop (similar to an auxiliary bishop) in 1975 by Archbishop Francis M. Zayek.

In 1978, Chorbishop Abi–Nader founded The Challenge, the national Maronite newspaper that was the forerunner to today’s The Maronite Voice. He served as editor of the newspaper until his retirement in 1986.

Chorbishop Abi–Nader is survived by his nieces, Monica Abi–Nader Phares and her son Alexander, of Coconut Grove; Sylvia Roger of Uniontown, Pa.; and Betty Wilson of Locust Grove, Va.

He was buried at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale. Donations in his memory may be made to the Eparchy of St. Maron, 109 Remsen St., Brooklyn, NY 11201. Half of what is received will benefit the Immaculate Conception Guild of Abdelly in Lebanon, and the other half will benefit Mar Semaan, to improve the Church of St. Simon in Abdelly.

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Father Donald Ireland, 79

The fonding pastor of St. Richard Parish in Palmetto Bay loved the Lord, opera and storytelling.

Posted: 04.28.09

FORT LAUDERDALE | Having retired in 1994, Father Donald Ireland kept asking God, “Why am I still here?”

He would say, “I love the Lord, I’ve served him in this world and now I want to be happy in the next,” recalled Father Thomas Engbers, also a retired archdiocesan priest and Father Ireland’s close friend for nearly 50 years.

God finally answered Father Ireland’s prayer April 15. After a one–day hospital stay, the opera–loving, storytelling, theology–debating priest died just five months shy of his 80th birthday.

Born Sept. 14, 1929, in Auburn, N.Y., Father Ireland was half Irish and half Dutch. His mother and father died when he was young — he was the youngest of four brothers — and he was raised by his father’s sister. They eventually moved to Lake Worth in Palm Beach County, and he obtained a scholarship to a teachers’ college in North Carolina, where he graduated with a degree in English and a minor in psychology.

He then joined the Air Force, serving as an instructor for three years during the Korean War. “He had fallen away from the Church in Florida, and in the Air Force he rediscovered Catholicism,” Father Engbers said.

Feeling called to the priesthood, “he wanted to be a hermit,” and entered the Camaldolese congregation but had to leave after falling ill. He tried the Benedictines later but that also did not work out, so he returned to Florida and applied to the Diocese of St. Augustine, which covered nearly the whole state at the time.

Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley was “very picky,” however, and rejected Father Ireland’s application, Father Engbers said. When the Diocese of Miami was created in 1958, Bishop Coleman Carroll said yes. Ironically, the letter of acceptance came from the same priest, Msgr. Robert Schieffen, who had rejected him in St. Augustine.

Father Ireland was ordained June 1, 1963, for Miami. He served as assistant pastor at St. Anastasia in Fort Pierce, St. Anthony in Fort Lauderdale, St. Mark in Boynton Beach and St. Coleman in Pompano Beach before being named founding pastor of St. Richard in Palmetto Bay in 1969.

“He started from scratch there,” recalled Father Engbers, who first met Father Ireland when they were both seminarians working at Camp Matecumbe in Miami (later the site of Boys Town) in the summer of 1960.

“I realized he lived about a mile from where I lived,” Father Engbers said and the two developed a close friendship. Since Father Ireland did not learn to drive until his late 20s, Father Engbers would take him to church — a practice he resumed during the past 14 years, taking his friend to church, doctors and grocery shopping every week.

“He was a very deeply spiritual man, but he would never let anybody know that,” Father Engbers said. “He was always joking, telling stories. He was a deep thinker, and we had many deep discussions over the years about many subjects.”

Father Ireland loved the ballet, cooking and opera, and loved to tell the story of how he once had “a big theological discussion with Bishop (Fulton) Sheen and according to Don he was right and Bishop Sheen was wrong in his theology,” Father Engbers said.

Father Ireland also loved liturgy and “was a fantastic homilist,” Father Engbers said. He recalled how Father Ireland “would watch cartoons to find out what the kids were watching so that he could relate to them in their homilies. That’s the kind of priest he was.”

Father Ireland served as pastor at St. Richard until 1973, then served another year as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Lantana, but he preferred the role of associate pastor. From 1979 to 1984 he served as associate at St. Francis of Assisi in Riviera Beach, and from 1984 until his retirement he served as associate at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Perrine.

That’s where he lived through Hurricane Andrew, an experience Father Engbers said prompted Father Ireland’s retirement. “He was really never quite the same after Hurricane Andrew,” said Father Engbers. “He was still to this day terrified of hurricanes. … The things he used to enjoy doing he really didn’t … do any more.”

The funeral Mass for Father Ireland was celebrated April 21 at St. Helen Parish in Fort Lauderdale. Burial was at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale. Donations in his name may be made to Catholic Charities, 1505 N.E. 26th St., Wilton Manors, FL 33305.

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Sister Arlene Scott, 55

Posted: 04.09.09

MIAMI SHORES | Barry University is mourning the loss of Sister Arlene Scott, a vibrant Adrian Dominican sister known for her good humor and enthusiasm, as well as her advocacy of social causes. She died April 2 at the age of 55.

Born Mary Arlene Scott in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 2, 1953, Sister Scott graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 1971 and studied early childhood education at the University of Florida. She later earned two master’s degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, one in religious education, the other in pastoral studies.

The eldest of four children, Sister Scott was the daughter of the honorable Robert C. Scott, a judge, and Mary Lou Scott, a graduate of then-Barry College’s class of 1949.

“She had a great passion for activities that addressed injustice, not just locally, but globally,” said Adrian Dominican Sister Linda Bevilacqua, president of Barry University. “Another passion of hers was to lead students to a deeper appreciation of their baptismal call to preach and live the word of God.”

A respected teacher, Sister Scott taught hundreds of elementary school-aged children in Illinois and Florida how to read, write and do arithmetic for more than 20 years. Her first position was in her native city at St. Clement School. She went on to teach at other institutions, including St. Jude Cathedral School in St. Petersburg.

In 1999, she joined Barry University as director for mission and ministry, now known as Campus Ministry, and later became assistant vice president of the department. In the last two years, she served the university community as assistant to the president for mission integration.

Among her accomplishments at Barry in the last decade: It was her idea to raise a “Peace Pole” at the foot of the Cor Jesu Chapel on Sept. 11, 2002; she re-established a student chapter of the national Catholic peace movement Pax Christi USA at Barry University; she also caused the first observance of Earth Day at Barry and was a member of the Archdiocese of Miami’s Commission on Religious Life and Ministry.

Sister Scott is survived by her parents; her sister, Julianne Cleary; brothers Gregory and Patrick Scott; niece, Mary Kate; nephews Brian and Austin; and loving aunts, uncles and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Barry University Center for Advanced Learning Scholarship in honor of Sister Arlene Scott, OP. The address is 11300 N.E. Second Ave., Miami Shores

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Msgr. Gerard Darbouze, 79

Posted: 03.25.09

Remembered as a “happy priest” who always sought to cheer others, Msgr. Gerard Darbouze will be laid to rest Friday, March 27, with a Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Mary Cathedral, 7525 N.W. Second Ave., Miami. A viewing will take place Thursday, March 26, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at St. James Parish, 540 N.W. 132nd St., North Miami.

Msgr. Darbouze died March 21 at Villa Maria Nursing Center in North Miami. He would have turned 80 in May.

Archbishop John C. Favalora will celebrate the funeral Mass and Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, formerly auxiliary bishop of Miami, will preach the homily. Bishop Wenski worked alongside Msgr. Darbouze at the Pierre Toussaint Haitian Catholic Center in Miami in the 1980s and ’90s.

A native of Les Cayes, Msgr. Darbouze came to south Florida in 1980 after ministering in his native Haiti, where he was ordained in 1955 for the Diocese of Les Cayes. A hard–working priest, he spent his early years in south Florida traveling long distances to minister to the spiritual needs of Haitian immigrants newly settling in the region. On a typical weekend he would travel to Homestead, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Belle Glade, Indiantown and Immokalee to celebrate Mass.

He served at St. Mary Cathedral from 1980 to 1991, when he was named associate pastor of St. James Parish in North Miami. In 1996, he was named administrator of St. James, a post he held until 1998, when he was named administrator of Notre Dame d’Haiti. That same year, he became the first Haitian to be named a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Miami. He retired from Notre Dame in 2004 and took up residence at St. James.

“Msgr. Darbouze was a happy priest,” said St. James’ pastor, Msgr. Jean Pierre. “His sermons were inspiring. He enjoyed telling stories to make you laugh. He wanted to be remembered as someone who tried to bring gladness and cheers to people’s hearts.”

Msgr. Darbouze is survived by a brother, Father Joseph Darbouze, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York; a sister, Annie Metellus Darbouze; and a brother, Dr. Pierre Darbouze, both of whom live in Philadelphia.

Burial will be at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

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Salesian Father Vincent Duffy, 90

Posted: 03.25.09

Salesian Father Vincent Duffy, 90, who served as pastor of St. Kieran Parish in Miami from 1984 to 1987, died March 21 at Preakness Healthcare Center in Wayne, N.J.

While in Miami, Father Duffy also served as director of the Salesian community here, which included the Salesians on staff at Immaculata La Salle High School and the parish.

Born in New York City in 1918, Father Duffy entered the Salesian high school seminary in Newton, N.J., when he was not quite 15. He was admitted to the novitiate in 1937 and made his first religious profession in 1938. He was ordained in Newton on June 29, 1948.

He served at Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa from 1948 to 1952 and then again from 1965 to 1966, 1967 to 1971, 1971 to 1972, and 1982 to 1984. Father Duffy also was province vocation director from 1953 to 1959. He retired to the provincial residence in 2002, and in March 2008 he suffered a debilitating stroke that required him to enter a nursing care facility.

Father Duffy is survived by several nephews and nieces. Funeral services and a Mass of Christian Burial took place March 23 at the chapel of Don Bosco Prep High School in Ramsey. Burial was in the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.

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Salesian Brother Secondo ‘Peter’ Bersezio, 91

Posted: 03.25.09

Salesian Brother Secondo Bersezio, who served at St. Kieran Parish in Miami from 1999 to 2005, died March 12 at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg at age 91.

Known as Brother Peter, he was a native of Italy who celebrated the 70th anniversary of his religious profession last September. Trained as a printer, he taught the trade at Salesian schools in Italy and the U.S. Off and on for 34 years, beginning in 1955 and concluding in 1992, he was a mainstay at the print shop of Don Bosco Tech in Boston.

In addition, Brother Peter served on the staff of Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa from 1969 to 1970. In 2005, he moved to the Salesian retirement center, St. Philip the Apostle Residence in Tampa. For the last year of his life he resided at Bon Secours–Maria Manor in St. Petersburg, where he was regarded as “a prayerful sentinel” among the nursing home residents.

He is survived by one sister, Binuccia Bersezio, of Italy. A wake and funeral Mass were held March 14 at St. Philip’s Residence and Mary Help of Christians chapel in Tampa. Burial was in the Salesian cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.

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Joseph Sciortino, 77

Posted: 02.20.09

DANIA BEACH | A memorial Mass was celebrated Feb. 16 at St. Maurice Parish here for the repose of the soul of Joseph Sciortino, a longtime parishioner remembered for his humility and extraordinary generosity.

Sciortino, who had moved to Daytona Beach after retiring a few years ago, died there Feb. 1 at age 77 after battling cancer.

His involvement with St. Maurice’s hunger program led to his co-founding of the Daily Bread Food Bank in 1981, which now distributes more than a million and a half pounds of food each month to hungry families throughout south Florida.

Sciortino also was founding director of Covenant House for runaway teenagers in Fort Lauderdale. He served on the board of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and Food for the Poor, a Christian relief agency based in Deerfield Beach.

He also had been active in the Cursillo movement and Legatus, an organization for Catholic executives and business owners. For 22 years, Sciortino served as president and chief executive officer of Sysco Food Services of South Florida, based in Miami.

“He and his wife were very involved with the parish,” recalled Ann Kearney, who first met them while working at St. Maurice’s country fair many years ago. The proceeds from the fair go toward the parish’s hunger program.

“What struck me the most was the contrast between the power he had as a very savvy businessman, top of his field, and his humility,” said Kearney, who continued to exchange “inspirational” e-mails with Sciortino even after he moved away, and remains friends with his wife, Marilyn.

“He was amazing because he was a mover and shaker, but he had this touch of humility,” Kearney said. “He was always very concerned that with all the wealth and prosperity that he had that he should never be a selfish person. He should share.”

Even after moving away, she recalled, the Sciortinos continued to visit friends in south Florida and help their former parish.

“They knew of the need of the parish, and they gave the money to refurbish (the chapel) and furnish it with new chairs and so forth, put in new windows and paint it, clean it,” Kearney said. “It was an amazing feeling to be around a person of that humility.”

After moving to Daytona Beach, Sciortino continued his involvement with the Church. He served on the board of Catholic Charities of Central Florida and the Catholic Foundation of Central Florida, and last year received the Church’s highest honor – the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal (For Church and Pope) – from the Diocese of Orlando.

Sister Nora McCann, a Sister of Mercy who is pastoral associate at Epiphany Parish in Port Orange, Sciortino’s parish, said, “His legacy may be described in words he so often used: ‘You can’t out-give the Lord.’”

He is survived by his wife, son John Sciortino of Washington, D.C., daughter Marybeth Bluhm of Oviedo, and six grandchildren. The family asks that memorial contributions in Sciortino’s name be made to: Catholic Charities of Central Florida, Epiphany Church Help Center, or Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

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Father Oscar Brantome, 57

Posted: 02.13.09

MIAMI LAKES | A “stubborn” man who continually defied both doctors’ and friends’ predictions about his imminent death, Father Oscar Brantome finally succumbed to the effects of a brain tumor he had lived with for the past 13 years.

He died Feb. 11 at age 57 after 20 years in the priesthood.

Born Oct. 24, 1951, in Managua, Nicaragua, Father Brantome earned a degree in economics before coming to south Florida in the late 1970s. In 1988, he became the first Nicaraguan to be ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami. Four years later, he became the first Nicaraguan to be named pastor of a south Florida parish, the predominantly Nicaraguan community of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater.

He left the parish in 1996 after being diagnosed with the brain tumor. For the past 13 years, he lived at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Miami Lakes, where a Mass of Resurrection was celebrated Feb. 13.

“He patiently endured his suffering for 13 years,” said Father James P. Murphy, pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes, who met Father Brantome before he was ordained, when he worked as an accountant at St. Mary Cathedral.

“Later, he was assigned to spend his deacon year at St. Patrick Church where I was pastor,” Father Murphy said. Father Brantome also lived at St. Patrick while serving as associate vocations director for the archdiocese in the early 1990s.

During that time, he received a Proclaim Award from the Catholic Communications Campaign for his “innovative vocation advertising.”

“He was one of the most stubborn men I ever met, but then it takes one to know one,” Father Murphy said. “I believe he discovered that God could be stubborn, too, in that he certainly took his time about calling him to his eternal home.”

Father Murphy recalled one time “that I was convinced he was about to die and felt that we should talk about it while he was still conscious.”

Father Brantome “opened his eyes wide and told me in a very strong voice that I was wrong. Another time, the doctor gave him less than 24 hours to live and this time I told the doctor that he was probably wrong. That was two years ago.

“Oscar would always remind me that when I took him in I expected him to die within 12 months. He loved to say, ‘It’s been three years … eight years … 12 years,” Father Murphy said.

He added that Father Brantome “complained constantly about everything with one exception. He never complained about his suffering. In the midst of great pain he would say, ‘God is good, he just gives me as much as I can handle.’”

“To me it was a real privilege and humbling experience to celebrate Mass with him the last years of his life. He loved his priesthood,” Father Murphy said.

Father Brantome is survived by a brother, Mario, and three sisters, Ruth Del Carmen, Miriam Palacios and Auxiliadora Brantome.

He asked that donations in his name be made to St. Mary Cathedral School, 7485 N.W. Second Ave., Miami, FL 33150. Burial was in the priests’ section of Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

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