Mourners filled the Immaculate Conception Center Chapel in Douglaston to capacity for the Mass of Christian Burial for retired Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello on Friday morning, March 15.

Public viewings had been held on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by two vigil Masses at Holy Family Church, Flushing, where the bishop had been pastor.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was the main celebrant at the funeral. Retired New York Archbishop, Cardinal Edward Egan, presided. Also in attendance were retired Brooklyn Bishop Thomas V. Daily; Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy; and Brooklyn’s six auxiliary bishops, active and retired. Dozens of diocesan priests concelebrated the liturgy as well as Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.

Sunlight streamed through the chapel’s stained-glass windows as the bishop’s simple wooden coffin lay open for public viewing on the altar before the Mass. Clothed in white vestments and a Franciscan habit because he was a Third Order Franciscan, the bishop wore a white miter while his wooden crosier rested behind his coffin.

Various strands of rosary beads were draped over his hands and by his feet, a construction-paper card with a hand-drawn Nativity scene addressed to “Uncle Iggy” from Katie.

Early attendees, including clergy and seminarians, paused before the bishop, some touching his arm or leg, to say a prayer and pay their final respects. Upon their arrival, Bishop DiMarzio and Cardinal Egan did the same.

Numerous Little Sisters of the Poor and those who minister with them at Queen of Peace Residence, Queens Village, where the bishop spent the last nine months of his life, attended the funeral Mass, and even received a round of applause prompted by Cardinal Egan.

Among those present was Sister Sheila Ann, l.s.p., director of nursing, who was one of the sisters praying and singing with the bishop as he passed to eternal life. Bishop Catanello “was radiant,” she said, and his death was “calm and very peaceful.”

Sister Sheila Ann, who was proud to be No. 4 on the bishop’s speed-dial, said, “He was a beautiful, amazing, humble and holy priest. He had moments of struggle but he really abandoned himself to the will of God. He said he came to us to prepare for eternity and he did.”

“It was a beautiful grace to take care of him,” she added.

Luciana D’Cruze and Harold Cocuero, both of whom took care of the bishop and came to regard him as a “spiritual father,” echoed those sentiments.

“While he was in Queen of Peace, I fed him breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for three months,” said D’Cruze, a former volunteer at Queen of Peace Residence. “He told me ‘Lucy, a lot of people come here to feed me but God gave you a special gift’.”

D’Cruze credits the bishop with giving her the confidence to realize and pursue her vocation in life – caring for the sick and elderly.

Before the bishop required constant care, Cocuero provided him some basic assistance while he was living at Holy Family rectory. In turn, the bishop offered the young man a listening ear and guidance. “He accepted you for who you are and was never judgmental,” Cocuero said.

Father Casper Furnari, administrator of Holy Family Church, Flushing, noted that Bishop Catanello “had an unassuming way and a simplicity about him that endeared him to everybody.”

Lived Call to Humility

At the parish, Father Furnari said the bishop will be remembered for many things, especially starting a Third Order Franciscan fraternity. “He lived that call to humility all of his life,” Father Furnari said.

As a lasting tribute to the bishop, Holy Family parish is installing a new stained-glass window of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop’s patron saint, in the sacristy this week.

Many Massgoers recalled memories of the bishop from a simpler time, when he was a young priest assigned to St. Helen’s parish, Howard Beach.

“When I first saw him,” said Rose Amoroso, “I thought he looked like Frank Sinatra. He got such a kick out of that.”

As young parents, Rose and her husband Ciro developed a close relationship with the future bishop, who not only officiated at the weddings of their three children, but also stood up as a godfather for their grandson, Joseph.

“I loved him,” said Joseph Amoroso, 18, who attended the funeral. “He was the most easy-going person in the world.”

Among his fondest memories were the times when the bishop took Joseph and his brother Anthony to see the Subway Series games and then introduce them to some of the players.

“I’ll miss him,” Joseph said. “He was always there for me.”

In his homily, Bishop Gerald Barbarito of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., recalled his memories of Bishop Catanello. The two were assigned to St. Helen’s parish at the same time and were named auxiliary bishops of the Diocese of Brooklyn on the same day.

Bishop Barbarito spoke of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s emphasis on a “journey” from baptism to the time one enters into the Kingdom of God.

“Bishop Catanello’s motto was ‘Thy Kingdom Come,’ and truly Bishop Catanello took that journey of faith in his life in a most serious way,” Bishop Barbarito said. “And we believe now because of the way he lived that journey, he has come, as his motto says, into the fullness of that Kingdom and the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Bishop Barbarito said that everyone, no matter their level of faith, encounters difficulties along their journey. Bishop Catanello’s difficulties included his four years of struggling with illness. But it was his faith, Bishop Barbarito said, that brought him into the fullness of life.

“Bishop Catanello was a man of tremendous faith,” Bishop Barbarito said. “He lived that faith day in and day out in his priesthood and in his episcopacy. He always carried out his responsibilities as an example of faith to other people.”

Bishop Barbarito echoed the sentiments of many in the crowds attending the funeral Mass that it would be impossible to recount the ways in which Bishop Catanello shared his depth of faith and the depth of his love for the priesthood. In following the model of St. Francis of Assisi, Bishop ‘Iggy’ “preached the Gospel without using words,” Bishop Barbarito recalled.

“That type of faith was a living example of what the meaning of his priesthood was all about,” Bishop Barbarito said. “It was indeed a great privilege for me to walk on the journey of life and to have spent some years with Bishop Catanello. I truly believe that Bishop Catanello has come into the Kingdom of God. I have no doubt about it.”

Bishop Barbarito said that one of the things that connected Bishop Catanello to the people is his simplicity. He cited the late bishop’s affection for the Muppets as proof of his simplicity, even in his humor.

However, Bishop Barbarito also described Bishop Catanello as a scholar.

“He was a good teacher,” Bishop Barbarito said. “He loved doing that in a matter especially for young people that revealed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

A Humble Confidante

After the Mass, Bishop DiMarzio spoke of how humble and approachable Bishop Catanello was while he served as the diocesan vicar for clergy. Bishop DiMarzio said that Bishop “Iggy” was a great example of faith.

“He (Bishop Catanello) was a great confidante and a great help when I came to the diocese,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “I will treasure the friendship he offered to me as an auxiliary bishop and as a friend in this life.”

Before the recessional, Cardinal Egan passed along the heartfelt sympathy of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who was still in Rome following the papal conclave.

Cardinal Egan gave the final commendation for Bishop Catanello, in which he called him a “holy prayerful priest of compassion.”

“I can say nothing better about any priest than that,” Cardinal Egan said.

Cardinal Egan also acknowledged a connection between Bishop Catanello’s passing and the selection of Pope Francis just two days later.

“Two days before a devout follower of St. Francis (Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) was chosen to be the Bishop of Rome, a devout follower of St. Francis (Bishop Catanello) went to heaven to put in a couple of Brooklyn votes,” Cardinal Egan said. “From his place in Heaven, that devout follower of St. Francis (Bishop Catanello) had a hand in the choice of Francis, our pope.”

The bishop’s funeral Mass served as a touching tribute for “an amazing man and an amazing priest,” as Father Bill Sweeney, chaplain at St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, described him.

“Everybody could approach him,” Father Sweeney said. “When you talked to Iggy, he made everybody feel good. Even the last couple of years when he was suffering, when you walked into the room, you were the most important person in the world.”

Among those who felt the deepest loss from the death of Bishop Catanello, were his brother priests.

“He was inspirational in his love for the Church and the people,” said Father Fred Marano, rector-principal of Cathedral Prep Seminary, Elmhurst. “We are going to miss him. We are so blessed he was with us for the past 20 years (as a bishop.)”

Among the many functions Bishop Catanello served during his ministry was rector-principal of Cathedral Prep.

A True Father

“He continued the legacy of building a community with the students,” Father Marano said. “He instilled in the young men a love of the priesthood… He was a true father for them.”

Msgr. Joseph Grimaldi, episcopal vicar for Brooklyn, said his influence on youth continued for the entirety of his lifetime.

“Even his illness did not in any way limit him or incapacitate him in terms of relating especially to young people,” he said. “They felt, I would dare say, even a stronger bond with him in his illness, in his suffering.”

Msgr. Anthony Hernandez, diocesan chancellor, said Bishop Catanello had a gift for connecting to people.

“The thing about him is that when you encountered him you encountered him as a person,” Msgr. Hernandez said. “Yes, he was a bishop – but he was always very accessible, humble and interested in you as an individual. And I think that is very attractive to young people and to adults as well.”

“He was just one with the people,” Msgr. Grimaldi added.

“He had an unassuming manner, yet he was always conscious of his dignity as a bishop, but never in an arrogant way,” said Father John O’Neill, I.V.Dei, who serves at Corpus Christi, Woodside, and teaches part-time at St. Joseph Seminary, Yonkers.

Father O’Neill first met the future bishop when they were students at St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights. “He was friendly, affable but very serious about studying for the priesthood,” he said.

“When he was ordained a bishop, he smiled and said to me, ‘Someday, I’ll ordain you a priest,’” he recalled.

Several years later, that prediction came to fruition when Bishop Catanello ordained Father O’Neill and Father Arthur Candreva for the Voluntas Dei Institute. They are the only two priests ordained by the late bishop.

On that day, the bishop told the men to cherish the gift of their vocation and “to always be excited about the priesthood.”

After his ordination, Father O’Neill said that Bishop Catanello took on “the role of spiritual father and kept an eye on how I was doing.”

“Again and again he said to me, ‘I never regret for a moment becoming a priest. I have loved it all my life.’”[hr]

Contributing to this story were Marie Elena Giossi, Jim Mancari and Antonina Zielinska.