WINDSOR TERRACE — The Diocese of Brooklyn, including clergy across Brooklyn and Queens, is remembering retired Auxiliary Bishop Guy A. Sansaricq upon his passing as “a man of heart, a man of peace.”
For many, Bishop Sansaricq served as a role model on their own roads to the priesthood and represented everything a priest should be.
Father Gerald Dumont, parochial vicar for St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise Parish, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, was heartbroken to hear of the bishop’s passing. He fondly remembered when they would come together every Wednesday night to discuss and prepare their sermons for the upcoming Sunday Masses.
“I learned, from him, how to not get discouraged even when things got difficult at times,” Father Dumont said of his 40-year-long friendship and working relationship with Bishop Sansaricq, which first began when they met at Sacred Heart Parish in Cambria Heights in the early 1980s. “He taught me never to look back on what happened, but to look ahead.”
“He was very positive in everything he did and he always planned and prepared to deliver something so excellent,” Father Dumont added.
Father Saint Charles Borno, parochial vicar for Blessed Sacrament Church in Jackson Heights, knew Bishop Sansaricq for nearly 30 years and was inspired by how the late bishop lived his life in faith.
“This was a pastor who truly knew the needs of his seminarians and he was there for us as seminarians,” Father Borno said, explaining that Bishop Sansaricq had referred him to the seminary. “We were blessed to have him as our pastor and as our mentor because he taught us so many things through his own life — by example and in prayer spiritually.”
Father Borno noted that although Bishop Sansaricq will no longer be with us in person, his legacy will “live on for a long time.”
“His legacy, to me, was based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Father Borno said, “and there’s a good chance that many people will continue to bear witness to what he did.”
Father Juan Luxama, parochial vicar for St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights, had asked Bishop Sansaricq to vest him at his ordination in 2014 after many years of knowing and working with him.
“One of my favorite memories of him was when he came to visit Rome when Cardinal Chibly Langlois, the first Haitian cardinal, came. I picked him up at the airport, showed him around, and did all his errands,” Father Luxama explained. “He always said to me, ‘Juan, you are very kind and very hospitable to me — you take good care of me.’ ”
“I’ll never forget that,” he continued. “I’m very humbled that he said how kind I was to him, even though I don’t think I did much besides always being there and looking out for him.”
“We lost a true disciple, a true apostle here in Brooklyn,” Father Luxama added.