Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, who rose from poor beginnings to reach the highest levels of service to the Church, died Aug. 20 at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Mich. The cardinal, who was 86, died of natural causes.

Sister Hedwig Owsiak, O.S.U., died Aug. 16 at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital, Patchogue, L.I. She was 77.

Howard Beach resident Tom Sowinski, a former baseball standout at Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, and St. John’s University, Jamaica, died Aug. 7 at Sunken Meadow Golf Course, Kings Park, L.I. He was 68.

Sister Prague Maria Fortier, O.P., a Sister of St. Dominic, Amityville, L.I., for 73 years, died Aug. 10. She was 91.

Brother Ralph Joseph Edmiston, C.S.C., a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Moreau Province, for 49 years, died Aug. 4 in Valatie, N.Y. He was 77.

A memorial Mass for Father William F. Early, a senior priest of the Brooklyn Diocese who was living in San Diego, will be celebrated Sept. 5 at 11 a.m., in the main chapel at the Immaculate Conception Pastoral Center, Douglaston.

Australian Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy, the former archbishop of Sydney, died Aug. 3 at the age of 90.

Father James W. Bukofksy, former pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Bedford-Stuyvesant, died Aug. 1 at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island. He was 70.

Sister Rose Damien Killeen, C.S.J., 90, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood, L.I., for 72 years, died July 8 in St. Joseph Convent, Brentwood.