Father Thomas Forrest, C.Ss.R., a Redemptorist priest for nearly 70 years, died July 16, two days before his 91st birthday.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday, July 20, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sunset Park.

Born in Sunset Park, his family moved to Long Island in his youth and returned to Brooklyn in time for him to attend eighth grade at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. He went on to the Redemptorists’ minor seminary and then the major seminary.

His first profession of vows was on Aug. 2, 1949, and he was ordained a priest June 20, 1954.

He spent the first 23 years of his priesthood serving the poor in Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, under the bloody rule of Rafael Trujillo. After Trujillo’s death, he returned to Puerto Rico and embraced the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, eventually being named director of the international office for the renewal.

In anticipation of the Jubilee Year 2000, he helped found Evangelization 2000, a global effort aimed at evangelization in the church. He served as the movement’s international director, organizing two worldwide retreats, and as such, met with St. Pope John Paul II.

Father Forrest maintained a longtime correspondence with St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, with whom he exchanged regular letters and Christmas cards.

Burial was in Resurrection Cemetery, Staten Island.

Related: “Local Redemptorist Never Expected to Know a Saint”