By Msgr. Jamie J. Gigantiello

Having accompanied the body of the late Msgr. Fursey Patrick O’Toole home to Ireland and now ready to depart from Dublin airport on St. Patrick’s Day, many thoughts go through my mind.

First, I think of what must have gone on in the mind of a young priest just 23 years of age as he took leave of his family, his friends, his home just miles from the Shrine of Our Lady at Knock and his country of birth to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America to begin his ministry in the Diocese of Brooklyn. But, he had studied and prepared for just that at All Hallows Seminary in Dublin.

I cannot help but recall Jesus’ words, “If you want to be my disciple, you must leave everything including father, mother and family.”

I am sure that those words must have been in the young priest’s heart. I am sure, too, that when he arrived at the rectory door of his first parish assignment at St. Saviour’s in Park Slope in 1960, only to be told that there was no room for him and to come back in two weeks, having to find a place to stay, he had to understand a bit better how Mary and Joseph felt the night Jesus was born when they too were turned away.

But these challenges did not stop this young, energetic and enthusiastic priest from serving the Lord for the next 57 years. I am sure it strengthened his vocation even more and may even explain how he came to be called “Feisty Fursey.”

And that he was! In the parishes of St. Saviour, St. Kevin, St. Ann, St. Patrick and St. Cecilia, and even in his retirement in Florida, where he continued to minister in the parishes of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Bernadette, this little guy from Ireland was truly alive in the Spirit. He set every parish he was assigned to on fire, and the Spirit came alive.

Whether it was his “Charismatic Renewal” style at liturgy with music and singing and clapping, his desire for Eucharistic adoration and processions through the streets or even his desire to renovate the churches, parish buildings and grounds, it was all, as he would say, “for the honor and glory of God.”

There is no doubt that his love for the Eucharist and his desire to serve the Lord kept him going. A week before monsignor took a turn for the worse, his brother Joe and sister Theresa, were with him for his 80th birthday. When Joe asked him why he had to celebrate three Masses every weekend, help out at the nursing home and assist in the hospital and why he was working so hard since he was retired, Msgr. Fursey’s reply was simply that this is what he was ordained for.

Even up to the day before he died, he said he had a new ministry: ministering to the doctors, nurses and patients at NYU Hospital! Ironically, he had returned to New York on Ash Wednesday to begin his own observance of Holy Week.

Like St. Patrick, who brought the Faith to Ireland during the Dark Ages, Msgr. Fursey O’Toole brought the Faith to the Diocese of Brooklyn in his own unique way. He was a “people’s priest” and the people he served knew that. Some of those who had been his altar servers, now in their 50s and 60s, came to pay their respects. Some from his parish of St. Ann’s made the trek by subway to get to the funeral!

They say that your first pastor forms you as a priest. In many ways this is true of my first pastor, Msgr. O’Toole. There are so many things that I learned from him and which I strive to put into practice. His zeal and enthusiastic energy were contagious. Never be afraid to do something, he said, because nothing is too good for God.

Native son of Ireland, dedicated priest of Brooklyn and faithful friend, Thank You and as you would always say: All The Best!

“May the road rise to meet you,

“May the wind be ever at your back.

“May the sun shine warm upon your face,

And the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”