Obituaries

Fr. Visich Known for Kind Pastoral Ministry

A Mass of Christan Burial for Father Eduard C. Visich, a retired priest of the Brooklyn Diocese, will be celebrated Jan. 18 at St. Finbar’s Church, Bath Beach, at 10:45 a.m.

Father Visich
Father Visich

He died Dec. 28 in Florida where he was living in retirement. He was 84.

Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto will be the main celebrant of the funeral Mass. Special concelebrants include Msgr. George Deas and Father John A. Gurrieri, who will preach the homily.

A native of Yugoslavia, Father Visich attended Fordham University, and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, L.I. He was ordained June 6, 1953.

He served as an assistant at St. Finbar, 1953-58, and then was assigned as assistant director of Catholic Charities’ division of health.

In 1969, he joined the faculty of Cathedral College, Douglaston, and the following year he was assigned to the faculty at St. Joseph’s College, Clinton Hill, until 1972.

He also served as a Newman chaplain at the Brooklyn Hospital School of Nursing.

“I wouldn’t have had a priestly vocation if it weren’t for Father Visich,” Father Gurrieri said.

“He was really instrumental in my life and the lives of so many young people in showing the way of gentleness, tenderness, intelligence and pastoral ministry. Ed was a man of decisive insight into the psychology of a person.”

In his homily, Father Gurrieri spoke about Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd.

“Good priests imitate Christ the Good Shepherd, and that’s what Father Visich was,” Father Gurrieri said. “He was a good shepherd for all of us at St. Finbar.

“He was a wonderful man. He led the way of showing me as a young priest and other priests how to be caring about other people and to be as tender as a shepherd must be. I think he’s going to missed by a lot of people besides myself.”

Burial will be in St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, L.I.