For 53 years, Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan celebrated Mass at Our Lady of Hope Church, Middle Village. So, it was only fitting when he died June 7, that the parish be given a special opportunity to say farewell and thank you.
Our Lady of Hope Church became the site for the vigil Mass for Bishop Sullivan on the evening before his funeral Mass at St. Ephrem’s, Dyker Heights, June 12. Before the liturgy, the bishop’s body laid in state in the center aisle for parishioners to visit.
Father Michael Carrano, pastor, led the tributes when he preached the homily.
“This is a great loss for all of us,” said Father Carrano. “Whenever you met him, he made you feel special.
“He was real. He was Brooklyn. He didn’t put on airs.
“Bishop Joe wanted to serve people. His years at Catholic Charities were dedicated to the poor, the needy and the marginalized.”
Pete Sullivan, the bishop’s brother, spoke after Communion and thanked the people of Our Lady of Hope for sharing their church with the family for the night of prayer for Bishop Sullivan.
A nephew, John, sang a personal hymn of praise to his uncle with the refrain, “You are one great Brooklyn boy.”
To top off the evening, Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez, the celebrant of the Mass, called his brother in the episcopacy, “a giant in our diocese, a leader for the poor and an outstanding priest.”
Sitting among parishioners were Bishop Sullivan’s colleagues from Catholic Charities and those who worked with him on a daily basis. Like Baisy Apostle, who served as personal secretary to Bishop Sullivan even after his “retirement” from active duty.
“He didn’t know how to say ‘no,’” said Baisy as she sat in a pew and watched the faithful file by the open casket. She explained that Bishop Sullivan had delayed his trip to California for the national retreat meeting of the Catholic Bishops. He was administering Confirmation in the Archdiocese of New York, filling in for Bishop Dennis Sullivan who recently was named Bishop of Camden, N.J. On the day after his fatal car accident on the Long Island Expressway, he was scheduled to be doing Confirmation in Spring Valley, N.Y., a date he never made.
Baisy recalled Bishop Sullivan as “a very fair boss.”
“He was not the type to look over your shoulder. He allowed you to work at your own pace, as long as the job got done,” she said.
At funeral services on the following day, the tributes to the bishop who died too soon continued. Many of those words are recorded in our special pullout section this week.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio led the final prayers at the gravesite of Bishop Sullivan in St. John’s Cemetery, Middle Village. He was buried in a special plot reserved for the priests of the Brooklyn Diocese. They are interred in a circular form surrounding a statue of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests.
When the final “Amen” had been spoken and the holy water sprinkled on the casket one last time, members of the family and friends lingered as if waiting to hear one more story, one more tribute. Slowly, they began to leave, off to a family meal, and in the best Irish tradition, one more chance to remember the charm and the wonder that was Bishop Sullivan.