Msgr. Dunn Served Woodside as Pastor
A Mass of Christian Burial for Msgr. Richard F. Dunn, pastor emeritus of Corpus Christi parish, Woodside, will be celebrated at the church on March 24.
Msgr. Dunn died March 20. He would have been 80 on April 6.
Born in Brooklyn and baptized in St. Catharine of Alexandria Church, Borough Park, he attended St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington. He was ordained May 31, 1958 by Bishop Bryan McEntegart at St. James Pro-Cathedral.
He served as an assistant at St.Therese of Lisieux, East Flatbush, 1958-60; Our Lady of Lourdes, Bushwick, 1960-64; St. Patrick, Bay Ridge, 1964-76; and St. Sebastian, Woodside, 1976-87.
From 1987 to 2007, he was pastor of Corpus Christi. In 2007, he retired and moved to Bishop Mugavero Residence, Douglaston. Since last year, he was living in a private residence.
Msgr. Dunn was also a Deanery Moderator of the Catholic Youth Organization for southeastern Kings County. In 1989, he was named a Chaplain to His Holiness.
Father James Cunningham, who was among the concelebrnats at the funeral Mass, said the time Msgr. Dunn spent with him when he was growing up in St. Sebastian’s was invaluable.
“I am a priest today because of Msgr. Dunn,” he said. “To me he was the epitome of what a priest should be. He worked hard, he was prayerful, he was generous with the people. He had a great sense of humor.” Father Cunningham said Msgr. Dunn never stopped caring.
“I was blessed almost 17 years ago that he vested me as a priest for the first time on the day of my ordination,” he said. “Even in those times when he was so sick he was still doing what he could to minister and care for the people – what a great inspiration!”
Msgr. Dunn is survived by his sister Frances Flynn. [hr]
Father Thomas G. Maceda, C.S.S.R., a member of the Redemptorist order for 56 years, died March 13 at St. John Neumann Residence, Stella Maris, Timonium, Md. He was 74. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 16 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, Sunset Park.
Born in Brooklyn, he was ordained a Redemptorist priest on June 23, 1963. Following ordination, he did missionary work in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Virgin Islands. He also taught in the high school seminary and served as a pastor in upstate New York and Manhattan.
From 1989 to 2007, he was a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, Sunset Park.
Confreres remembered him as a cantor-priest who was always available and always on time for community events.
Burial was in Resurrection Cemetery, Staten Island.
Sister Mary Bride O’Malley, I.H.M., a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for 61 years, died March 14 at Our Lady of Peace Residence, Scranton, Pa.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, she taught at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School, Forest Hills, 1968-70.
Father Michael Jerome Farrell, S.S.J., 79, a retired Josephite priest, died March 12, at St. Joseph Manor, Baltimore, Md., after a long illness.
Born in Queens, he graduated from St. Joan of Arc School, Jackson Heights; All Hallows H.S., the Bronx; and St. Joseph Seminary, Washington D.C. He was ordained to the priesthood June 4, 1960.
Father Farrell served in parishes and colleges in the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas.
From 1963 to 1968, he served at St. Raymond church, New Orleans, where he discovered singing talent. Some of the girls went on to fame as backup singers to Ray Charles and other greats.
With his interest in music, he was affectionately called the “Hillbilly Priest.”
He is survived by his sister Patricia Walsh.
Interment was in Calvary Cemetery, Woodside.[hr]
Coptic Orthodox Pope Dead at 88
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Praising the ecumenical commitment of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Pope Benedict XVI offered his condolences to Orthodox Christians in Egypt on the death of their patriarch.
Pope Shenouda, who served as patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church for 41 years, died March 17 at the age of 88.
In a message released at the Vatican the next day, Pope Benedict said he wanted to express his condolences and “brotherly compassion” to the bishops, priests and faithful of the Coptic Orthodox Church, which includes about 10% of Egypt’s population of 82 million people.
The vast majority of Christians in Egypt belong to Pope Shenouda’s church and his four decades as patriarch often involved standing up for the rights of the country’s Christian minority and working with the Muslim majority to promote human rights and the common good.
“The Catholic Church as a whole shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts,” Pope Benedict said, and Catholics pray that “the God of all mercy may receive Pope Shenouda in his joy, his peace and light.”
Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai, who traveled from Lebanon to Egypt March 17 as part of a pastoral visit to Egypt’s 4,000 Maronite Catholics, had been scheduled to meet with Pope Shenouda at 4 p.m. that day.
“We were told in the morning that the meeting would not be possible because the pope’s health had deteriorated badly,” Archbishop Paul Sayah, vicar general of the Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon, told CNS by email March 18.
The patriarch had advanced the date of his visit to Egypt, Archbishop Sayah said, “because we knew of the state of (Pope Shenouda’s) health.”
He said Patriarch Rai wanted “to express his solidarity with the pope in the difficult period the Christians and Egypt at large are witnessing.” The archbishop said the patriarch also had hoped to “strengthen the ecumenical ties with all the churches in the region, with the hope also of holding a summit for the religious leaders, Christians and Muslims, in the region.”
Archbishop Sayah said Pope Shenouda “exercised very strong leadership in the Coptic Church in particular and for the Christians of Egypt in general. He was very … courageous when it came to taking stands, vis a vis the government in general. He was moderate, wise and open to dialogue. In a crisis situation, he never made a rushed decision but instead would withdraw to his monastery to pray and consult before deciding. One of his famous sayings in such situations was: ‘God exists, God is here.’