Father Pierce John Kenny, C.S.S.R., a Redemptorist missionary priest for 43 years, died June 25, at St. Joseph’s Hospital , Towson, Md. He was 69.
A funeral Mass was celebrated June 29, followed by interment at the Cemetery of the Resurrection in Staten Island. Born in Brooklyn, he professed his first vows as a Redemptorist in 1963 and was ordained a priest on June 22, 1969.
After completing his graduate studies in theology at Mount Saint Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, he served in the foreign missions in South America at Telemaco Borba, Parana and Bela Vista. He returned to the Baltimore Province as vocation director from 1974 until 1978 and was then appointed to St. Gerard’s parish in Lima, Ohio. The following year, he returned to the then Vice-Province of Campo Grande where he worked for six more years in Ponta Grossa and Paranagua. He returned to Brooklyn for a year and then for the next five years at St. Clement’s Mission House in Ephrata, Pa. In 1992 he was transferred to St. Clement’s parish in upstate New York at Saratoga Springs where he served until June 15, 1998, when he returned for the final time to his hometown. He remained a member of the OLPH community in Brooklyn until his death 14 years later.
Father Richard J. Pendergast, S.J., 85, a Jesuit for 62 years and a priest for 49 years, died June 24 at Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx.
Born in Brooklyn, he attended Brooklyn Prep, and Manhattan College, before serving in the Navy for one year and then returned to complete his course of studies in electrical engineering (B.C.E.).
He entered the Jesuits in 1949. He was ordained on June 20, 1963 at Fordham University Church.
After one year of post-doctoral studies in physics at Loyola University, New Orleans, he began teaching at St. Peter’s College, Jersey City, N.J. His interest shifted from science to theological and moral issues and he published his first book “Cosmos” in 1973, dedicated to Karl Rahner, S.J., and Teilhard deChardin, S.J.
He published many articles on the relationship of science and theology. He became more directly involved in spiritual direction and the retreat apostolate. He worked at the Loyola House of Retreats in Morristown, N.J., and for six years was chaplain at the Cenacle Retreat House in Ronkonkoma, L.I.
In 1991, he moved to Murray-Weigel Hall as a pastoral minister and writer until his death. Burial was at the Jesuit cemetery, Auriesville, N.Y.
Sister Patricia (Sister Loretto) Crowe, O.S.U., died June 25, at N.Y. Queens Hospital. She was 74. Born and raised in Howard Beach, she attended Our Lady of Grace, Howard Beach, and St. John’s University and received a master of arts in Art Education from SUNY New Paltz. She entered the Congregation of the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk in 1956.
She taught at Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary, Ozone Park; Our Lady of Grace, Howard Beach; and Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, Bayside.
She was an art teacher at St. Mary H.S., Greenwich, Conn., 1971-1979, and was principal for Our Lady of Grace, Howard Beach, 1986-1997.
She also ministered for many years as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and a member of the bereavement team at Our Lady of Grace.
After retiring as principal, she continued as a private tutor for several years. She is survived by her sisters, Evelyn Matier and Margaret Crowe; her brother Thomas, Crowe; and several nieces and nephews.
Burial was in the St. Ursula Center cemetery, Blue Point, L.I.
A memorial Mass was offered June 29 at St. Joan of Arc Church in Lisle, Ill., for John Kevin Doyle, a professor of business administration at Benedictine University in Lisle and award-winning philatelic editor and writer.
Doyle, 64, died June 21 after a two-year struggle with kidney cancer.
He was a son of James and Ethel Doyle, staff members of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada from 1958 to 1988. Jim was the CPA’s executive director, and Ethel was reading service manager in that period.
He also is survived by his wife, Jane Bates Doyle, his son Neal Andrew Doyle, of Cambridge, Mass.; daughter Meghan Eileen Doyle, of Lisle; and three other siblings: Elizabeth M. Doyle, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.; Peter J. Doyle, Broomfield, Colo.; and Thomas M. Doyle, Lake Mary, Fla.
Sister Kathleen Theresa O’Dea, I.H.M., (formerly known as Sister Mary Martin) of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Monday, July 2, at Regional Hospital, Scranton, Pa. She was 80.
Born in Brooklyn, she entered the IHM Congregation on September 7, 1949 and made her temporary profession of vows on May 8, 1952 and her final profession of vows on Aug. 2, 1955.
She served as a principal at the following schools: St. Thomas Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 1962 -64; St. Rita Elementary School, Baltimore, 1964-68; St. Matthew, Wilmington, Del., 1976-82; and St. Dominic, Oyster Bay, L.I., 1982-84.
Locally, she taught at St. Ephrem, Dyker Heights, 1984-94.
She is preceded in death by a sister, Mary O’Dea Backus.
She is survived by a brother, James of Brooklyn, and a sister, Bernadette Murphy of Manahawkin, N.J.
The funeral was set for Friday, July 6, at 11 a.m. with Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady of Peace Residence, Scranton. Interment will follow Mass on Friday at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, Pa.