Deacon Edward A. Aigbojie, 73, who has served as a deacon at Queen of All Saints, Fort Greene; St. Fortunata, Brooklyn; and St. Martin de Porres, Bedford-Stuyvesant, since 1992, died Aug. 29.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Sept. 6 at Queen of All Saints Church.
Father Richard Francis Futie, 58, died Aug. 25 while on vacation in Mexico.
After graduating from St. Mary H.S., Manhassett, L.I., he attended Cathedral College, Douglaston, and St. Thomas Seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bridgeport June 26, 1982 at St. Augustine Cathedral, Bridgeport, Conn. He continued his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and earned his theological degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He would later return to Rome to receive doctoral studies in canon law.
In addition to his parish ministries, he served as defender of the Marriage Bond on the Diocesan Tribunal in Bridgeport.
He also was police chaplain of Stamford in 1998, as well as fleet chaplain for the Stamford Yacht Club in 1999.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Kenny, S.C., a member of the Sisters of Charity for 67 years, died Aug. 27. She was 86. Her religious name was Sister Thomas Maureen.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, she taught at St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights, 1949-53, and at Bishop McDonnell H.S., Crown Heights, 1962-64.
Zambian Cardinal Medardo Mazombwe, retired archbishop of Lusaka and a longtime campaigner for foreign-debt reduction, died Aug. 29. He was 81.
Pope Benedict XVI had named him to the College of Cardinals in 2010, four years after the archbishop retired as head of the archdiocese.
The Zambian prelate rose to international prominence in the late 1990s as a vocal advocate for the world’s poor countries, particularly those unable to provide for their citizens because they were making massive payments on debt to First World banks.
By 2005, a year before the archbishop’s retirement, the Jubilee Zambia Campaign succeeded, and the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Paris Club canceled all but $500,000 of Zambia’s $7 billion debt.
In a span of more than three decades, the cardinal served three terms as president of the Zambian bishops’ conference. From 1979 to 1986, he was head of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa.
His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 201 members, 112 of whom are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.
Father Giles F. Bello, O.F.M., 84, a professed Franciscan friar for 63 years and a priest for 58 years, died Sept. 2, at Holy Name Friary, Ringwood, N.J.
Born in Long Island City, he attended St. Anastasia School, Douglaston, and graduated from Fort Hamilton H.S., Brooklyn. He also attended Fordham University and the Franciscans’ St. Joseph Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y.
He was received into the Order of Friars Minor on Aug. 12, 1949, at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J., where he professed his first vows in 1950. He then studied at St. Stephen Friary, Croghan, N.Y.; St. Anthony Friary, Butler, N.J.; St. Bonaventure University, Allegany, N.Y.; and Holy Name College, Washington, D.C. He made his final profession of vows there on Sept. 17, 1953. On June 9, 1955, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C., by Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, he served in parochial ministry in Little Falls, N.J., Manhattan, and East Rutherford, N.J. In 1962, he was named director of the lay brothers’ training program at St. Stephen’ Friary in Croghan, also serving as guardian from 1964 to 1967.
When the brothers’ training program moved to St. Francis Friary in Rye Beach, N.H., in 1967, he continued there as director, but later that year was named Secretary of the Province, residing at St. Francis of Assisi Friary in Manhattan. He remained in that role until 1973, when he was elected to the Provincial Council, serving until 1979.
He was rector of The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, from 1997 to 2000, retiring in June 2000 to St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J.