Father John J. Garkowski, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, was born on Jan. 18, 1939, was ordained to the priesthood on May 28, 1966, and died on Saturday, March 23, 2024.
Father Garkowski served the Diocese of Brooklyn as parochial vicar for the parishes of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, South Ozone Park; St. Pancras, Glendale; and St. Bartholomew, Elmhurst.
Father Garkowski was a member of the Priests’ Purgatorial Society.
“In all the parishes he served, the people loved him. He was very active in our parish,” said Father Thomas Ahern, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, who delivered the homily at the funeral Mass for Father Garkowski.
“He was an immigration lawyer, and he loved doing that work, helping immigrants,” Father Ahern noted. “Toward the end, he was handling asylum-seekers’ cases exclusively. He was a hero to the immigrant community, particularly among our priests and sisters from Africa and Asia. He’ll be very missed in this rectory.”
A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Garkowski was celebrated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Tuesday, April 2.
Bishop Robert Brennan was the principal celebrant, Father Thomas Ahern the homilist, and special concelebrants were Father Donald M. Berran, Father Lewis H. Maynard, Father Slavomir Sobiech, and Father Robert Czok.
Burial followed at St. John’s Cemetery, Middle Village.
Sister M. St. Henry Haiss, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Born on March 1, 1934, in New York, and given the name Catherine Helen, Sister St. Henry entered the IHM Congregation on Sept. 7, 1952, made her temporary profession of vows on Aug. 3, 1955, and her final profession of vows on Aug. 3, 1958.
Sister St. Henry received a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Marywood College.
Sister St. Henry served as a teacher at the following schools: St. Mary Elementary School in Patton, Pennsylvania, from 1955 to 1966; St. Agnes Elementary School in Baltimore, from 1966 to 1967; St. Thomas Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1967 to 1973; Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, from 1973 to 1977; Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Elementary School in Forest Hills, from 1977 to 1980; Most Holy Rosary Elementary School in Syracuse, from 1980 to 1983; St. Clare Elementary School in Scranton, from 1983 to 1987; and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, from 1987 to 1994. She served as a tutor and school office assistant at Little Flower Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2005 to 2014.
Sister also served as assistant administrator at the Marian Convent in Scranton from 1994 to 2005. She was a pastoral minister to the homebound and also a receptionist at Little Flower Parish in Bethesda from 2010 to 2021.
From 2021 until the time of her death, Sister St. Henry was a prayer minister at Little Flower Convent in Bethesda and Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton.
Sister St. Henry is survived by a sister, Veronica “Ronnie” Boylan of Florida, New York; nieces and nephews; grandnieces and grandnephews; and cousins, including Sister Cor Immaculatum Heffernan, IHM, of Scranton. She is also survived by the members of the IHM Congregation.
The funeral was held on March 25 at 11 a.m. with a Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady of Peace Residence, Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Interment was set to follow the Mass at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, Pennsylvania.