‘Good Priest and a Good Friend’
Msgr. Anthony F. Sherman, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, was born on March 13, 1945, was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 28, 1970, and died Oct. 8, 2023.
Msgr. Sherman served the Diocese of Brooklyn as pastor of St. Anastasia in Douglaston and St. Matthias in Ridgewood. He served as parochial vicar for St. Anastasia, St. Benedict Joseph Labre in Richmond Hill, and St. Matthias.
Msgr. Sherman was a member of the Diocesan Liturgical Committee, Diocesan Education Office, and the Committee for Sacramental Guidelines.
He also served as adjunct professor of liturgy at the Immaculate Conception Seminary. In addition, for 11 years Msgr. Sherman served as head of the Secretariat for the Liturgy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was named Prelate of Honor in 1986. He was also a member of the Priests’ Purgatorial Society.
Father Thomas Pettei, pastor of Resurrection- Ascension Parish in Rego Park, who knew Msgr. Sherman during his tenure as parochial vicar for St. Matthias, called him “a good priest, a good pastor, and a good friend.”
A funeral Mass for Msgr. Sherman was celebrated Oct. 13 by Bishop Robert Brennan at St. Anastasia Church.
Burial was at St. John Cemetery, Middle Village.
‘Supportive & Good to Priests’
Msgr. Joseph L. Cunningham, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, was born on March 4, 1937, was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1960, and died Oct. 12, 2023.
Msgr. Cunningham served the Diocese of Brooklyn as Pastor of St. Gregory the Great, Bellerose. He also served in a Temporary Ministry role at St. Joan of Arc, Jackson Heights; also as a Temporary Administrator of St. Andrew the Apostle, Brooklyn, and as Parochial Vicar for Our Lady of Mercy, Forest Hills.
Msgr. Cunningham was also the Executive Secretary of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission, Liturgy Advisor for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and a board member of the Diocesan Pastoral Institute. He also served as principal at the Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, and as rector at the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Florida.
On Dec. 19, 2019, Msgr. Cunningham was named Chaplain of His Holiness. He was also a member of the Priests’ Purgatorial Society.
Bishop Paul Sanchez, who said he knew Msgr. Cunningham since 1972, from their days together at Our Lady of Mercy Parish, recalls that Msgr. Cunningham was “supportive, encouraging, and enlightening, a priest whose heart was the heart of a priest, and who was good to other priests.”
A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 17 for Msgr. Cunningham at St. Gregory the Great Church. Bishop Robert Brennan was the celebrant. Burial followed at St. John Cemetery Middle Village.