Diocese Loses ‘A Good Friend’ 

Father George Cowan, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, was born on July 29, 1938, was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1965, and died Sunday, Oct. 6. 

Father Cowan served the Diocese of Brooklyn as pastor of Saint Mel (Flushing) and Saint Rose of Lima (Midwood), and the co-pastor of Our Lady of Miracles (Canarsie). 

He served as parochial vicar for the parishes of Nativity of our Blessed Lord (Crown Heights), Saint Joan of Arc (Jackson Heights), Saints Peter and Paul (South Williamsburg), and St. Vincent Ferrer (East Flatbush). He was in residence at the parishes of Holy Innocents (Prospect Park South), Immaculate Heart of Mary (Windsor Terrace), and Saint Laurence (Canarsie). Father Cowan served as Chaplain of Saint Agnes Academy High School, Nazareth Regional High School, and Saint Brendan’s High School. 

Father Edward Mason, pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church in East New York, Brooklyn, said he knew Father Cowan “all my life, having grown up down the block from him in Flatbush.” 

“People saw him as a good friend, someone they had no problem approaching,” Father Mason said of his longtime friend. “He kept in touch with many former students from St. Brendan’s and Nazareth High Schools. If I had to describe the kind of priest he was, I’d say he was somebody who walked humbly with God and delivered the message that God walks with us.” 

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated on Oct. 15 at Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, New York, with principal celebrant Bishop Robert Brennan and homilist Aux. Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto. Special concelebrants included Msgr. Thomas G. Caserta, Msgr. Robert J. Sarno, Father Edward Mason, Father Marc E. Swartvagher, Father Louis J. DeGaetano, Father Thomas G. Pettei, Father Michael G. Tedone, Father Henry J. Torres and Father Russell Governale. Burial followed at Calvary Cemetery, Woodside.