A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Anthony C. Casey was celebrated Oct. 25 in the chapel at Queen of Peace Residence, Queens Village, where he had been living since 2007.
He died Oct. 22 at Queen of Peace Residence. He was 78.
A native of Limerick, Ireland, he attended St. John’s College, Waterford, Ireland, and was ordained June 15, 1958 by Bishop Daniel Cohalan at Waterford Cathedral.
He came to the Brooklyn Diocese for post-ordination studies at Iona College, New Rochelle, and earned a doctorate in clinical psychology in 1977 at St. John’s University, Jamaica.
In the Brooklyn Diocese, he served as an assistant at Holy Innocents, Flatbush, 1958-61; St. Joan of Arc, Jackson Heights, 1961-67; Holy Family, Flatlands, 1967-79; St. Columba, Marine Park, 1979-98; and St. Rose of Lima, Rockaway Beach, 1998-2004.
Retired Auxiliary Guy Sansaricq was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass. Concelebrants included Msgr. James Spengler and Fathers Peter Gillen and Brendan Duggan. Msgr. James Kelly preached the homily.
“He was a very spiritual person,” said Msgr. Kelly. “He came from what we would call an ‘ecclesiastical family’ of nine siblings. Three of the sons became priests and another a religious brother, and one of the girls became a religious sister. Many families in Ireland at that time had that same situation.
“He was very erudite and competent. He appreciated the arts very much. He was very familiar with the history of art, and he was quite a good artist himself. He liked to draw cartoons. “He was a Renaissance-type in essence. He had a great love for all things Irish, especially the sport which is the national pastime, hurling.
“He was very much involved in prayer groups and the ministry of healing. He was the seventh son of the seventh son, which in Irish lore means that he inherited the gift of healing. He did his healing within the spiritual form.
“He had a very strong personality and dealt with his condition (diabetes, Parkinson’s disease) very affirmatively. He suffered greatly because of it, but he never lost his sense of humor or gave into it.”
Despite the health issues, his lifelong dream came to fruition when he published his book, The Life of St. Therese of Lisieux, a 111-page biography of the Little Flower with whom he enjoyed what he called a lifelong “spiritual friendship,” in a 2009 interview with The Tablet.
There were no immediate survivors. Burial was in Holy Rood Cemetery, Westbury, L.I.