Reverend Adnel T. Burgos, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, died on April 11 from heart failure possibly related to COVID-19. He was 57.

Born in Puerto Rico, on April 17, 1962, he attended St. Michael’s School, East New York; Franklin K. Lane H.S., Cypress Hills; Cathedral College, Douglaston; and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, L.I.

He was ordained on June 3, 1989, by Bishop Francis J. Mugavero.

Father Burgos served at St. Mary Star of the Sea, Far Rockaway, 1989-95; Our Lady of Fatima, Jackson Heights, 1995-2000; St. Teresa, Woodside, 2000; St. Catharine of Alexandria, Borough Park, 2000-01; and Our Lady of the Cenacle, Richmond Hill, 2001-10.

He was administrator of Guardian Angel Parish, Brighton Beach, 2010-12. Since 2013 he served as Parochial Vicar
of St. Teresa de Avila-St. Anthony of Padua, South Ozone Park, until he was released from diocesan assignments for medical reasons on July 31, 2017, and sent in residence to Mary’s Nativity-St. Ann, Flushing.

On Jan. 31, 2018, he was transferred to St. Joachim and Anne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center where he passed away.

“For a young man, it was unfortunate that Father Burgos dealt with an illness for many years. I was taken by a comment from a young priest, Father Joseph Dutan, who told me that he credited Father Burgos for being his inspiration to the priesthood. We ask the Lord to give him the reward of his goodness,” said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

Father Dutan, parochial vicar of St. Brigid, Bushwick, remembers him as a resourceful evangelizer. “Father Burgos was a young priest when I was in elementary school at St. Teresa in Woodside. He worked hard and showed us how Jesus was present in our culture, in the music. Many people still remember and hold him dear in our hearts. He had us all as altar servers — 156 of us,” he told The Tablet.