ROCKAWAY PARK – St. Camillus Church is scheduled to close at the end of the year, but despite a recent raw and rainy Sunday morning, no one was complaining. Instead, on Sept. 7, “Reunion Sunday at St. Camillus” was a celebration of the parish’s outstanding legacy.  

“Today is not a day to complain or blame, but rather it is a day to unite our prayers in deep gratitude to a God who is faithful,” said Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto, whose first assignment as a priest was at the parish in 1971. 

“Today is not just about preparing to lose a building, but rather a day to remember how these buildings made us better people, more faithful to Christ and heirs of eternal life,” he said in a homily at Mass to begin the celebration.  

Bishop Chappetto recalled the dedication of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the parish school that closed in 2019; the outstanding lay teachers, most notably, Margaret Dwyer, who recently turned 100 years old, and Msgr. William Burke, who served the parish from 1951 to 1963 and founded and directed the parish’s well-known fife and drum marching band, the Communion-breakfasts at Westrich’s on Beach 116th St., the Masses added to the summer schedule to accommodate the beach crowd, and the bazaars, novenas, and shrine chapel.  

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At the reception in Springman Hall, the reflections continued as about 600 people crowded in to recall the glory days of St. Camillus. Parish alumni came from as far as Florida and Texas, and one even arrived straight from his stay in a local hospital. 

The St. Camillus marching band led a procession through a fine mist from the church to the outdoor Marian Garden, where a laurel of flowers was placed on the head of the statue of the Blessed Mother. 

Dotsy Livingston Kearns, who has lived her entire life in the parish, led the band as drum majorette. She said Msgr. Burke’s musicians became national travelers, playing at the Orange Bowl in Florida, the Indianapolis Speedway, and even welcoming ceremonies in New York for two popes. The corps, in its famous gold-and-green outfits, was also a mainstay in the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 

“Msgr. Burke was the best,” she said. “He was dedicated to the kids. He tried to keep us all out of trouble. He made us pay ten cents a week for dues.  

“Some of us continue to get together.” 

Tim Henning, a life-long parishioner of St. Camillus until recently relocating to Belle Harbor, fondly remembers his service as an altar server and Eucharistic minister. 

“St. Camillus was the social center of the community, the place that everyone looked to, whether you were young or old,” said Henning. “I remember Msgr. Burke as honest and kind. Like former pastor, Msgr. Richard Ahlemeyer, he would reach into his own pocket and help someone who came to him in need.”  

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Henning recalled that Msgr. Ahlemeyer was a “sort of cheerleader” for the parish school.   

“He did everything he could to keep its doors open,” he said. 

Jim Woods and his wife, Nancy, are snowbirds who spend most of their time in Naples, Fla., but they made sure this year’s Rockaway time coincided with the St. Camillus reunion. The Woods sent all of their children to the parish school, and they all played in the fife and drum corps.  

Before the Mass, Kerry Burke, who married her husband, Tom, at St. Camillus more than 40 years ago, said she had sent all her children to the parish school. A former rectory worker, she particularly praised the work of a former pastor, Father James Dunne.   

While she was sad, she saw the closing coming. Weekly Sunday attendance had dropped below 200 people, she said, and there was a significant financial debt because a new parish center had been built at St. Virgilius, the parish’s other worship site in Broad Channel. 

Father James Rodriguez, who administers the parish while also serving as pastor at St. Rose of Lima also in Rockaway Beach, said that the final Mass at St. Camillus, which opened in 1908, will be about Dec. 28.  

Also returning for the reunion were former pastors, Msgr. Alfred LoPinto and Father Bill Sweeney. Father Robert Whelan, the only diocesan priestly vocation from the parish, was unable to attend because he was in Rome for the canonization of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis.  

“Closings are not easy,” reminded Bishop Chappetto. “But they have to happen and continue to happen. What consoles me is that even though a building may be torn down, even a sacred building like this one, no one can eliminate those memories from our minds.   

“No one can stop us from sharing the stories with anyone who will listen,” Bishop Chappetto added. “Let’s share the stories, renew the acquaintances, recall the great history, and pass on the memories.”