Father Lynch Served as Pastor in Montfortian Parish

Father Eugene Lynch, SMM, former pastor of St. Mary Gate of Heaven parish, Ozone Park, died Jan. 19 in his 60th year of religious life in the Montfortian community. He was 80.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 25 in the Chapel of the Incarnate Wisdom, Montfort Spiritual Center, Bay Shore, L.I.

At the time of his death, Father Lynch was a member of the staff of the Lourdes Shrine, Litchfield, CT.

Born in Corona and baptized in Our Lady of Sorrows Church there, he was rasied in Blessed Sacrament parish, Jackson Heights. He entered the Montfortian community in 1948.

After ordination in 1954, he served four years as a missionary in Zomba, Malawi, and seven years in Borneo, Indonesia, where he became regional director of Catholic Relief Services.

In 1967, he was appointed Provincial Superior of the Montfort Missionaries in the U.S.

He was named pastor in 1973 of St. Mary Gate of Heaven, where he renovated the church according to the new liturgical norms, and later gained notoriety for helping to organize the Queens Citizens Organization.

In 1984, he joined a new preaching team of Montforts and Daughters of Wisdom in Jacksonville, Fla. Five years later, he was sent to St. Louis, MO, to work in the African-American parish of St. Teresa of Avila.

He returned in 1994 to Bay Shore as superior, but in 1996 he arrived at Lourdes in Litchfield for the ministry of the Shrine and eventually to help with the young novices from various countries who studied here.

Among his great passions in his later years was Retrouvaille, a movement to help people whose marriages were in great pain, seeking a path to reconciliation and healing.

Father Lynch is survived by his sisters, Barbara Sweeney of Jensen Beach, Fla.; Alice Decker of Chula Vista, Cal.; and his brother, Francis of Naples, Fla.

Burial was in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Bay Shore.

••• ••• •••

Claire Colamaria, the mother of Father Frank Colamaria, associate at St. Ephrem’s, Dyker Heights, died Jan. 20.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 23 at St. Ephrem’s Church. 

A Mass of Christian Burial for Harold W. Doyle, the father of Father Thomas Doyle, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands, was celebrated Jan. 21 at St. Virgilius Church, Broad Channel. He died Jan. 17.

Burial was in Calverton National Cemetery, Calverton, L.I.

William F. Whalen, 63, of East Stroudsburg, PA, died recently, reportedly due to Agent Orange related diabetes.

Born in Woodside, he graduated from Central H.S., Valley Stream, L.I. He served in Vietnam with the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1967.

He retired from the New York Fire Department, Engine 226, Brooklyn, and returned to the FDNY as a volunteer after the Sept. 11 attacks. He received a bachelor of arts at St. John’s University and was a member of the VFW and numerous Irish organizations.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 14 at Holy Name of Mary Church, Valley Stream.

Burial was at Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, L.I., with full military honors.

Sister Elizabeth Ann Murray, CSJ, 61, formerly known as Sister Ellen Joseph and member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood, for 44 years, died Jan. 10, in Presbyterian Hospital, Manhattan.

Before becoming a licensed social worker, she taught in the Rockville Centre Diocese from 1969 to 1983 at St. Frances de Chantal, Wantagh; Holy Name of Mary, Valley Stream; and St. Joachim, Cedarhurst. 

She then moved to Brooklyn where she ministered for eight years as a pastoral associate at St. Therese of Lisieux.

After obtaining her degree and certification in social work from Fordham University and Hunter College respectively (1995-1997), she worked in a supervisory capacity in Heart Share Family Center (1994-1996) until she became ill.

She is survived by brothers and sisters: Eileen, Kathleen, Joseph, Patricia, Joan, James, Thomas and Susan. 

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 14 in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Windsor Terrace.  Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, Brentwood.

As The Tablet went to press, it was learned that Father Richard J. McCormack, former pastor of St. Josaphat’s parish, Bayside, died. A full obituary will appear in next week’s paper.

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