Fr. McCormack Served as ‘Poster’ Priest for 47 Years

A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Richard J. McCormack, former pastor of St. Josaphat’s parish, Bayside, was celebrated Jan. 26 at the church.

He died Jan. 22, three days shy of his 73rd birthday, at Lutheran Hospital, Sunset Park, after an extended illness.

Born in Brooklyn, he attended St. Francis Prep, Cathedral College, and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington. He was ordained by Bishop Bryan J. McEntegart at St. James Cathedral-Basilica, Downtown Brooklyn, on June 3, 1961.

He served as an assistant at Holy Innocents, Flatbush, 1961-70; St. Mel, Flushing, 1970-81; Our Lady of Grace, Gravesend, 1981-82; and St. Mary Star of the Sea, Court St., Brooklyn, 1982-89.

In 1989, he was named pastor of St. Vincent de Paul parish on the Northside of Williamsburg, and in 2001, he became pastor of St. Josaphat’s.

He retired in 2007 and took up residence in Brooklyn.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass. Concelebrants included Msgrs. Rocco D. Villani, Gerald J. Langelier, Robert R. McCourt, Raymond W. Kutner, and Fathers Thomas Machalski, James Dunne, and Peter Mahoney. Msgr. Villani preached the homily.

Father Dunne, pastor emeritus of St. Camillus, Rockaway Park, remembers his seminary classmate, as being “extraordinary in his ordinariness. He was the poster man for what a parish priest should be.”

Father McCormack “never wanted to be on center stage or never wanted honors,” but went about his work faithfully celebrating Mass, visiting the sick, listening to his parishioners.

“He made people feel good about themselves,” Father Dunne said. “He was humble and compassionate.”

Especially in the last six months, when Father McCormack was hospitalized, Father Dunne was impressed with his friend’s “great patience, spirituality and awareness of God.”

Msgr. Rocco Villani, who was ordained with Father McCormack in 1961, recalls his classmate as having been a good student.

“He did everything he could to be a good priest,” Msgr. Villani said. “Even when he was sick, he made it a point never to miss diocesan meetings.”

Msgr. Villani remembers that Father McCormack’s “booming voice” earned him the nickname of “the Senator.” During their long friendship, they enjoyed vacations in the Hamptons, where Father McCormack would finally have the chance to “relax and take life easy.”

Burial was in St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, L.I.

••• ••• •••

Francis A. Sherman, the brother of Msgr. Anthony Sherman, a Brooklyn priest who serves at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died Jan. 23 in Atlanta, Ga.

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, who “opened a new era of cordial cooperation” between Catholics and Orthodox, died Jan. 28.

The 69-year-old primate of the Greek Orthodox Church died in Athens after a long struggle with intestinal and liver cancer.

Pope Benedict asked retired French Cardinal Paul Poupard, former president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, to lead a Vatican delegation to the archbishop’s Jan. 31 funeral in Athens.

Under the leadership of Archbishop Christodoulos, who was elected in 1998 to lead the Greek Orthodox Church, relations between Catholics and Greek Orthodox improved remarkably.

Veronica Florence O’Connor, 94, the mother of Patricia O’Connor, Associate Superintendent of the diocesan Office of Schools Support, died Jan. 10 at home after a long illness.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Jan. 14 at St. Francis de Sales Church, Belle Harbor. Msgr. Michael Hardiman was the main celebrant. Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano presided.

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