Msgr. Mahoney, Who Led Planning Office, Dies at 58

Msgr. Mahoney

Msgr. Cornelius H. Mahoney, director of the SS. Peter and Paul Spirituality Center, Douglaston, since December, 2005, died June 15 after a bout with cancer. He was 58.

In 1997, he was appointed to the diocesan office that followed up on the Diocesan Synod, and two years later he became the director of the Office of Cluster Planning and Collaboration with the title of Vicar for Pastoral Planning.

A native of Brooklyn, he attended St. Anselm’s School, Bay Ridge; Cathedral Prep, Brooklyn; Cathedral College, Douglaston; and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington. He was ordained April 29, 1978 in Resurrection-Ascension Church, Rego Park, where he had served as a transitional deacon.

He served as an assistant at Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, Woodside, 1978-84; Queen of Angels, Sunnyside, 1984-92, and then was spiritual director at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, from 1992 to 1997.

He was named a monsignor in 2003.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated June 19 at Queen of Angels Church. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio interrupted his attendance at the U.S. Bishops’ meeting in New Mexico to return home to be the main concelebrant.

Special concelebrants included: Msgrs. Michael Reid, Michael Hardiman, Otto Garcia, John Brown, John Strynkowski and Fathers Vincent Daly and Matthew Sheridan.

Father Robert Lauder preached the homily.

On the previous evening, Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano was the main celebrant and homilist of the Mass of Transferal.

Being Good?

Bishop Caggiano alluded to the question which Msgr. Mahoney always posed to those he met: “Are you being good?”

“It was a statement of what was dear to this man’s life,” explained the bishop.

“If there ever was a man who strove to be good, it was Msgr. Mahoney. And he did it in so many ways. This man of God took seriously the call to be good.
“Monsignor reached out to all who walked with him through life.”

The bishop related a personal story about when he once had gone to Msgr. Mahoney in a moment of exasperation that a particular project was not going as planned.

“Msgr. Mahoney told me ‘It’s all about people and allowing them to love one another and all the rest will work out’.”

Bishop Caggiano singled out Msgr. Mahoney’s role as spiritual director to many people.

“He has walked with many people in spiritual direction — not always with answers but with a listening heart,” he said.

“As the priest of God that he was, he knew that to be able to love, we must spend time with this Lord of Goodness, to pray in silence and to allow God to speak to us.”

Bishop Caggiano also referred to the fact that Msgr. Mahoney “knew suffering throughout his life, not just at the end,” and yet he managed to be “a man of joy and hope.”

Burial took place at St. John’s Cemetery, Middle Village.

Maryknoller from Queens Dies at 90

Father Greene, M.M.

Father James Gerard Greene, M.M., of Jamaica, died June 13, at St. Teresa’s Residence in Ossining, N.Y., where he had lived since 2000. He was 90 and a Maryknoll priest for 64 years.

Ordained Feb. 7, 1943, Father Greene was immediately assigned to the new Maryknoll mission in Quintana Roo, Merida, Mexico, where he studied Spanish and the Mexican culture for six months. He was appointed pastor of San Miguel parish, on the then-undeveloped island of Cozumel, and in 1944 became pastor of the isolated mission of Bacalar.

In 1949, he became assistant pastor in Peto, Yucatan, which had a large Mayan population. There he devoted himself to the poor and sick, began a successful credit cooperative and offered adult education courses for his parishioners.

Over the years, Father Greene served as pastor of several parishes throughout Mexico, and was Maryknoll’s Mexico regional superior from 1961 to 1966.

From 1976 to 1991, he was pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Campeche, where along with his pastoral duties he supervised the construction of a parish church. He then did part-time pastoral ministry near Cuernavaca, and returned to live at Maryknoll headquarters in Ossining in 1994.

Born in Jamaica, he grew up in Woodhaven, where he attended St. Thomas the Apostle School. He studied at Cathedral College, Brooklyn, where he completed his high school requirements and two years of college before entering Maryknoll College in Clark Summit, Pa. He studied theology at Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining.

Burial was in Ossining.

Deacon Ministered to Poor, Imprisoned

Deacon Joesten

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated June 15 for Deacon Edward J. Joesten at St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre. He died June 12 at South Nassau Community Hospital, Oceanside, L.I.

Retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass. Special concelebrants included Father Bernard Brault, SMM, of St. Mary Gate of Heaven, Ozone Park, and Father William A. Smith, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua, South Ozone Park.

Deacon Joesten resided in Oceanside, but attended Mass at St. Agnes almost daily. He was ordained as a deacon for the Diocese of Brooklyn on May 16, 1992, and had served in St. Anthony of Padua parish, South Ozone Park.

Life of Service

Deacon Joesten dedicated his life to serving the poor. He was a pro-life and social justice activist. He co-founded the Faith Mission Crisis Center in South Ozone Park as well as the Faith Mission Soup Kitchen in Queens. He and his wife, Mary, used to feed the poor in the park in front of Mary Immaculate Hospital, Jamaica, until they were asked to move. According to their son, Michael, “a Hindu gentleman then offered his driveway” as a place where they could distribute food.

Deacon Joesten was in charge of the Monday through Friday food pantry at St. Benedict the Moor parish, Jamaica, and ran the Saturday Soup Kitchen in Holy Redeemer parish, Freeport.

He also devoted 22 years to prison ministry at Rikers Island and the Queens House of Detention. He served as St. Vincent de Paul Spiritual Director for the Freeport Conference.

He was a fourth degree Knight of Columbus.

Deacon Joesten was a veteran of the Korean War.
“He was a very humble man, very down to earth, and very kind to people less fortunate than himself,” said Msgr. James P. Kelly, rector of St. Agnes Cathedral, who had known Deacon Joesten for 10 years.

Deacon Joesten had an eye affliction that kept him from closing his eyes and Msgr. Kelly said that perhaps that was why he was so aware of the needs of others. The deacon “not only saw but responded to their needs,” he said. “He put into action” a response.

“He was a Good Samaritan,” Msgr. Kelly said. Deacon Joesten “didn’t wait for people to come to him to ask for help, but reached out to people he saw in trouble along the street.”

He is survived by Mary, his wife of 54 years, and their children Michael, Edward, Brian, David and Maryellen Rice.

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

Obituaries

Sister Miriam Jerome Bonser, O.P., a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, for 67 years, died June 10. She was 85.

Born in Brooklyn as Anna Mary, she entered the order from St. Barbara’s parish, Bushwick.

She taught at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Bensonhurst, 1941-53; Notre Dame School, New Hyde Park, 1953-57; Bishop McDonnell H.S., Brooklyn, 1957-66; Maria Regina H.S., Uniondale, 1966-84; St. Agnes H.S., Rockville Centre, 1984-87; Kellenberg H.S., Uniondale, 1987-91; and Molloy College, Rockville Centre, 1991.

She is survived by her brother, Jerome of Flushing.

Dr. Russell Barber, 75, host and producer of WNBC-TV’s “The First Estate: Religion in Review” for 17 years, died June 4 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was also a contributing editor on religion and ethics for NBC News and “Today” before his retirement in the 1990s.

Dr. Barber, who held a doctorate in communications from Northwestern University, won three Emmy Awards and a Gabriel Award from Unda-USA, the Catholic broadcasters organization. In 1988, he was honored by the Tri-State Catholic Committee on Radio and Television (TRISCCORT) for the human and spiritual values contained in his programs.

A native of Washington State, he was buried in Tacoma.

Father Richard James Sammon, M.M., a Maryknoll priest since 1956, died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday, June 11, at his parish in Portezuelo, Chile. He was 78.

Ordained at Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining on June 9, 1956, he was assigned to Chile where he worked with poor farmers in Portezuelo for nearly 50 years. He also served two terms as Maryknoll’s assistant regional superior in Chile, 1983-89.

The only priest in Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish serving Portezuelo and 23 hill communities surrounding the village, he estabished education for their children as a top priority.

A few weeks before his death, Father Sammon was honored by the government of Chile with The Order of Bernardo O’Higgins, and received a papal greeting for his long career of service to the Church.

Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Manhattan, where he attended St. Rose of Lima Grammar School and studied at Cathedral College.

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