Archdiocese of Newark death notices: May 2022
We remember and pray for our dearly departed clergy and men and women religious whose Masses of Christian Burial were held in April:
Sister Rosemary Coffey, C.S.J.P.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated May 6, 2022, at St. Michael Villa Chapel in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., for Sister Rosemary Coffey, a Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, who died on April 28, 2022.
Sister Rosemary ministered in the Nurturing Place and St. Joseph Home in Jersey City, N.J.
Sister Marian Therese Boudreau, S.C.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 29, 2022, at Holy Family Chapel in Convent Station, N.J., for Sister Marian Therese Boudreau, a Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, who died on April 26, 2022.
Sister Marian ministered in Marylawn of the Oranges in South Orange; St. Aloysius in Newark; St. Mary’s High School in Jersey City; East Orange Catholic in East Orange; St. Mary’s Parish in Dumont, and Mother Seton Residence in Montclair.
Reverend Monsignor George R. Trabold
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 22, 2022, at St. Rose of Lima Church in Short Hills, N.J., for Reverend Monsignor George R. Trabold, who died on April 17, 2022.
Monsignor George R. Trabold was a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, serving most recently at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Short Hills, N.J.
Reverend Kenneth J. St. Amand
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 12, 2022, at Guardian Angel Church in Allendale, N.J., for Reverend Kenneth J. St. Amand, who died on April 6, 2022.
Father Kenneth J. St. Amand was a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Newark. He was also the spiritual director at the College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in South Orange, N.J.
Friar Fr. Ronald Pecci, O.F.M.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 18, 2022, at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, N.J., for Friar Fr. Ronald Pecci, a Franciscan friar, who died on April 12, 2022.
Fr. Pecci was a professed Franciscan friar for 42 years and a priest for 38 years at the Archdiocese of Newark. His full and rich friar life encompassed a broad range of ministries that included parish pastor, formation work with friars, and a position on the provincial council.
In 2016 he served at St. Anthony of Padua Friary in Camden, N.J. as site-supervisor to the lay-volunteers of the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry, a program he co-founded that provides college graduates with the opportunity to spend a service year among the poor and marginalized. Fr. Pecci’s first parish assignment was at St. Joseph Church in West Milford, N.J.
He professed his solemn vows in 1982 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 14, 1983 at St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring, M.D.
Fr. Pecci’s pastoral ministry began after ordination when he was assigned to St. Joseph Parish in West Milford in 1983. Two years later, he joined the vocation team at the Holy Cross formation house in the Bronx, N.Y. In 1987, he was assigned to St. Patrick Parish in Buffalo, N.Y., where he served as pastor and friary guardian for 12 years. During that time, Fr. Pecci also served in his first of two terms as a provincial councilor of the HNP Provincial Council. He was then assigned as pastor to St. Anne Parish in Fair Lawn in 1999.
After taking a sabbatical at St. Bonaventure University, where in 2008 he earned a master’s degree in Franciscan Studies at SBU’s Franciscan Institute, Fr. Pecci returned to Holy Cross as director of the Province’s pre-novitiate formation program from 2006 to 2008. While there, he served one year as spiritual assistant to a Secular Franciscan fraternity. In 2008, Fr. Pecci moved to St. Paul Parish in Wilmington, D.E., where he served five years as novitiate director and friary guardian, spiritual director to a Secular Franciscan group, and director of postulants and liaison to the interprovincial novitiate – the latter two positions by appointment in 2011.
In 2013, he went to Holy Name College in Silver Spring, M.D., to serve three years as director of postulants, during which time he continued as liaison to the interprovincial novitiate, and also filled the role of vicar from 2014 to 2016. Fr. Pecci then moved to St. Anthony of Padua Friary in Camden as friar-in-residence, among other ministries, to serve as site-supervisor to the lay-volunteers of the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry. He once said of this ministry he helped to establish: “I take great delight in encouraging young people. Working with the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry has been a great joy. It gives me an opportunity to directly promote the Franciscan spirit to people who are often hungry for it.” In 2017, he relocated to the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, N.Y., where he was a founding member of the Franciscan fraternity that lived among the students, and where he served two years as chaplain of campus ministry and mission.
Featured image: Holy Name Cemetery & Mausoleum in Jersey City, N.J. (Photo courtesy of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark)
