Archdiocese of Newark death notices: September 2023
We remember and pray for our dearly departed clergy and men and women religious whose Masses of Christian Burial were held in September:
Father Bernard N. Mohan
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, at Queen of Peace Church in North Arlington for Father Bernard N. Mohan.
Father Mohan, 91, died on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023.
Born in Trenton, N.J., Father Mohan attended Seton Hall Preparatory School, St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y., and Immaculate Conception Seminary at Darlington. He was ordained into the Holy Priesthood by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland of the Archdiocese of Newark on May 27, 1961, and offered his First Solemn Mass on May 28, 1961, in St. Mary’s Church in Nutley.
Father Mohan served as a Priest in the Archdiocese of Newark for 41 years before retiring in 2002. In retirement, Father Mohan served as a part-time pastoral assistant at St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Sea Girt and St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Toms River.
The last official assignment for Father Mohan was serving as the Pastor at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in West Orange from 1996 to 2002. Previously he was assigned to St. Lawrence Church in Weehawken, St. Luke’s Church in Ho-Ho-Kus, Immaculate Conception Church in Secaucus, Assumption and All Saints Church in Jersey City, and Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph’s Church in Hoboken.
Father Mohan was a staff member and Judge for the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of
Newark and was dedicated to various other ministries including the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Through various charities and organizations, he was always very supportive of priests in Africa, especially in Ghana and Liberia.
A lifelong fisherman and sailor, Father Mohan enjoyed sailing on Barnegat Bay and Lake Mohawk and was a longtime member of the Lake Mohawk Country Club. He greatly enjoyed his salmon fishing trips to Canada and Ireland, his deep-sea fishing trips to Mexico, and his pilgrimages to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.
He was the cherished son of the late Arthur and Anne (nee O’Neill) Mohan, the adored brother of the late Arthur G. Mohan, the brother-in-law of Joan Mohan, the loving uncle of Anne Mohan and her husband Bruce Magaw, Brian Mohan and his fiancé Regina Giardina, Catherine Mule’ and her late husband Paul, and Michael Mohan and his wife Odile. Father Mohan will also be greatly missed by his many loving great-nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.
Father Alex Pinto
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Mountainside for Father Alex Pinto.
Father Pinto, 78, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, died on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, while visiting family in his native Goa, India.
Born in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, India, on Christmas Eve, 1944, he was ordained on Dec. 20, 1969.
Father Pinto served, as parochial vicar, chaplain, teacher, and pastoral counselor in several local parishes for more than 40 years including: St. John The Apostle Church, Linden; Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Scotch Plains; Holy Trinity Church, Westfield; and most recently Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Mountainside. He was the current Worthy Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, Council #1711, Westfield.
Father Pinto held degrees in psychology from the University of Bombay and Seton Hall University. He conducted many bereavement groups and Bible study groups. An award-winning poet, his poems and reviews have been published in the U.S. and abroad. He served as a volunteer stress-management teacher at the John H. Stamler Police Academy in Scotch Plains.
Since 1992, Father Pinto had been a professed member of the Secular Order of the Franciscans, taking the name Brother Dominic Anthony. He followed faithfully the motto of St. Francis of Assisi: “Rebuild My Church.” An avid soccer fan, Father Pinto remained loyal to the Chelsea Football Club of the Premier League, and closely monitored the matches at Stamford Bridge.
He is survived by a brother, sister, sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, and cousins in India. His cousin Father Rui Comelo officiated at Father Pinto’s Funeral Mass and Burial in Bombay (Mumbai), India on Sept. 8, 2023 (the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother).
Sister Rosalinda Soria OP
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, at St. Elizabeth Manor in Footville, Wis. for Sister Rosalinda Soria.
Sister Soria died on Aug. 29, 2023, at St. Elizabeth Manor in Footville, Wis.
Sister Soria was born Feb. 6, 1945, to Gilberto and Guadalupe (Alvarado) Soria in Myers, Mont., the ninth child among 10.
She entered the Sinsinawa Dominicans in 1966, became Sister Rosalinda in 1967, made first profession in 1968 and at the time of her death had been a faithful member of the congregation for 55 years.
Sister “Rosie” Soria was dedicated to health care all of her active years in ministry. She served as a licensed practical nurse for 28 years, and often served simultaneously as a counselor for 22 years and an administrator for seven years. Sister was a kind person and especially empathetic with those who suffered from long-term pain and chronic illness. She served in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and New Mexico.
She served in the Archdiocese of Newark as a nurse and counselor at St. Francis Home, Hoboken, 1990-1991.
In 2012, she retired to Sinsinawa and in 2022, she moved to St. Elizabeth Manor.
Rosie, we send you in peace to the wide-waiting arms of God. Alleluia!
Father Ciaran Fergus, OP
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, at St. Patrick Church in Columbus, Ohio for Father Ciarán Fergus, OP.
Father Fergus died at Mohun Health Care Center in Ohio at the age of 91 on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, after a period of declining health.
Thomas James Fergus was born on Sept. 14, 1931, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Michael Gilbert and Margaret Josephine Fergus. His father was a police officer and a native of C. Mayo, Ireland. His mother, a registered nurse, died when he was just over 2-years-old. He was baptized at the Church of the Holy Child Jesus in Richmond Hill, N.Y. on Sept. 27, 1931, and attended Holy Child Jesus School. He attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Brooklyn, N.Y. from 1945-49 and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music from 1949-50.
After a period of working in a bank, he joined the U.S. Army in 1952 and served as a corporal in the Orleans (France) Area Command during the Korean War. Being honorably discharged in 1953, he returned to Brooklyn to enroll in St. Francis College, where he earned his BBA in Accounting in 1957.
Father Fergus entered the Dominican novitiate in 1958 at St. Joseph’s Priory in Somerset, Ohio, where he received the religious name Kieran (later styled as Ciarán). He was simply professed on Aug. 16, 1959, and studied Philosophy at St. Stephen’s Priory in Dover, Mass. from 1959-62, where he earned his M.A., and went on to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, to study Theology from 1962-66, earning his S.T.B. and S.T.L. He made his solemn profession on Aug.16, 1962, and was ordained to the priesthood at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, DC on June 10, 1965, by Bishop William Joseph McDonald, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington.
After a year of pastoral training at St. Catherine of Siena and St. Vincent Ferrer parishes in New York City, Father Fergus embarked on a career in campus ministry, first at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. from 1966-7, then at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich. from 1967-68 and then at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, V.A., from 1968-73. From 1973 to 1989, he was a Catholic chaplain to Frostburg State University in Frostburg, M.D.
Father Fergus considered himself a “professional campus minister,” with a comprehensive view of his responsibilities. At Frostburg State, he performed regularly in the University Wind Ensemble. As he wrote, “the campus minister must be present to, known by, and easily available to the members of the university community on their own ground.” He initiated pro-life activities on campus and directed Pre-Cana and family life programs for students preparing for marriage.
In 1989, Father Fergus was assigned to campus ministry and teaching at Providence College, where he remained until 1997, when he was assigned to Sacred Heart Priory in Jersey City, N.J. to become Director of Catholic Campus Ministry at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. In 2001, diocesan priests replaced Dominicans at Rutgers and Father Fergus went on to serve as Associate Campus Minister at Fairleigh Dickinson and Drew Universities in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. In 2002, he became chaplain to the nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J. During this time, he also taught on the faculty of Seton Hall University and Caldwell University in New Jersey. In 2011, he left the monastery in Summit and lived at St. Joseph Rectory in West Orange, N.J.
In 2017, Fr. Fergus was assigned to St. Dominic’s Priory in Youngstown, Ohio to assist with parochial ministries. In 2021, he began residence at Mohun Healthcare Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Father Fergus is survived by his many cousins, including, Christopher Georgiou, Alex Georgiou, Maureen Baxter, Noreen Rice and her husband Pat, James Fergus and his wife Mary, Michael Fergus, Ann Fergus, Pat Kennedy, Kevin Fergus, and his wife Constance, Mairead Costello, and many others.
Sister Ruthann Williams, OP
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, at St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell, NJ for Sister Ruthann Williams, OP.
On Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, Sister Williams entered into eternal life. A Dominican Sister of Caldwell, N.J., for 42 years, Sister Williams earned her bachelor’s degree from Caldwell University, majoring in business. She also received a master’s degree from Drew University in liberal arts and a second master’s degree from the Seton Hall University Seminary in pastoral ministry.
Upon entering the congregation, Sister Williams ministered in advertising and public relations for Caldwell University. She then taught language arts and fine arts at Project Link in Newark. Afterward, she became the administrator of Sacred Heart Ministry in Caldwell. Beginning in 1993, Sister Williams served as the director of the Precious Blood Spiritual Center in Columbia, Penna. In 1996, she took the position of executive director of the Maryhill Renewal Center in Pineville, Lou. Sister then became the program director of Wisdom House in Litchfield, Conn. until ministering as director of the Spaulding Retreat Center in Bardstown, Ken. In 2001, Sister Williams served as the communications manager and program director for Sacred Heart Southern Missions in Walls, Miss. In her final ministry before retirement, Sister was the director of St. Francis Spiritual Center in Flint, Michigan.
A member of the Dominican Institute of the Arts, Sister Williams was an accomplished writer, publishing books on grief and healing. In 2005, she was honored with a bronze medal for her poetry by The Pillars magazine. She frequently had columns published in The Church Today, the newspaper of the Diocese of Alexandria, L.A., and in The Daily Town Talk, the secular newspaper of Alexandria. She also published several articles in the Kentucky Standard.
