Archdiocese of Newark obituaries: December 2023
We remember and pray for our dearly departed clergy and men and women religious whose Masses of Christian Burial were held in December.
Father Raymond Thomas McKeon
A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated for Father Raymond Thomas McKeon on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Cedar Grove N.J.
Father McKeon, 85, entered into Eternal Life on Dec. 1, 2023.
Born in Orange, N.J. to the late Robert and Andrea McKeon, he graduated from Seton Hall University, Orange, N.J., and then entered Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, N.J. Father McKeon was ordained as a Priest of the Archdiocese of Newark on May 25, 1963 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland.
Father McKeon’s first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Short Hills, N.J.; and then served as parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament/St. Charles Borromeo, Newark, N.J.; St. Michael’s Church, Union, N.J.; Our Lady of Mercy Parish, Park Ridge, N.J.; Holy Rosary Parish, Edgewater, N.J.; and then served as a chaplain at St. Vincent Hospital, Montclair, N.J. His final assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Aedan’s Church, Jersey City, N.J., and retired from active ministry on Feb. 1, 1996. He was then in residence at St. Paul the Apostle Church, Jersey City, N.J. before moving to St. Ann’s Home for the Aged, Jersey City in 2015.
Predeceased by his parents, his brother, Robert T. McKeon, and his wife, Jane, and his sister-in-law, Eleanor, he is survived by his brother, Daniel J. McKeon, five nieces, a nephew, five great-nieces and a great-nephew.
Father James Lee Cerbone, Jr., SDB
A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated for Father James Lee Cerbone, Jr., SDB on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, at Sacred Heart Chapel, Don Bosco Preparatory High School, Ramsey, N.J.
Father Cerbone slipped into eternity during the night of Dec. 19, 2023, following a long battle with cancer.
Father Cerbone, a member of the Salesian community of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey since 2009, was a professed Salesian of Don Bosco for 53 years and a priest for 43 years.
Son of James Lee Cerbone, Sr., and Thomasina Spadafor Cerbone, he was born in Newark on April 20, 1949. He was baptized at St. Anthony Church in nearby Belleville and confirmed at Our Lady of All Souls Church in East Orange in 1960.
The Cerbones owned and ran a pizzeria, which is probably why Father Cerbone loved pizza so much all his life.
He completed high school at Clifford J. Scott High School in East Orange in 1967 and went to Don Bosco College in Newton as a Son of Mary on Sept. 9, 1967. Two years later he entered the novitiate there and made his first profession on Sept. 1, 1970, at Newton.
Brother Cerbone graduated from Don Bosco College in 1972 with a B.A. in philosophy, including minors in history and classics. He left the Salesians that year and did his first year of theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington. He returned to the Salesians in 1973, made temporary vows again in 1974, was assigned to Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, and professed perpetually on Aug. 27, 1977, at St. Anthony’s Church in Elizabeth.
Brother Cerbone did his practical training at Ramsey from 1973 to 1975 and another year at Salesian High School in New Rochelle from 1975-1976. He taught history, theology, and English. He was a moderator for the Key Club and drama, culture, and outdoors clubs at different times.
Brother Cerbone completed theological studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, while living with the Salesian community in Columbus from 1976 to 1979. In 1979-1980 as a deacon he was assigned to the Don Bosco College community, teaching theology. He earned a Masters in Divinity at the PCJ in 1980. Later he studied accounting at the University of Notre Dame, earning an MSA in 1983, followed by a Masters in Religious Education from St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers in 1990.
Father Cerbone was ordained in his home parish of Our Lady of All Souls in East Orange on Oct. 4, 1980, by Newark’s Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Francis, SVD.
Father Cerbone then followed a varied priestly ministry. He taught for one year at Salesian in New Rochelle (1980-1981) and for one year at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey (1983-1984). He was treasurer at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw for two years (1981-1983). In 1984, he began a seven-year stint at the provincial house in New Rochelle as an assistant in the treasurer’s office. After another three years at Don Bosco Prep, teaching (1991-1994), he experienced parish life as assistant pastor at Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan (1994-1995). He took a leave of absence from the Salesians in 1995-1998, serving as assistant pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Poughkeepsie. There he introduced some parishioners to the Salesian Cooperators and introduced living Stations of the Cross done by the parish youths, which continues today.
Father Cerbone’s happiest years may have been the nine years when he was chaplain for campus ministry and social action at Manhattan College in Riverdale (Bronx), 1998-2007. During those years he resided at the provincial house.
He ministered at St. James of the Marches Church in Totowa from 2007 to 2009. Then he joined the Don Bosco Prep community, teaching a little bit and doing campus ministry until health issues made that no longer possible, eventually requiring his taking up residence at the New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus.
Father Cerbone is survived by his sisters Susan Cerbone of Rutherford and Gloria Malecki of Bloomfield and his nephew, Richard Malecki, all of whom he was very close to.
Msgr. Philip Morris
A Mass was celebrated for Msgr. Philip Morris on Jan. 4, 2024, at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Hillsdale, N.J.
Msgr. Morris passed away in Pompano Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, at the age of 86 from Congestive Heart Failure. He was born in Orange, New Jersey on Oct. 24, 1937, the son of David and Rose (Scavone) Morris. (BJ) Albright.
Msgr. Morris attended West Orange, N.J. public schools, Seton Hall Preparatory, and Seton Hall University, graduating in 1959 with a BA degree. While at the University he began seminary formation at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, N.J. from 1957- 1959 and continued at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L) in 1963. Msgr. Morris also received a doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1968 from The Catholic University of America. His Doctoral Dissertation was “Theology of Ecumenical Dialogue.”
Msgr. Morris was ordained a Catholic Priest in Rome on Dec. 19, 1962. He began his Ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark in July 1963 as Assistant Pastor for St. Michael’s in Palisades Park. Subsequent assignments included Assistant Pastor at Our Lady of Mercy in Jersey City 1963-1965; Weekend Assistant at St. Paul’s in Irvington (1966-1967); Most Blessed Sacrament in Franklin Lakes (1967-1968); St. Mary’s in Nutley (1968-1974); St. Gabriel’s in Saddle River (1974-1977). In 1977, he was appointed Associate Pastor at Guardian Angel in Allendale until 1981 and then as Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in South Orange until 1993. Msgr. Morris was appointed Pastor of St. John the Baptist in Hillsdale in 1993 until he retired from assigned ministry with the title of “Pastor Emeritus” in July 2008. During his pastorate at St. John’s, he was named “prelate of honor” by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1986. Subsequently, he was In Residence as a Weekend Assistant at St. Rose of Lima in Short Hills, N.J.
Msgr. Morris held the position of Seminary Educator at Immaculate Conception Seminary from 1965 to 1977. He was appointed Professor in Systematic Theology from 1968-1977 and then Adjunct Professor until 1981. Msgr. Morris was a Visiting Professor in the School of Theology during 1990 and 1995.
Msgr. Morris was active in Archdiocesan Activities for nearly 30 years as Director and Chair of several programs for Priestly Formation, Pastoral activities, and the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. He was Dean of the Northeast Bergen Deanery from 1995-1998. He was Chaplain of St. John the Baptist Knights of Columbus Council 12303 from 1999-2008 and Catholic Chaplain of the Hillsdale, NJ Police and Fire Departments 2005-2007.
In addition to Archdiocesan Activities, Msgr. Morris was a Visiting Lecturer at Seton Hall University, Caldwell College, Sacred Heart University, and Princeton Theological Seminary. In keeping with his Doctoral Dissertation “Theology of Ecumenical Dialogue,” he was a member of many Ecumenical Activities including the Hillsdale Ecumenical Clergy Association from 1993-2008.
Msgr. Morris eventually moved to Florida and assisted in several Catholic Parishes as a Weekend Assistant. He was living in Pompano Beach, Florida at the time of his passing.
He was predeceased by his sister, Judith Carolyn (Morris) Kelly, and his nephew Philip Kelly. He is survived by his niece Carolyn (Kelly) Bogart, her husband Scott Bogart and their three children David, Cathryn, and Andrew; his nephew Christopher Kelly, his wife Patricia and their three children Lauren, Melissa, and Nicholas, and by his close friend William J.
