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Father Matthew L. Gaskin, O.F.M., who was active in parish, school and retreat ministry, died June 5 at Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, N.J. He was 88.
He served in the archdiocese as parochial vicar at Holy Cross parish in the Bronx, 1970-1971, and as secretary to the provincial minister at St. Francis Friary, Manhattan, 1952-1953.
He was pastor and parochial vicar at parishes in New Jersey and also was a regional vicar for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. He served in Buffalo as a college campus minister and a high school teacher.
He was spiritual assistant to the Secular Franciscan fraternities of the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province, 1984-2001, and also served as National Spiritual Assistant of the Order of Friars Minor, 1993-1999. He was active in retreat ministry over the years, preaching in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
He was elected national director of the Better World Movement in 1969.
Born in Buffalo, he entered the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province in 1944, professed final vows in 1948 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1950. He held a bachelor’s degree from St. Bonaventure University and a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Antonian Athenaeum in Rome.
A Funeral Mass was offered June 11 at St. Anthony’s Church in Butler, N.J. Burial was in Mount Calvary Cemetery there.
