Macchietto

Father Robert G. Macchietto

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Father Robert G. Macchietto, who served for almost 30 years on the faculty of Msgr. Farrell High School and Moore Catholic High School, both on Staten Island, died Jan. 17. He was 66.

He served as a guidance counselor at Msgr. Farrell High School from 1985 to 2007. He also taught religion and Latin there. He served on the faculty of Moore Catholic High School from 1978 to 1982.

Cardinal-designate Dolan offered a Funeral Mass Jan. 21 at St. Clare of Assisi in the Bronx. Father Macchietto was a priest in residence there in 2007-2008. The homilist was Father Richard Guarnieri, pastor of St. Clare’s.

Father Guarnieri and Father Macchietto had been friends since their childhood in the Bronx. They attended the same grammar school, Our Lady of Mercy in the Bronx. The two studied for the priesthood together at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, and were ordained on the same day in 1971.

“He had a very understanding way about him,” said Father Guarnieri as he described Father Macchietto’s service as a guidance counselor and teacher. “It was just his personality to help people and guide them.”

“You might think he’d be gruff, but he was very, very kind,” he said.

Father Macchietto suffered from Parkinson’s disease. For the last years of his life, he resided at Hebrew Hospital Home of Westchester in Valhalla. “He never complained,” Father Guarnieri said. “Even in the nursing home, he never complained.” He said Father Macchietto accepted his illness “in a beautiful way.”

With admiration, Father Guarnieri told CNY that Father Macchietto, who was wheelchair-bound, was well known at the nursing home. “He knew everybody’s name. He was happy with being there.”

Father Macchietto served as parochial vicar at Holy Child parish, Staten Island; St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus, the Bronx; and Our Lady of Victory, Mount Vernon. He was a priest in residence at St. Margaret Mary on Staten Island.

Born in Queens, he studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College, Manhattan, and St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie.

Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla.

Father Robert G. Macchietto