Gilhooley

Father James J. Gilhooley

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Father James J. Gilhooley, former chaplain and director of campus ministry at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, died June 1. He was 78 and had lived in Montgomery.

He served in the college post from 1992 until 1997, when he withdrew for health reasons. Previously he had been chaplain at the Mount St. Mary motherhouse since 1981.

He was the author of the books "Priests and Other Heroes" and "Reflections on the Sunday Gospels." He wrote articles for Catholic New York, the Catholic News, the New York Times, the Daily News, the New York Post, the Village Voice and New York magazine.

From 1970 to 1979 he served on the staff of archdiocesan Catholic Charities, where he was director of Family and Community Services in East Harlem, West Harlem and North Manhattan. He was widely known as an advocate for the poor on issues of housing, nutrition, and the needs of families and the elderly.

He was a founder and director of 15 Churches United for a Better East Side, a coalition of 11 Catholic and four Protestant churches that assisted the poor in Manhattan with housing and other issues.

He was parochial vicar at St. Aedan's parish in Pearl River, 1979-1981, and in Manhattan at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, 1965-1970; St. Monica's, 1957-1965; and Guardian Angel, 1955-1957.

Born in Manhattan, he studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, and was ordained in 1955.

A Funeral Mass is to be celebrated by Msgr. John J. Budwick at St. Patrick's Church in Newburgh, where he is pastor, Friday, June 6, at 10 a.m. The homilist is to be Msgr. John Graham, pastor of St. Raymond's in the Bronx. Cremation will follow.

Father James J. Gilhooley