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Msgr. Hugh D. Curran, who served as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Pelham and St. Catharine in Blauvelt, died on his 94th birthday July 8.
Msgr. Curran served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 2001-2014, and St. Catharine, 1979-1991.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday, July 15, in the main chapel of John Cardinal O’Connor Pavilion, Riverdale, the Bronx. Cardinal Dolan will serve as celebrant, and Msgr. Walter Kenny will deliver the homily.
“He was a great parish priest,” Msgr. Kenny said. “He did the work in the parish. Whatever had to be done, he did it. He did the work in the office as he was called to do.”
Msgr. Curran and Msgr. Kenny were classmates at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie.
“He was a friend all these years,” Msgr. Kenny said. “When he came into the seminary in 1948, we went to camp that year at Camp St. Joe’s and we were friends ever since.”
The members of Msgr. Curran and Msgr. Kenny’s seminary class remained close after graduation, playing golf each week and taking a vacation in Lake George for many years. Msgr. Kenny said Msgr. Curran was a member at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck.
“He was a great golfer,” Msgr. Kenny said. “All those years, we played golf every Tuesday. We had a whole gang of golfers in our class. We belonged to the same clubs. Golf was a big thing.”
In retirement, Msgr. Curran and Msgr. Kenny became residents of St. John Vianney Priest Residence in Riverdale.
“He was really a great guy and he fitted in perfectly here in the retirement home,” Msgr. Kenny said.
The Manhattan-born Msgr. Curran was ordained by Cardinal Francis Spellman in 1954 and was named a monsignor in 1986.
Msgr. Curran was director of the Family Life Bureau and Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1969-1979, and assistant director of the Family Life Bureau, 1960-1969. He was parochial vicar of Assumption, Peekskill, 1954-1960.
Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne.
