Gillen

Msgr. John J. Gillen

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Msgr. John J. Gillen, pastor emeritus of St. Augustine's parish in New City and a former pastor in Cortlandt Manor and Harlem, died Aug. 8 at Our Lady of Consolation Residence in the Bronx. He was 89.

Cardinal Egan celebrated the Funeral Mass Aug. 12 at St. Benedict's Church in the Bronx, where Msgr. Gillen had lived for six years during his retirement. The homilist was Msgr. Edmund J. Whalen, pastor of St. Joseph and St. Thomas on Staten Island and former pastor of St. Benedict's.

Msgr. Gillen was pastor of St. Augustine's from 1980 until his retirement in 1994. He was pastor of Holy Spirit in Cortlandt Manor, 1972-1980, and All Saints in Harlem, 1967-1972.

Msgr. Whalen described Msgr. Gillen as a joyful man who loved his vocation and worked tirelessly for the people he served.

"That's what he always wanted to be-a parish priest," Msgr. Whalen told CNY. "He was friendly, outgoing, willing to work with people as they were, and they responded to that."

Msgr. Gillen lived at St. Benedict's from 2001 to 2007, while Msgr. Whalen was pastor.

"He said Mass every day," Msgr. Whalen said. "He spent a lot of time with confessions." He also started and directed a Bible group for seniors because "he said that grandparents are going to pass the faith on to the children," Msgr. Whalen explained. "His perspective was that as a senior citizen, he could help other seniors to understand the Bible."

But Msgr. Gillen's appeal reached across the generations.

"The kids in the school loved him," and he had an "amazing" way of relating to teenagers, Msgr. Whalen said. He added that Msgr. Gillen had "a great sense of humor."

"It was very disarming and endearing to people," he said. But Msgr. Gillen was also forthright about essentials. "He was very honest," Msgr. Whalen said. "He called them as he saw them."

He noted that Msgr. Gillen was a pastor in Harlem during the troubled 1960s. "He was very responsive to the needs of the people and the times," Msgr. Whalen said. Msgr. Gillen was there on the day that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and that night he and Cardinal Terence Cooke walked the streets of Harlem to be with the people, Msgr. Whalen said.

In his homily at the Funeral Mass, Msgr. Whalen spoke about Christ walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, discussing the Scriptures. Msgr. Gillen, he said, "walked with us like that, opening the Scriptures to us in the conversation of life."

"His goal was always to lead people to the Eucharist," he said.

He noted that Msgr. Gillen also had "tremendous devotion to Our Lady" and loved to say the Rosary.

He was born in the Bronx, studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College and St. Joseph's Seminary, and was ordained Jan. 27, 1945. He served as a parochial vicar at St. Mary's, Ellenville, 1945-1947; Resurrection, Harlem, 1947-1962; and St. Barnabas, the Bronx, 1962-1967.

After retiring in 1994, he resided at St. John Neumann Residence in the Bronx and celebrated Mass at various parishes including St. Joan of Arc in Sloatsburg until relocating to St. Benedict's. He moved to Our Lady of Consolation last year.

Burial was at Calvary Cemetery in Long Island City.

Msgr. John J. Gillen