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Msgr. John J. Keaveney, who had served as pastor of St. Mary’s parish in Washingtonville for 12 years before his retirement last July, died Jan. 2 at Our Lady of Consolation Residence in Riverdale, the Bronx. He was 75.
Archbishop Dolan offered the Funeral Mass Jan. 6 at St. Mary’s Church.
Auxiliary Bishop Dominick J. Lagonegro, episcopal vicar for Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Northern Westchester/Putnam, offered the Mass of the Holy Eucharist at St. Mary’s on the evening of Jan. 5. Msgr. Joseph Reynolds, pastor of St. Anastasia, Harriman, was the homilist.
Msgr. Keaveney also served as pastor of St. Boniface, Monsey, 1985-1997. He was parochial vicar at St. James the Apostle, Carmel, 1975-1985; St. Catharine’s, Blauvelt, 1962-1975; and Good Shepherd, Rhinebeck, 1959-1962.
“He was a good priest and a good friend,” said Msgr. Francis Gorman, pastor of St. Teresa of Avila parish in Sleepy Hollow and a former classmate of Msgr. Keaveney’s. Msgr. Gorman delivered the homily at the Funeral Mass.
“He was very hard working and the people of his parish were very loyal to him during his illness,” he said.
Archbishop Dolan had visited Msgr. Keaveney in the nursing care facility last summer to personally thank him for his 50 years of service to the Church. “I thanked him for his example and priestly vocation, still powerful as he is united with Christ on the altar of the cross, his sickbed,” the archbishop said in his column in Catholic New York at the time.
Born in the Bronx, Msgr. Keaveney attended SS. Peter and Paul School there. He graduated from Regis High School in Manhattan. He studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College and St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie. Cardinal Spellman ordained him in 1959 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He was named a monsignor in 2006.
He was also a member of the New York State Volunteer Ambulance Drivers, and served as an elected trustee of the Blauvelt Library in the 1960s.
He is survived by his sisters, Ann Clifford and Jane Maloney. Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Washingtonville.
