Gunn

Father Francis X. Gunn, O.F.M.

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Father Francis X. Gunn, O.F.M., who was an active member of the crisis intervention team that ministered to firefighters after 9/11, died suddenly Aug. 24 at the rectory of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Northville. He was 58.

He served in the archdiocese at Holy Name of Jesus parish in Manhattan, 2000-2002 and 2005-2008, and at St. Denis in Hopewell Junction, 1999-2000.

He was pastor at St. Joseph’s parish in East Rutherford, N.J., 2002-2005, and a parochial vicar at St. Mary’s parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., from 2008 until the early part of this year, when he became administrator of two parishes in the upstate Northville area. While serving in Pompton Lakes, he also worked on various projects for the Franciscans’ Holy Name provincial office in Manhattan.

Father Gunn was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Saugerties. He entered the Capuchin Franciscans’ pre-novitiate program in 1971 and professed first vows in 1976. In 1978, he transferred to the Franciscans’ Order of Friars Minor, Holy Name Province; he professed first vows in 1979 and final vows in 1981. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1981.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at Don Bosco College, Newton, N.J., and studied for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, N.J. He earned a master’s in counseling at Seton Hall University and a master’s in social work at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work.

He served at a number of social service agencies in northern New Jersey from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s and supplied weekend assistance at parishes there. He was director of campus ministry at Siena College, 1996-1999.

He is survived by four sisters, Eileen Amidon, Lorraine Comito, Patricia Shirley and Joan Carr.

A Funeral Mass was offered Aug. 30 at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville, with burial in Blue Mountain Cemetery in Saugerties.

Father Francis X. Gunn, O.F.M.