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Father John Russell, O. Carm., an educator and noted writer, died Sept. 23 at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, N.J. He was 78.
He served as director of novices at Brandsma Priory in Middletown, 2000-2002, before becoming the prior provincial for the Carmelite’s Most Pure Heart of Mary Province. He served a three-year term before returning to teaching theology and spiritual direction at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., where he served until his retirement in 2010.
Most of his ministry was spent in higher education in Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. He was a theology professor at Seton Hall, 1977-1994. He received the Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching at Seton Hall in 1989 and 1992.
He was also editor of the Carmelite publication The Sword, 1990-1996, and in 2009 he published “A Lenten Journey With Jesus Christ and St. Thérèse of Lisieux,” a book containing a short biography of the French saint.
In 2009 he received the Benemerenti papal honors from Pope Benedict XVI for his long and exceptional service to the Church.
Born in Chicopee Falls, Mass., he made final vows with the Carmelites in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1960. He held a doctorate in sacred theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
A Funeral Mass was offered Sept. 28 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Tenafly, N.J. Burial was at Mount Carmel Cemetery there.
