Father Laurence E. Gibney

Father Laurence E. Gibney, the retired pastor of Holy Name parish in Otisville, died June 12 at Cornwall Hospital. He was 78. He also had served as pastor of St. Joseph's, New Windsor; St. Peter's, Liberty; and St. Anastasia's, Harriman. As a chaplain at the Manhattan House of Detention, known as The Tombs, Father Gibney was a pivotal figure in events surrounding inmate riots there in 1970. Cardinal Egan offered the Funeral Mass June 19 at Most Precious Blood Church in Walden, where Father Gibney had often celebrated Mass in retirement. Msgr. Joseph F.X. Smith, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tuxedo, delivered the homily; also speaking at the Mass were Msgr. Kenneth Loughman, pastor of Most Precious Blood, and Father Joseph Smolinski, who is retired. Msgr. Smith described Father Gibney as "a very charismatic, very outgoing and extraordinarily charitable individual" who appealed to many people, including those who might otherwise have been alienated from religion. "They sought him out," Msgr. Smith said to CNY, adding that "when he preached, he made the Gospel come alive. He talked about people you might meet in the here and now." Father Gibney was "an individualÑI can say that about him. He was loved by many, but maybe not appreciated by some others." Assigned as chaplain at The Tombs in 1960, Father Gibney was a strong presence at the facility. He was president of the New York Chaplains' Association in March 1970, when the chaplains issued a public warning to the city to expand its jail facilities to ease a potentially explosive overcrowding situation. Seven months later a major riot broke out at The Tombs, with 17 guards taken hostage. During the standoff, Father Gibney spent 50 hours in the facility as the only liaison between the inmates and city officials. He was reportedly on the verge of negotiating the release of 16 of the hostages when he was abruptly fired by Mayor John V. Lindsay's corrections commissioner, George McGrath, who said the priest's continuing presence "has served as an incitement to rebel prisoners." Father Gibney returned to his post several weeks later, as support for him came from the archdiocesan Priests' Senate and from Cardinal Terence Cooke. The following year, he was appointed pastor of St. Anastasia's, returning to the area where his family had lived for four generations. He took over the parish when the community was starting a pattern of population growth that continues today. While there, he oversaw planning and construction of a new parish center and religious education building. He was named pastor of St. Peter's in Liberty in 1982, and of St. Joseph's, New Windsor, in 1986. He served there for 12 years, until his appointment as pastor of Holy Name, Otisville, in 1998. He retired in 2000. Born in Highland Falls, he studied for the priesthood at Cathedral College and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie. He was ordained in 1954. He served at St. Mary and St. Andrew's in Ellenville and at St. Catharine's in Blauvelt before his assignment as prison chaplain. Burial was in Peacedale Cemetery, Highland Falls.