Msgr. Vincent F. Clyne

Msgr. Vincent F. Clyne, who served for 13 years as pastor of St. Ann’s parish on Staten Island, died June 30. He was 95.

Msgr. Clyne was appointed pastor of St. Ann’s in 1977 and remained there until his retirement in 1990.

Auxiliary Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, vicar general, offered a Funeral Mass July 3 at St. Ann’s Church. The homilist was Father Edmund P. Connors, pastor of St. Mary’s parish in Katonah, who was in residence at St. Ann’s during the 1980s and knew Msgr. Clyne well.

Father Connors called Msgr. Clyne “the quintessential embodiment of all that is good and all that is compassionate.”

With a smile in his voice, he recalled fondly that Msgr. Clyne lived out the words of Jesus, especially with his ministry to children, when he said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mk 10:14).

“He was wonderful with the little children,” Father Connors recalled. “He loved to see them. He would always go over to the school, walking his dog, and the children loved to see him.”

Msgr. Clyne allowed the students to name his dog, which was a cocker spaniel and poodle mix, in a contest. The children named the dog Bingo, said Father Connors with a jovial laugh.

He also noted that Msgr. Clyne “always reached out with love and concern to the elderly” in the parish as well.

“He was a very loving, compassionate priest,” he said.

Msgr. Clyne was administrator of Immaculate Conception parish on Staten Island from 1972 to 1977.

He also was assigned as a parochial vicar to Sacred Heart, Staten Island; St. Augustine’s, Ossining; Our Lady of Lourdes, Manhattan; and St. Paul’s, Staten Island.

Born in Manhattan, he studied at Fordham University in the Bronx before entering St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie. He was ordained in 1945 and named a monsignor in 1995.

Burial was in Resurrection Cemetery on Staten Island.