The Catholic Standard and Times

Sister Alma Crotty
Sister Alma Veronica Crotty, S.S.J., the former Helen Crotty, died April 20, 2005. She was 99. Born in Bayonne, N.J., Sister Alma Veronica entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1927. She served in the Philadelphia and Newark Archdioceses and the Allentown and Raleigh Dioceses. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 26 at St. Joseph Villa, Flourtown. Burial was at the community cemetery. Surviving are nieces, and nephews, grandnieces and nephews, and members of her congregation. She was preceded in death by sisters, Sister St. Gerald Crotty, S.S.J., and Mary Golec; brothers John, James, William, David, Father Edward, Garret and Joseph Crotty.

Sister Marie Harkness
Sister Marie Ernestine Harkness, O.S.F., the former Caroline Rose Harkness, died April 21, 2005. She was 83 and a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 58 years. Born in Sellersville, Pa., Sister Marie Ernestine ministered in the Philadelphia Archdiocese for 29 years. From 1947 to 1957 she served as medical-surgical supervisor at St. Agnes Hospital. In 1987 she moved to Assisi House, Aston. She served 16 years at St. Joseph Hospital, Lancaster, and 11 years at St. Joseph Hospital in Baltimore, Md. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 26 at Assisi House. Burial was at Our Lady of Angels Cemetery, Aston. Surviving are a brother, Thomas Harkness; five sisters, Alice Southworth, Helen Southworth, Ernestine Remp, Catherine Fatzinger and Fay Sweigart, and members of her congregation.

Sister Elizabeth Moran
Sister Elizabeth Mary Moran, G.N.S.H., 93, died April 22, 2005 in the 66th year of her religious life as a Sister of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart. A lifelong educator, she taught at Melrose Academy, Little Flower High School and St. Canicus School in Mahanoy City. Other teaching assignments took her to Buffalo, N.Y. and Atlanta, Ga. She retired in 1995, and resided at the motherhouse in Yardley and later at St. Joseph Manor, Meadowbrook. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 25 at the motherhouse. Burial was at Resurrection Cemetery, Bensalem. Surviving are nieces, nephews and members of her congregation.

Mary Rodgers
Mary J. Rodgers (born Owens) wife of the late Charles J. (Buck) Rodgers, died April 18, 2005. Mrs. Rodgers was a 1939 graduate of John W. Hallahan High School. Mrs. Rodgers was a member of Mayfair TLA and St. Bartholomew Parish Golden Age Club. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 22 at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Abington. Burial was at Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon. Surviving are two brothers, Brother John Owens (James) and Jack, and four sisters, Winifred Shimp, Margery Baker, Catherine Conlee and Patricia Rock. Also survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Sister Maria Scapin
Sister Maria Joachim Scapin, I.H.M., the former Mary Agnes Scapin, died April 21, 2005 at the age of 83. Born in Gloucester, N.J., Sister Maria Joachim served in the Philadelphia Archdiocese and the Harrisburg and Allentown Dioceses. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 25 at Camilla Hall, Immaculata. Surviving are two sisters, Theresa Ligato and Concetta Boyle; a sister-in-law, Anne Scapin; nieces and nephews, and members of her congregation.

Sister Grace Schiavone
Sister Grace Schiavone, I.H.M., formerly Sister M. James David, died April 18, 2005. She was 79. Born in Philadelphia, Sister Grace Schiavone served in the Philadelphia Archdiocese and the Harrisburg and Richmond Dioceses. She also served in Lima, Peru. The funeral Mass was celebrated April 21 at Camilla Hall. Burial was at Immaculata. Surviving are three sisters, Jeannette Flood, Theresa Scully and Elaine Kranyecz. Also surviving: nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews, and members of her congregation.

Father Henry E. Dougherty

Priest had delightful disposition,
strong work ethic

By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer

Whether he was teaching his nieces and nephews how to stand on their hands, giving the coat off his back to a stranger in need, or praying the act of contrition as a paratrooper, the jovial and charitable Father Henry E. Dougherty served others with a delightful disposition and a strong work ethic.
“He was a wonderful, down-to-earth uncle who had time for us —we just loved him,” said Janet Dougherty Chapman, his 63-year-old niece.

In addition to the handstands, Father Dougherty taught all four of his nieces and nephews how to drive a car and generously treated them on trips to a local amusement park. “He rode all the amusements with us,” Chapman said. “We had an unlimited amount of money to spend on all the little [arcade] machines.”

Father Dougherty, a retired priest and resident at Villa St. Joseph in Darby, died Thursday, May 12, 2005. He was 90.

The second of two sons of the late James C.J. and Janet M. (Denworth) Dougherty, he was born Oct. 1, 1914, in Philadelphia.

Chapman, the daughter of Father Dougherty’s elder brother, the late Frank James Dougherty, also recalled other fun childhood days with her uncle — family trips to the Jersey Shore where he carried his nieces and nephews on his shoulders so the rough waves would not knock them down; the time he showed them how to climb the rope attached to a big oak tree in the backyard of their Bala Cynwyd home, and how he teased her about her artwork. “I had this book that taught how to draw animals. I was so proud of my little cow. He looked at it, shook his head and said, ‘I think you better [write] c-o-w [next to it].’”

He attended St. Gregory School, Philadelphia, St. Matthias School, Bala Cynwyd, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Philadelphia, and St. Joseph’s College, Philadelphia, before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Father Dougherty was ordained June 7, 1941, at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul by Cardinal Dennis Dougherty.

Assignments included parochial vicar, All Saints Chapel, St. James Parish and St. Timothy Parish, Philadelphia; St. Alice Parish, Upper Darby and Queen of the Universe Parish, Levittown.

Father Dougherty also served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army from 1943 through 1947. For his service during World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge, he received the Bronze Star twice. After the war, he continued his service as a paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and later as a chaplain with the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Once, when asked what paratroopers actually say when they jump out of planes, he answered: an act of contrition.

Father Dougherty retired from the priesthood in 1990.

At St. Alice Parish in Upper Darby, where he was a parochial vicar from 1964 to 1980, Father Dougherty was remembered as a devoted priest who was generous and pleasant to all, and particularly kind to those who were ill.
Maryann Purcell, a parish secretary, also recalled Father Dougherty’s exemplary work ethic and the success with which he ran St. Alice’s Bingo program.

“We all loved him and were quite sorry when he left us,” Purcell said. “We missed him so much.”

From 1980 to 1990, he was a parochial vicar at Queen of the Universe Parish in Levittown, and remained in residence there after his retirement until 2001, when he moved to Villa St. Joseph, a residence for archdiocesan priests who have retired from active service.

At Queen of the Universe, his rooms were quaint — he never wanted new furniture, new carpeting or fresh paint, said Father Paul A. Wiedmann, pastor of Queen of the Universe Parish. “He lived out of a footlocker that he had in the service.”

Father Dougherty loved celebrating Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation, reading about the Church, theology and Scriptures, and listening to Latin hymns.

In his homilies, he talked about the love of God, the importance of being faithful to the Church’s teachings and how the commandments are not mere suggestions.

Every opportunity he had, he talked to the parishioners, listened to their problems and prayed for them. “No one ever got away from him without getting a blessing,” Father Wiedmann said.

Father Dougherty was said to have once advised a parishioner: “Every day, do something better than the day before and you’ll have no problem living out your life.”

Cardinal Justin Rigali was scheduled to celebrate Father Dougherty’s funeral Mass May 18 at Queen of the Universe Church in Levittown.

Concelebrants were to include Msgr. John J. Conahan, and Fathers John C. Moloney, Harry A. Romano and Father Paul A. Wiedmann. Father Wiedmann was the scheduled homilist.

In addition to his niece, Janet Dougherty Chapman, Father Dougherty is survived by another niece, Bernadette Jorgenson and two nephews, Frank Dougherty and Harry Dougherty; his sister-in-law, Eleanor Dougherty, and several great-nieces and great-nephews.

Interment was at Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon.

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org