Father William Stanton,
pastor emeritus of Seven Dolors, dies at 83
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
It is befitting that Father William Stanton was buried during Holy Week
because his priesthood was dedicated to living out the Easter Mystery
of the Lord’s passion and resurrection.
Father William J. Stanton, pastor emeritus of Seven Dolors Parish in Wyndmoor,
died Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby.
He had also served as pastor of Holy Angels and St. Ambrose parishes in
Philadelphia.
“All of his life, activities, decisions, were always in the view
of the greater good of the Body of Christ,” said Msgr. John J. Miller,
pastor emeritus of St. Frances Cabrini Parish, Fairless Hills.
An “exemplary priest” who was “extremely loyal”
to the Church, Father Stanton also possessed a maturity and an innocent
spirit, Msgr. Miller said.
Father Stanton was born Feb. 27, 1925 in Philadelphia, the second of two
children of the late William C. and Florence M. (Loughlin) Stanton.
Before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, he attended
Waldron Academy for Boys in Merion, Our Lady of Lourdes Parochial School
and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, both in Philadelphia, and midshipman
school at Notre Dame University. He also served as a naval officer during
World War II.
Father Stanton was ordained May 10, 1952 at the Cathedral of SS. Peter
and Paul in Philadelphia by Archbishop John F. O’Hara.
Msgr. Miller met Father Stanton more than 40 years ago, when Father Stanton
contacted him about the liturgical studies program that Msgr. Miller had
just completed in Rome. Father Stanton held a master’s degree in
liturgy from the University of Notre Dame. “He saw me as an ally
in that,” Msgr. Miller said.
Both priests served on the board of the archdiocesan Commission for Sacred
Liturgy.
Assignments included parochial vicar, St. Bernard Parish, Easton; St.
Joseph Parish, Girardsville; St. Francis of Assisi Parish and St. Richard
Parish, Philadelphia; faculty member at Roman Catholic High School for
Boys and Cardinal Dougherty High School, Philadelphia; chaplain of Immaculata
College, Immaculata, and at Temple University’s Newman Center, Philadelphia.
Father Stanton was pastor of Holy Angels Parish from 1978 to 1985 and
of St. Ambrose Parish from 1985 to 1989. He was appointed pastor of Seven
Dolors in 1989 and named pastor emeritus there in 2000.
Catherine Petrella was a staff assistant who helped maintain parishioners’
records at Seven Dolors. “He was a very dear and caring priest,”
she said. “He would do a lot of wonderful things for parishioners,
unbeknownst to anyone else.”
Father Stanton was particularly attentive to those who were hospitalized
or homebound.
Keeping the church meticulously maintained for his parishioners was also
a priority, she said.
“He was a credit to the priesthood in every sense of the word,”
Petrella added. “He’s going to be missed terribly. God rest
his soul.”
Cardinal Justin Rigali was to celebrate Father Stanton’s funeral
Mass at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 18 at Seven Dolors Church. Msgr. Miller
was to be the homilist.
In addition to his parents, Father Stanton was preceded in death by his
sister, Marie Louise Stanton.
Survivors include several cousins.
Interment was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Philadelphia.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215) 587-2468
or cchicoin@adphila.org.
Deacon
George Bolter dies at 75
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
Deacon George A. Bolter, 75, a permanent deacon assigned to St. Katharine
of Siena Parish, Wayne, died suddenly March 9.
The son of the late William and Jane (Lyons) Bolter, he was born in St.
Katharine Parish in 1932, baptized there and attended the parish school.
He and his wife, Mary Teresa (Muldoon), lived in St. Katharine Parish.
His career was in the food service industry, at first with supermarket
chains that included Acme and A & P, and later as a salesman for food
brokers and distributors. For the past 12 years he worked as a crossing
guard for the Radnor Township School District. He was also a member of
the Knights of Columbus.
“He was wonderful husband for 44 years and he served his parish
well,” Mary Bolter said.
An active member of St. Katharine, he studied for the permanent diaconate
and was ordained June 3, 1990 by then-Archbishop Anthony J. Bevilacqua
at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul. In his ministry, he served
at St. Katharine Parish and also St. Monica, Berwyn and Our Lady of the
Assumption Strafford.
At St. Katharine of Siena, “he’ll be especially missed by
our senior citizens at the Wayne Center,” said Msgr. John A. Close,
St. Katharine’s pastor. “He loved being part of our parish
and the Church.”
Deacon Bolter’s funeral Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Justin Rigali
at St. Katharine Church on March 17.
Auxiliary Bishop Daniel E. Thomas was the homilist. Among the concelebrants
were Msgr. Close and Msgr. Michael J. Carroll.
“Deacon George Bolter was a docile, kindly servant of the Lord and
His Church, who quietly did much good and faithfully carried out his diaconal
ministry in service of the Word, of the Altar and of Charity,” Bishop
Thomas said. “As pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in
Strafford, I enjoyed George’s assistance both within and outside
the sanctuary, and know he will be sorely missed by his dear wife, Mary,
and so many family, friends and parishioners.”
Deacon Frank M. Bizal was Deacon of the Word and Deacon John T. Riordan
was Deacon of the Eucharist.
Both, along with Deacon Bolter were part of the class of seven men ordained
in 1990, and Deacon Bizal remembers him as a person who was very enjoyable
to be with. “George was always friendly, with a great sense of humor
— a good man,” he said.
“Deacon George and Mary Bolter were scheduled to be the host couple
for this year’s reunion of the class. He’ll be missed very
much,” Deacon Bizal said.
In addition to his wife, Mary, Deacon Bolter is survived by his sister,
Regina Lewis, and many nieces and nephews.
Interment was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo parish and a freelance writer.
Compiled
by
ADAM DICKERSON
Rosemarie Reilly Kane
Rosemarie Reilly Kane, formerly of Philadelphia, died Feb. 11, 2008 in
Willamette, Ill. She was the mother of Suzanne Amberg, Rosemarie McGuire,
Kevin Kane, Maggie Burton and Tim Kane; grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother
of four. She was predeceased by her daughter, Kathleen; her grandson,
Coley, and her former husband, Jack Kane. A funeral Mass was celebrated
in Willamette and, on Feb. 16, at Our Mother of Sorrows Church, Philadelphia.
Burial was in Calvary Cemetery in Conshohocken. She is also survived by
a brother, three sisters, and many nieces and nephews.
Maureen T. Minetti
Maureen T. Minetti, formerly McAllister, of Whitemarsh Township, died
on Feb. 14, 2008 at Lankenau Hospital after a short battle with ovarian
cancer. She was 50. She was the wife of Angelo J. Minetti and mother of
Christopher, Jeffrey, Michael and Angela Minetti. She was the daughter
of Thomas and Dolores McAllister, formerly Maxwell, and sister of Thomas
McAllister, James McAllister, Dee Higgins and Eileen Herncane. A member
of St. Philip Neri Parish, Lafayette Hill, she served as a resident organist,
director of the children’s choir, music director and teacher. She
also taught music at Gwynedd Mercy Academy and St. Helena Parish, Centre
Square. She graduated from Archbishop Kennedy High School and from Immaculata
College with a bachelor’s degree in music. She was a former member
of the Mothers Club at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and Merion
Mercy Academy. Recently she attended the 30th anniversary celebration
of the canonization of St. John Neumann at the Shrine of St. John Neumann
Church, an event that was important to her because she sang with the Philadelphia
Cathedral Collegiate Choir during the celebration of St. John Neumann’s
canonization in Rome. A funeral Mass was celebrated on Feb. 19 at St.
Philip Neri Church. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery, Conshohocken.
Sister Mary Benedicta Viebeck
Sister Mary Benedicta Viebeck, S.S.N.D., died Feb. 28, 2008. She was 94.
She was born in Bavaria, the second oldest of eight children, in a city
where her father was mayor. She entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame
in 1926 and qualified as an elementary school teacher in Bavaria in 1934.
With Hitler’s regime closing many of the state-sponsored schools,
she and 14 members of her congregation who were to travel to the United
States were professed in Munich in April 1938 and left for New York within
the month. In the United States, she taught in Newark, N.J., and Brooklyn,
N.Y., before serving as administrator and convent superior of St. Vincent’s
Home in the Tacony section of Philadelphia. She then taught in Baltimore
before serving as administrator at the congregation’s generalate
in Rome. She was later elected to serve on the provincial council of the
former Baltimore province of her congregation. After retiring from teaching,
she became a translator. She translated important archival materials from
their native German into English, work that she continued until days before
her death. She was also a participant in the “Nun Study,”
a longitudinal study on aging and Alzheimer’s disease funded by
the National Institute on Aging and made up of all American members of
the School Sisters of Notre Dame religious congregation ages 75 to 106.
Sister Andrew Persing
Sister Andrew Persing, O.S.F., died on Feb. 29, 2008 in Assisi House,
Aston. She was 85 years old and had been a professed member of the Sisters
of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 62 years. Born in Dallastown, Pa.,
she worked in a secular job before entering the Sisters of St. Francis
of Philadelphia in 1943. She ministered primarily in health care, obtaining
her degree as a registered nurse at St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia.
She also earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Villanova University
and a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from the Catholic University
of America. In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, she worked at St. Mary
Hospital and St. Agnes Medical Center. She also served as congregational
archivist. She lived at Our Lady of the Angels Convent until 2004 when
she moved to Assisi House, where she served in prayer ministry until her
death. She also ministered in the dioceses of Trenton and Harrisburg,
and the Archdiocese of Baltimore. A funeral Mass was celebrated on March
7 at Assisi House and burial was at Our Lady of Angels Cemetery, Aston.
She is survived by her brother, Charles Persing; her cousin, Mary Blanken,
and her Franciscan family.
Father Edward J. Kimpel
Father Edward J. Kimpel, O.Praem., the first Norbertine pastor of St.
Gabriel Parish, died on March 2, 2008. He was 84. A native of South Philadelphia,
he was the son of Charles Kimpel and Florence Doyle. He attended St. Edmond
Grade School and Southeast Catholic High School before he was vested as
a Norbertine in 1942 and ordained a priest in 1949. He held a bachelor’s
degree from St. Norbert College and a master’s degree in mathematics
from Villanova University. He served as a teacher and chair of the mathematics
department at Southeast Catholic-Bishop Neumann High School. He also served
as associate pastor at Christ the King Parish, Wilmington, Del.; St. Norbert
Parish, Paoli; St. Titus Parish, East Norriton, St. Alphonsus Parish,
Maple Glen; St. John the Baptist Parish, Philadelphia; Our Lady of Good
Counsel Parish, Moorestown, N.J., and St. Mary Magdalen Parish, Media.
He was predeceased by his brother, James. A funeral Mass was celebrated
on March 7 at Daylesford Abbey with burial in the abbey cemetery. He is
survived by his brother, Dr. William Kimpel; nieces and nephews, and members
of his Norbertine Community of Priests and Brothers at Daylesford Abbey.
Sister Mona Morrissey
Sister Mona Morrissey, O.S.F., formerly Sister Mona Vincent, died on March
3, 2008 in Assisi House, Aston. She was 95. She was born Mona Veronica
Morrissey in Ireland, and entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
in 1927. She ministered primarily in elementary education. She served
in the Diocese of Wilmington and the archdioceses of Baltimore, Washington
and Philadelphia. In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia she lived at Queen
of Peace Convent, Aston, before moving to Assisi House, where she lived
in prayer ministry until her death. A funeral Mass was celebrated on March
6 in Assisi House, followed by burial in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery,
Aston. She is survived by a niece, a nephew and her Franciscan family.