Father Thomas Connellan, C.S.P., dies
Father Thomas J. Connellan, C.S.P., died Dec. 26 at the Paulist Fathers residence in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 84, and was a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle for 59 years. Visitation will take place on Jan. 2 from 2-5 and 7-9 p.m. in the chapel of the Paulist Fathers residence in New York, 415 W. 59th St. A funeral Mass will be offered at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 10 a.m.
Father Connellan was born on Jan. 13, 1924 in New York City as the oldest son of oldest son of Thomas J. and Anne (Jones) Connellan. Father Connellan graduated from Regis High School, attended Columbia University and graduated from the United States Naval Academy. After World War II, he worked for General Electric before entering the Paulist novitiate in 1949. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 3, 1956.
His first priestly assignments were in parish (St. Paul the Apostle) and campus ministry in Richardson, Tex., from 1956-61. He then returned to his native New York and campus ministry at the Community College of New York from 1962-66.
Father Connellan’s next ministry took him to San Paolo, Brazil, on special assignment looking into Latin American ministry from 1966-67. He returned to the U.S. and New York City as the archdiocesan coordinator of Newman Apostolates from 1967-71. He then took a year for continuing education before heading to the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., from 1971-73.
Father Connellan then became superior and pastor at Immaculate Conception parish in Knoxville, Tenn., from 1973-76; and then at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco from 1976-82.
Father Connellan was elected the Paulist vice president, and he served in that capacity from 1982-90 while serving as director of St. Mary’s of the Lake in Lake George, N.Y., from 1982-85. He also continued his education at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 1985. Father Connellan then served as associate at the Paulist novitiate at Mount Paul in Oak Ridge, N.J., before retiring to the Paulist residence in Vero Beach, Fla., in 1997.
Father Connellan is survived by his sisters: Sr. Anne M. Connellan, S.C., Helene O’Neil, Angela Murphy, Mary Dougherty and Elizabeth McGahren; 21 nieces and nephews; and 44 grandnieces and grandnephews. He was predeceased by his brother, William, and sister, Miriam.
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