Msgr. M. Long, Church Pastor In Sellersville

By Herb Drill, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Posted: April 07, 1999

Msgr. Michael John Joseph Long, 69, pastor of St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Sellersville, died Thursday of an aortic aneurysm at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township.

He had been pastor since January 1983, during which time the parish grew from 400 families to 2,000.

Earlier, he was parochial vicar at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Shenandoah, Pa.; Good Shepherd Church in Philadelphia and Our Lady of Fatima Church in Secane, Delaware County. He also taught at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia, Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Merion.

Msgr. Long, a native of Bethlehem, graduated from Central Catholic High School in Allentown and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He earned a master's degree in philosophy from St. Charles and a master's in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

He was ordained on May 8, 1954, and was appointed an honorary prelate by Pope John Paul II on May 29, 1991.

From 1965 to 1983, he was a member of the seminary faculty, teaching Greek, Latin, Scripture and theology. He also was chairman of the seminary's classical language department.

He is survived by sisters, Anne Wolfe and Catherine Hussar; brothers, William and Richard P.; and more than 100 nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

A viewing will be held after 9 a.m. today at St. Agnes Church, 445 N. Main St., and Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua will say a Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Burial will be in the adjacent church cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, 1000 E. Wynnewood Rd., Wynnewood, Pa. 19096.

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