Assistant Pastor

Lena Thomas, 91, of Eastwick, a Pentecostal bishop who founded four churches in Philadelphia and several in Liberia, died Monday of complications of pneumonia at Taylor Hospital. Born the third eldest of 10 children, she moved with her family in 1923 to South Philadelphia from Casey, S.C. Times were tough, and the young woman dropped out of Overbrook High School when she was 15 to work in a factory to help put food on the table. That same year, she married Julius Thomas, a carpenter, and they raised six children in West Philadelphia.

Concert promoter is not a job usually associated with the priesthood, but for a good cause the Rev. Timothy O'Sullivan accepted the added responsibility. O'Sullivan, assistant pastor at St. Ephrem Roman Catholic Church here and fan of award-winning musician John Michael Talbot, has arranged for the internationally known Catholic songwriter to perform at the church at 7 p.m. Sept. 8. Two years after contacting Talbot's road manager, O'Sullivan is hoping to attract 900 people to the musical and spiritual event.

Msgr. James T. Walmsley, 70, who presided at St. Dorothy Church in Drexel Hill and was remembered for bringing church members the same warm compassion that he had always brought his family, died Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Sturdy and bespectacled, with thinning hair and expressive features, Msgr. Walmsley had served the 2,400 families of St. Dorothy's since 1974. And during nearly 15 years at the Delaware County parish, the monsignor became known as a leader who extended himself.

The Reverend William J. O'Rourke, 84, who was pastor and pastor emeritus of the Holy Saviour Church in Westmont, died Thursday at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden. Father O'Rourke was the pastor at Holy Saviour for six years until he retired in 1969 and became pastor emeritus. Before coming to Holy Saviour, he was pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Camden for 18 years. His first pastorate was at St. Anne Church in Westville. Born in Rumson, N.J., he began his seminary training at St. Charles College in Catonsville, Md. He completed his studies at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained in 1932 at St. Mary's Cathedral in Trenton.

The Rev. William J. Sailer - a former member of the Vatican's famed Sistine Choir, who led the choir at St. John the Evangelist Church for 25 years - died Monday. He was 77 and lived at Little Flower Manor Nursing Home, Darby, Delaware County. Sailer also held what many consider to be the most important muscial post in the Philadelphia archdiocese - director of the choir of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. The choir performs for major functions at Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral and influences musical trends throughout the archdiocese.

An elderly Catholic priest was struck and killed by a car last night while crossing the street to say a Christmas novena at the Northeast Philadelphia church he had served for 22 years. Moments before, the night air had been filled with the sounds of children singing carols around a live nativity scene in front of St. Anselm Roman Catholic Church, 12670 Dunks Ferry Rd. in the Parkwood Manor section. The Rev. Stanislaus A. Kowal, 78, assistant pastor of the church, was crossing Dunks Ferry Road from the rectory at 6:54 p.m. when a speeding southbound car struck him, according to Lt. John Rohrbach of the Accident Investigation Division.

Rev. Robert J. Buckley, 60, retired assistant pastor of several New Jersey churches, most recently at St. John's Church in Paulsboro, died Friday at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden. Father Buckley, who lived in Camden, was born in Philadelphia. After receiving his bachelor of arts degree in art history in 1954 from Niagara University in New York, he earned a master's degree in theology at DeSales Hall School of Theology in Hyattsville, Md. He was ordained in the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in Wilmington, Del. in 1957.

The Rev. Robert L. Votta, 44, who served parishes in low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia and in Nevada, died of brain cancer Sunday at the home of a friend who was caring for him in Las Vegas. Born in West Philadelphia, Father Votta studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained in 1979 by Cardinal John Krol. His earliest assignments were as assistant pastor at St. Bonaventure and at St. Veronica, both in North Philadelphia. "Bobby was always for the underdog," said his mother, Elizabeth Votta.

When he was 8, David M. McGowan set up a makeshift altar in the bedroom of his Wyndmoor home and said Mass for family members. He served Necco wafers for communion. "Since he was little, we knew he was destined to become a priest," said his sister, Mary McGowan. The Rev. David M. McGowan, 40, familiar to TV viewers as the former host of the weekly Roman Catholic television show Real to Reel, died Wednesday at his family's Penndel home. His heart gave out after a long illness, family members said.

The Rev. Kenneth Edward Jones, 68, of Upper Darby, a Baptist minister and assistant pastor at Mount Hebron Baptist Church in South Philadelphia, died of cancer Tuesday at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Mr. Jones, who received his religious training at the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, had served as assistant pastor of Mount Hebron Church since 1981. His brother, the Rev. Calvin L. Jones, is pastor of the church. Mr. Jones served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Langhorne, Bucks County, from 1963 to 1981 and before that was associate minister of Canaan Baptist Church in Germantown.

IF YOU WALK into the barbershop that the Rev. John Teagle owns in Strawberry Mansion, he will proudly show off the postcard that President Obama and the first lady sent him for his 80th birthday. Teagle, now 83, is amazed that the president could find the time to send him a note - after one of his daughters wrote to Washington - when he can't get the city of Philadelphia to find time for a deteriorated sidewalk in front of three vacant lots across from his shop. Teagle, assistant pastor at New Jerusalem Baptist Church, only opens his barbershop four days a week but considers keeping the block clean a full-time job. His shop is on York Street at 30th.

The Rev. Joseph A. Duffey, 87, of Villanova, a retired pastor and former Augustinian provincial, died Friday, Nov. 16, of heart failure at Kindred Hospital Philadelphia-Havertown. From 1981 to 1990, Father Duffey headed the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova. The province sponsors Augustinian ministries on the East Coast, including those at Villanova University, Merrimack College, two high schools, and more than 15 parishes. Augustinians who are members of the province work with laymen and lay women to staff inner-city ministries in the United States, and missions in Japan and Peru.

Rose J. Segars, 89, a beautician and Christian church leader, died of natural causes at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 14. Born in Phoenixville, the youngest of six children, Mrs. Segars was educated in Phoenixville and Darby Borough. She graduated from Phoenixville High School in 1941 and lived most of her life in Darby. She graduated from Apex Beauty School on South Broad Street in Philadelphia as a licensed beautician. She was an entrepreneur, operating Rose's Beauty Box on Summit Street in Darby for a number of years.

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Philadelphia allowed a priest to remain in parish ministry in 1989 after psychiatrists diagnosed him as a pedophile, described him as "a very sick man" and strongly recommended that he never be allowed to work around young people, according to internal church records. One of the doctors who evaluated the priest, the Rev. Peter J. Dunne, "stated quite bluntly that we are sitting on a powder keg," a church official later noted in a memo. Dunne's records emerged Tuesday in the trial of Monsignor William J. Lynn, the former secretary of clergy accused of enabling child-sex abuse by failing to remove priests suspected of sexual misconduct.

Retired Bishop John C. Reiss, 89, eighth bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, died Sunday, March 4, at Morris Hall in Lawrenceville, N.J. He was the only priest born in the Trenton Diocese, which includes Burlington County, to serve as both auxiliary bishop and bishop. "Bishop Reiss was well known for his compassion and personal acts of kindness to so many people in the diocese," said Bishop David M. O'Connell, current leader of the diocese. "He had a great sense of humor and loved good jokes.

PENNSYLVANIA Local Rhodes ties Zachary Crippen, 20, a student at the Air Force Academy from Bala Cynwyd, is among three Pennsylvania-related students selected as Rhodes Scholars for a year's study at the University of Oxford. Crippen plans to study public policy, global governance and diplomacy. Nina Cohen, of Newton, Mass., a 22-year-old Bryn Mawr College senior, plans to study political theory and hopes to become a legal scholar and a federal judge. The University of Pittsburgh's Cory Rodgers, 22, of Somerset, plans to go to medical school.

John F. Hoehn III, 73, of Elkins Park, a Philadelphia pastor and drug counselor, died of complications from lung cancer Sunday, July 24, at the Sacred Heart Home in North Philadelphia. Mr. Hoehn became assistant pastor at the Gospel Temple on 17th Street near the Parkway in 1959, and became its pastor in 1970. He was still pastor in 1975, when the church changed its name to the Living Word Community, and remained in that role until this year, his son Philip said in a phone interview.

Msgr. James J. Foley, 74, pastor emeritus of SS. Peter and Paul Church in East Goshen Township, died Tuesday, June 21, at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby. Msgr. Foley was an assistant pastor at SS. Peter and Paul for six years before being appointed pastor in 1993. He became pastor emeritus in 2009. In the late 1990s, he initiated a study to explore the feasibility of a school for preschool through eighth grade at SS. Peter and Paul. Responses from parishioners, who were sending children to increasingly crowded neighboring Catholic schools, were "supportive and encouraging," he told The Inquirer.

Brent McNamara probably didn't realize it, but his addiction to pornography took root in the 1960s, when, as a second grader, he'd sneak prolonged peeks at the stash of Playboy magazines hidden in a guitar case belonging to his father's buddy. By the 1990s, McNamara's addiction had metastasized into a full-blown, debilitating obsession that eventually cost him his family, his career, and his home - not to mention his ministry. At 15, McNamara says, he received his call to ministry.

IF ANYONE ever doubted the need for the ongoing overhaul of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office, allow me to introduce you to the Rev. Arlene Mills. She's the energetic 76-year-old head of Celestial Word Ministries, a nonprofit community-development corporation at Thompson and Newkirk streets, in Brewerytown. I'd give you the exact address, but that's kind of in dispute. Which is why the Sheriff's Office was going to evict her yesterday. Thankfully, the action was halted.