Father Joseph Kukura remembered for work on critical issues
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Father Joseph Kukura remembered for work on critical issues
Lois Rogers
A priest of the Newark Archdiocese for 43 years, and president of the Princeton-based Catholic Health Care Partnership of New Jersey at the time of his death, Father Kukura was remembered by those who knew and worked with him as a compelling advocate for Catholic social teaching.
His insights, they said, were often reflected in the positions taken by New Jersey’s Catholic bishops on such challenging bioethical issues as embryonic stem cell research, genetic mutations and end-of-life concerns.
Bishop John M. Smith, one of many clergy and laity who maintained a decades long friendship with Father Kukura, first met him as a seminarian, 45 years ago. Bishop Smith described the late priest as a personal friend for whom he has always had the greatest respect.
Father Kukura, he said, was equally at home in the parish community working with young people and in ecclesiastical and legislative circles where he worked tirelessly to build consensus on the critical moral and ethical issues of the day.
“Father Kukura was very helpful to the bishops of New Jersey. We would often look to him for his guidance on many crucial medical ethics questions,” said Bishop Smith, who credited Father Kukura’s decade of work with CHCP as being invaluable in gaining understanding of those complex issues.
The son of the late Anna and Joseph Kukura, Bloomfield, Father Kukura was a graduate of St. Peter’s Prep High School, Jersey City, and attended Seton Hall University and the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Ordained in 1967, as a young priest, he served at Corpus Christie Church, Hasbrouck Heights where he focused on youth and family ministry. He also served as a member of the team ministry at St. Joseph Church, Oradell.
He went on to study moral theology at Catholic University, Washington and joined the faculty at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, where he taught Christian ethics for 15 years. Subsequently, Father Kukura served 10 years as vice president for pastoral services at the Catholic Health Association, a national organization of Catholic hospitals headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.
Father Kukura returned to New Jersey in 1994 and continued his service in the medical field through CHCP. He also served various parishes as a weekend associate including St. Pio of Pietrelcina Parish, Lavallette, where he was remembered this week as as “caring, forthright and courageous,” by long-time friend, Msgr. Leonard F. Troiano.
Msgr. Troiano said Father Kukura would be missed on many levels: “He was very good at presenting life and ethical issues to parishioners here in a way that was clear and understandable,” Msgr. Troiano said.
Father Kukura, who had a decades-long relationship with parishioners along the barrier island because he maintained a family home there, also displayed a “deep and caring connection” to ill members of the parish whom he often visited, Msgr. Troiano said.
“He was very forthright and courageous in talking about his own battle with cancer and showed great faith not only in his own doctors, but in God,” Msgr. Troiano said. “He was very good about guiding people who were seriously ill and visiting shut ins. His death has really had a great impact here. He is going to be greatly missed.”
Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference with whom Father Kukura worked on many sensitive issues, and his immediate predecessor, William Bolan Jr., remembered him with the highest regard.
“He cannot be replaced,” said Brannigan. “He had such unique experience. He was a theologian who spent the vast majority of his priesthood working in hospitals here and on a national level. He was a font of information, a walking encyclopedia on Catholic healthcare. He was the first person I would call if I had a question.”
Brannigan and Bolan said they had known Kukura since their college days at Seton Hall. They talked about his keen wit, his engaging manner and his compassionate sensibility.
“He was so gifted with theological common sense,” Bolan said.
“He was a breath of fresh air and a great blessing. He did a great job representing New Jersey’s Catholic hospitals. He was excellent in testifying before the legislature and was extremely accessible to the Catholic and secular media…he had a good ability to explain complicated issues in ways they could understand.”
That ability translated well to his counterparts at the New Jersey Hospital Association based in the same Princeton office building where CHCP NJ is located.
Betsy Ryan, president of the NJHA, talked about his “innate gift of connecting, almost instantaneously” to people he met. “He had the ability to have an impact on the lives of people in a short time. He would sit down and have breakfast with young people and talk with them about life issues that had real meaning to them,” Ryan said. “I know he touched people directly.”[[In-content Ad]]
Related Stories
Sunday, December 14, 2025
250 X 250 AD
E-Editions
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
A priest of the Newark Archdiocese for 43 years, and president of the Princeton-based Catholic Health Care Partnership of New Jersey at the time of his death, Father Kukura was remembered by those who knew and worked with him as a compelling advocate for Catholic social teaching.
His insights, they said, were often reflected in the positions taken by New Jersey’s Catholic bishops on such challenging bioethical issues as embryonic stem cell research, genetic mutations and end-of-life concerns.
Bishop John M. Smith, one of many clergy and laity who maintained a decades long friendship with Father Kukura, first met him as a seminarian, 45 years ago. Bishop Smith described the late priest as a personal friend for whom he has always had the greatest respect.
Father Kukura, he said, was equally at home in the parish community working with young people and in ecclesiastical and legislative circles where he worked tirelessly to build consensus on the critical moral and ethical issues of the day.
“Father Kukura was very helpful to the bishops of New Jersey. We would often look to him for his guidance on many crucial medical ethics questions,” said Bishop Smith, who credited Father Kukura’s decade of work with CHCP as being invaluable in gaining understanding of those complex issues.
The son of the late Anna and Joseph Kukura, Bloomfield, Father Kukura was a graduate of St. Peter’s Prep High School, Jersey City, and attended Seton Hall University and the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Ordained in 1967, as a young priest, he served at Corpus Christie Church, Hasbrouck Heights where he focused on youth and family ministry. He also served as a member of the team ministry at St. Joseph Church, Oradell.
He went on to study moral theology at Catholic University, Washington and joined the faculty at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, where he taught Christian ethics for 15 years. Subsequently, Father Kukura served 10 years as vice president for pastoral services at the Catholic Health Association, a national organization of Catholic hospitals headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.
Father Kukura returned to New Jersey in 1994 and continued his service in the medical field through CHCP. He also served various parishes as a weekend associate including St. Pio of Pietrelcina Parish, Lavallette, where he was remembered this week as as “caring, forthright and courageous,” by long-time friend, Msgr. Leonard F. Troiano.
Msgr. Troiano said Father Kukura would be missed on many levels: “He was very good at presenting life and ethical issues to parishioners here in a way that was clear and understandable,” Msgr. Troiano said.
Father Kukura, who had a decades-long relationship with parishioners along the barrier island because he maintained a family home there, also displayed a “deep and caring connection” to ill members of the parish whom he often visited, Msgr. Troiano said.
“He was very forthright and courageous in talking about his own battle with cancer and showed great faith not only in his own doctors, but in God,” Msgr. Troiano said. “He was very good about guiding people who were seriously ill and visiting shut ins. His death has really had a great impact here. He is going to be greatly missed.”
Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference with whom Father Kukura worked on many sensitive issues, and his immediate predecessor, William Bolan Jr., remembered him with the highest regard.
“He cannot be replaced,” said Brannigan. “He had such unique experience. He was a theologian who spent the vast majority of his priesthood working in hospitals here and on a national level. He was a font of information, a walking encyclopedia on Catholic healthcare. He was the first person I would call if I had a question.”
Brannigan and Bolan said they had known Kukura since their college days at Seton Hall. They talked about his keen wit, his engaging manner and his compassionate sensibility.
“He was so gifted with theological common sense,” Bolan said.
“He was a breath of fresh air and a great blessing. He did a great job representing New Jersey’s Catholic hospitals. He was excellent in testifying before the legislature and was extremely accessible to the Catholic and secular media…he had a good ability to explain complicated issues in ways they could understand.”
That ability translated well to his counterparts at the New Jersey Hospital Association based in the same Princeton office building where CHCP NJ is located.
Betsy Ryan, president of the NJHA, talked about his “innate gift of connecting, almost instantaneously” to people he met. “He had the ability to have an impact on the lives of people in a short time. He would sit down and have breakfast with young people and talk with them about life issues that had real meaning to them,” Ryan said. “I know he touched people directly.”[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092