Heart of a Missionary
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Father William T. McLaughlin, who was most known for his ministry among the poor in Trenton and Asbury Park, died Oct. 19 in his native Erie, Pa. He was 70.
Funeral services for Father McLaughlin, who gave 23 years of service to Martin House, an inner-city Trenton Diocesan agency and, for the past eight years was pastor of Holy Spirit and St. Peter Claver Parishes, Asbury Park, were held in the chapel of St. Mary Home, Erie, Oct. 22. Bishop Donald Trautmann was principal celebrant of a Mass of Christian Burial. Father McLaughlin was laid to rest in the Priest Circle at Calvary Cemetery.
A memorial Mass for Father McLaughlin will be celebrated in Holy Spirit Church Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
Father McLaughlin was born Jan. 16, 1941 in Erie. He graduated from Erie Technical High School in 1959 and Gannon University.
Following his graduation from Gannon, he began on his journey to the priesthood and joined the Consolata Society for Foreign Missions. He completed his undergraduate studies in Holy Apostles Seminary, Cromwell, Conn., where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1963. He spent his novitiate years in Italy and returned to the United States to complete his studies for the priesthood in The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., from which he graduated with a master’s degree in theology in 1970. He was ordained a priest for the Consolata Missionary Fathers Jan. 30, 1970 in Blessed Sacrament Church, Erie.
Following his ordination, Father McLaughlin was assigned to serve in Somerset, which at the time was part of the Trenton Diocese, where he worked with Msgr. James P. McManimon, diocesan vocation director, and Msgr. Richard Behl, diocesan mission director. The three priests developed a new mission program for Catholic school students; the program today is known as Mission Reach-Out.
In 1974, Father McLaughlin accepted a missionary assignment to Argentina where he spent three years living among the poor in an area near Paraguay. While in Argentina, Father McLaughlin would gather with people of the parish in a small barrio chapel where he would teach English and minister to their needs.
Upon his return to the United States, he was assigned to serve in the Consolata Mission Home, Somerset, N.J., where he was the provincial, treasurer and vice superior. In 1979, he was named temporary administrator of St. Ann Parish, Hampton, and that same year he was appointed to Martin House, an inner-city Trenton Diocesan ministry where he worked tirelessly to establish affordable housing in the city and vocational and educational opportunities for youth.
Father McLaughlin remained at Martin House until 2003 when he was named administrator of Holy Spirit Parish, Asbury Park. The following year, Father McLaughlin was named pastor of Holy Spirit and St. Peter Claver Parish, where he remained until this year.
Life Well Lived
Countless memories were shared about the life and legacy of Father McLaughlin and his 30 years of devoted priestly service in the Diocese of Trenton. Two key sentiments that stood out were that he was a man with a heart for helping the poor and downtrodden and he had an uncanny knack and a deep desire to bring about the Kingdom of God in the communities he served.
“Suddenly, our flock has lost its beloved shepherd,” stated Francis D’Alessandro of Holy Spirit Parish.
“The people of Asbury Park who must struggle every day to make a better life for themselves and their children have lost their best friend and advocate,” said D’Alessandro. “Father Bill had imbued the combined parishes with the same sense of renewal which inspired Pope John XXIII to open the windows of the universal Church. Father Bill may have come to Asbury Park after reluctantly leaving the programs he created for the working poor in Trenton, but once he did, he literally and figuratively opened the doors of that beautiful edifice on Second Avenue to all.”
Along with D’Alessandro, parishioners including Helen Jackson and Mark Warren remarked on the major physical and spiritual transitions that Father McLaughlin oversaw during his eight years in Asbury Park. One of Father McLaughlin’s biggest challenges was bringing four distinct worshiping communities together under one roof. He was named pastor of Holy Spirit, a mixed ethnic community in 2003, and the following year, he also became pastor of St. Peter Claver, a parish with a predominantly African-American population. Then when the facility that housed Our Lady of Providence, Neptune, with its mostly Spanish population, was destined to close, he invited that community to worship in Holy Spirit Church. Holy Spirit also became the worship site for the Haitian Catholic community of the Asbury Park and Neptune areas.
“He accepted us and he made us comfortable,” said Warren, who was originally a member of St. Peter Claver Parish.
Under Father McLaughlin’s leadership, “the transition was pretty seamless. He was quite proud to have a community of all races and nationalities come together. He saw the parish as serving as a good model of how a Catholic Church should look in the United States and the world for that matter. He was proud to see people working together and worshiping together," said Warren.
“Father Bill was always concerned about bringing all four faith communities together,” added Jackson, who also came to Holy Spirit from St. Peter Claver and worked with Father McLaughlin on many parish activities, especially those that were youth related.
“In each of his weekly homilies he would always instill in us and remind us that the best way to carry out the Gospel teachings and serve the Lord was to come together and work together as one,” Jackson said.
Missionary Heart
Warren and Father Brian McCormick, a long-time friend and Martin House colleague of Father McLaughlin, both reflected on how Father McLaughlin had always made serving the poor a priority in his various assignments. One population that Father McLaughlin was able to provide assistance to in both Trenton and Asbury Park was young men in troubled situations and high school drop-outs.
Father McLaughlin arrived to Martin House 10 years after he was ordained a priest with the Consolata fathers “and he came here because he felt he could do more in terms of mission work, reaching out to the poor and making a difference in their lives,” said Father McCormick, founder of Martin House Family of Programs.
Though Father McLaughlin was active in various Martin House efforts including the clothing store, housing projects, overseeing the summer camp and Christmas Sharing, his major accomplishment was developing the Young Adult Men of Trenton Initiative, a program of physical labor, mental discipline and spiritual motivation designed for 17-to-25 year-old men.
While the young men had an opportunity to learn carpentry, electrical work and computer skills, however, Father McLaughlin also emphasized the importance of them pursuing their education. At the very least, he would encourage them to obtain their general equivalency diplomas (GED) but usually set the standard for them to on to college.
“He was super-duper,” Father McCormick said of Father McLaughlin. “He was a very warm and patient man.”
Warren shared how meaningful it was for Father McLaughlin to introduce a rehabilitative program for young men of the Neptune and Asbury Park areas when he became pastor of Holy Spirit Parish.
“There was one time when I felt that a participant should be removed because he was disruptive in class. And when I expressed my concern to Father Bill, he responded by saying that as long as we have this student in the class, he is off the street and is not in trouble,” Warren recalled
“That was the kind of heart Father Bill had,” Warren said. “He was of the mindset that you don’t send kids back into an environment where they can encounter trouble. “
“Father Bill was a man of compassion and I learned what it means to have compassion from him,” said Warren.
Father McLaughlin is survived by two brothers, Patrick (Diane) of Erie and Anthony (Barbara) of Puyallup, Wash.; two sisters, Julie and Melanie (Paul) Forquer of Canton, Ohio, and 10 nieces and nephews.
Memorial donations may be sent Holy Spirit Parish, 705 Second Ave., Asbury Park, N.J. 07712.
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Father William T. McLaughlin, who was most known for his ministry among the poor in Trenton and Asbury Park, died Oct. 19 in his native Erie, Pa. He was 70.
Funeral services for Father McLaughlin, who gave 23 years of service to Martin House, an inner-city Trenton Diocesan agency and, for the past eight years was pastor of Holy Spirit and St. Peter Claver Parishes, Asbury Park, were held in the chapel of St. Mary Home, Erie, Oct. 22. Bishop Donald Trautmann was principal celebrant of a Mass of Christian Burial. Father McLaughlin was laid to rest in the Priest Circle at Calvary Cemetery.
A memorial Mass for Father McLaughlin will be celebrated in Holy Spirit Church Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
Father McLaughlin was born Jan. 16, 1941 in Erie. He graduated from Erie Technical High School in 1959 and Gannon University.
Following his graduation from Gannon, he began on his journey to the priesthood and joined the Consolata Society for Foreign Missions. He completed his undergraduate studies in Holy Apostles Seminary, Cromwell, Conn., where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1963. He spent his novitiate years in Italy and returned to the United States to complete his studies for the priesthood in The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., from which he graduated with a master’s degree in theology in 1970. He was ordained a priest for the Consolata Missionary Fathers Jan. 30, 1970 in Blessed Sacrament Church, Erie.
Following his ordination, Father McLaughlin was assigned to serve in Somerset, which at the time was part of the Trenton Diocese, where he worked with Msgr. James P. McManimon, diocesan vocation director, and Msgr. Richard Behl, diocesan mission director. The three priests developed a new mission program for Catholic school students; the program today is known as Mission Reach-Out.
In 1974, Father McLaughlin accepted a missionary assignment to Argentina where he spent three years living among the poor in an area near Paraguay. While in Argentina, Father McLaughlin would gather with people of the parish in a small barrio chapel where he would teach English and minister to their needs.
Upon his return to the United States, he was assigned to serve in the Consolata Mission Home, Somerset, N.J., where he was the provincial, treasurer and vice superior. In 1979, he was named temporary administrator of St. Ann Parish, Hampton, and that same year he was appointed to Martin House, an inner-city Trenton Diocesan ministry where he worked tirelessly to establish affordable housing in the city and vocational and educational opportunities for youth.
Father McLaughlin remained at Martin House until 2003 when he was named administrator of Holy Spirit Parish, Asbury Park. The following year, Father McLaughlin was named pastor of Holy Spirit and St. Peter Claver Parish, where he remained until this year.
Life Well Lived
Countless memories were shared about the life and legacy of Father McLaughlin and his 30 years of devoted priestly service in the Diocese of Trenton. Two key sentiments that stood out were that he was a man with a heart for helping the poor and downtrodden and he had an uncanny knack and a deep desire to bring about the Kingdom of God in the communities he served.
“Suddenly, our flock has lost its beloved shepherd,” stated Francis D’Alessandro of Holy Spirit Parish.
“The people of Asbury Park who must struggle every day to make a better life for themselves and their children have lost their best friend and advocate,” said D’Alessandro. “Father Bill had imbued the combined parishes with the same sense of renewal which inspired Pope John XXIII to open the windows of the universal Church. Father Bill may have come to Asbury Park after reluctantly leaving the programs he created for the working poor in Trenton, but once he did, he literally and figuratively opened the doors of that beautiful edifice on Second Avenue to all.”
Along with D’Alessandro, parishioners including Helen Jackson and Mark Warren remarked on the major physical and spiritual transitions that Father McLaughlin oversaw during his eight years in Asbury Park. One of Father McLaughlin’s biggest challenges was bringing four distinct worshiping communities together under one roof. He was named pastor of Holy Spirit, a mixed ethnic community in 2003, and the following year, he also became pastor of St. Peter Claver, a parish with a predominantly African-American population. Then when the facility that housed Our Lady of Providence, Neptune, with its mostly Spanish population, was destined to close, he invited that community to worship in Holy Spirit Church. Holy Spirit also became the worship site for the Haitian Catholic community of the Asbury Park and Neptune areas.
“He accepted us and he made us comfortable,” said Warren, who was originally a member of St. Peter Claver Parish.
Under Father McLaughlin’s leadership, “the transition was pretty seamless. He was quite proud to have a community of all races and nationalities come together. He saw the parish as serving as a good model of how a Catholic Church should look in the United States and the world for that matter. He was proud to see people working together and worshiping together," said Warren.
“Father Bill was always concerned about bringing all four faith communities together,” added Jackson, who also came to Holy Spirit from St. Peter Claver and worked with Father McLaughlin on many parish activities, especially those that were youth related.
“In each of his weekly homilies he would always instill in us and remind us that the best way to carry out the Gospel teachings and serve the Lord was to come together and work together as one,” Jackson said.
Missionary Heart
Warren and Father Brian McCormick, a long-time friend and Martin House colleague of Father McLaughlin, both reflected on how Father McLaughlin had always made serving the poor a priority in his various assignments. One population that Father McLaughlin was able to provide assistance to in both Trenton and Asbury Park was young men in troubled situations and high school drop-outs.
Father McLaughlin arrived to Martin House 10 years after he was ordained a priest with the Consolata fathers “and he came here because he felt he could do more in terms of mission work, reaching out to the poor and making a difference in their lives,” said Father McCormick, founder of Martin House Family of Programs.
Though Father McLaughlin was active in various Martin House efforts including the clothing store, housing projects, overseeing the summer camp and Christmas Sharing, his major accomplishment was developing the Young Adult Men of Trenton Initiative, a program of physical labor, mental discipline and spiritual motivation designed for 17-to-25 year-old men.
While the young men had an opportunity to learn carpentry, electrical work and computer skills, however, Father McLaughlin also emphasized the importance of them pursuing their education. At the very least, he would encourage them to obtain their general equivalency diplomas (GED) but usually set the standard for them to on to college.
“He was super-duper,” Father McCormick said of Father McLaughlin. “He was a very warm and patient man.”
Warren shared how meaningful it was for Father McLaughlin to introduce a rehabilitative program for young men of the Neptune and Asbury Park areas when he became pastor of Holy Spirit Parish.
“There was one time when I felt that a participant should be removed because he was disruptive in class. And when I expressed my concern to Father Bill, he responded by saying that as long as we have this student in the class, he is off the street and is not in trouble,” Warren recalled
“That was the kind of heart Father Bill had,” Warren said. “He was of the mindset that you don’t send kids back into an environment where they can encounter trouble. “
“Father Bill was a man of compassion and I learned what it means to have compassion from him,” said Warren.
Father McLaughlin is survived by two brothers, Patrick (Diane) of Erie and Anthony (Barbara) of Puyallup, Wash.; two sisters, Julie and Melanie (Paul) Forquer of Canton, Ohio, and 10 nieces and nephews.
Memorial donations may be sent Holy Spirit Parish, 705 Second Ave., Asbury Park, N.J. 07712.