By Mary Stadnyk | News Editor

St. James Church, Pennington, drew hundreds of family members, clergy and parishioners who came out to commemorate the life of the man they knew and loved as “Father Jim.”

Father James McConnell, pastor of St. James Parish from 1977-1999, died Sept. 21 at age 86. His funeral Mass was celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., Sept. 28, with Father McConnell’s longtime friend, Msgr. Vincent Gartland, pastor of St. Ann Parish, Lawrenceville, serving as homilist.

“It’s good for us to be here today in this house that Jim built” and to celebrate his life and love, said Msgr. Gartland, as he referred to the tremendous growth that the parish experienced under Father McConnell’s pastorate and how that growth necessitated in the parish having to construct a new church building to accommodate the expanding faith community.

A priest of the diocese for 58 years, Father McConnell was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, N.Y.  He served in the U.S. Navy as an aviation radioman prior to entering Christ the King Seminary, St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to pursue studies for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest June 12, 1954, in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, by Bishop George W. Ahr.

As associate pastor he served in Christ the King Parish, Manville; St. Dorothea Parish, Eatontown, and Immaculate Conception Parish, Somerville. During his time in Somerville, he also served as Catholic Relief Services director for Somerset County.

In 1970, Father McConnell was appointed temporary administrator of St. Mary Parish, South Amboy, and became pastor later that year. After leading the faith community of St. Mary for more than six years, he resigned as pastor in 1977 to attend the spring session of the Notre Dame Institute for Clergy Education.

Father McConnell returned to the Diocese of Trenton in 1977, and was named temporary administrator of St. Raphael Parish, Hamilton. A few weeks later, he was named pastor of St. James Parish, Pennington, a position he would come to hold for the next 22 years.

In addition to his parish assignments, Father McConnell served many terms on the Council of Priests and was chairperson for two terms. He was the chairman of the committee to establish the Diocesan Pastoral Council. He served as an assistant to the priest personnel director; was a member of the Diocesan Board of Consultors; served on the Diocesan Building Commission and was appointed to the New Jersey Catholic Conference Task Force on Process of Conciliation.

After his retirement in August, 1999, Father McConnell was appointed liaison to retired priests of the diocese and a member of the Council of Priests. Throughout his priesthood, he was a champion of social ministries and inspired many people to volunteer with various Trenton-based service agencies such as Mount Carmel Guild, Martin House, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and Loaves and Fishes.

“Father McConnell had such a great love for this parish and took such great pride in this parish church,” said Bishop O’Connell. “Every chance he had he would talk about St. James.”

Msgr. Gartland spoke of how Father McConnell embraced the norms of the Second Vatican Council as well as his style of pastoral leadership that served as a model for him as well as many other priests of the diocese.

Msgr. Gartland’s first glimpse of how Father McConnell led a parish occurred in 1974 in St. Mary Parish, South Amboy. At the time, Msgr. Gartland was not yet a priest, but a member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and serving in the ministry of secondary education.

“I had this wild idea of moving into a parish with a group of college students and forming a community and doing work that combined youth ministry and high school religious education for the parish,” recalled Msgr. Gartland. Though it was tentative at how well the young brother’s idea would be received by parish pastors when he arrived in St. Mary Parish, “Jim welcomed us and our experimental ministry with open arms … and that began my relationship with a man who had a profound effect on my life and my priesthood.”

“Without that influence, I would not be here as a priest today,” said Msgr. Gartland. “He showed me something about priesthood that was real and holy.”

Father Gene Vavrick, pastor of St. Anselm Parish, Wayside, recalled serving his transitional diaconate year assignment in St. James Parish and how inspired he was “by Father Jim’s commitment” to the Second Vatican Council and the emphasis the council placed “on the ministry of all the baptized.”

“He constantly taught us that Baptism is the source of ministry and ordination is about being a servant,” said Father Vavrick.

Father Vavrick smiled when he said he regarded Father McConnell as a priestly role model.

“Absolutely,” said Father Vavrick. “His informal manner and his faithful commitment to being a ‘simple country pastor’ showed me over and over again that being a pastor in today’s parish is more about being present, or as the kids would say, ‘hanging out’ where the people are.”

“Father Jim taught me important lessons about the dangers of clericalism and how the most important thing about being a priest was being with the people, not different from the people,” said Father Vavrick.

The stories that surfaced in how Father McConnell carried out his priestly ministry among his flock were lovingly shared by many.

Maureen Fitzsimmons, who serves as the victims’ assistance coordinator for the diocese, recalled when Father McConnell unexpectedly helped her family to celebrate her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

Fitzsimmons’ family, who were members of St. Mary Parish, South Amboy, at the time, had originally invited a priest, who was a longtime family friend from upstate New York, to celebrate a Mass in her parents’ home. But a February blizzard left the priest unable to travel. Finding herself in a predicament, Fitzsimmons contacted St. Mary Parish and asked the new pastor, Father McConnell, if, “weather permitting,” some recognition of her parents’ anniversary could be made during the parish Mass that weekend.

 At first, Father Jim said no, but then he added, “I have a better idea. Let me come to your home and celebrate Mass with your family just as you had planned,” explained Fitzsimmons.

“That was the kind of priest Father Jim was,” said Fitzsimmons.

Deacon Patrick Brannigan recounted the compassion that Father McConnell showed to his family when his newborn granddaughter, Katie, was diagnosed with spina bifida and in a coma for almost three months.

“Without telling my wife, Mary Ann, and me, Father Jim reached out to our daughter and son-in-law, Cara and Brian, who were living in Massachusetts and helped them through those difficult days,” said Deacon Brannigan. “Mary Ann and I didn’t know about Father Jim’s help until Cara and Brian told us many months later.”

 “Father Jim was a compassionate person who knew when others were hurting and in his quiet way, he was there for them,” said Deacon Brannigan.

“Everyone he met saw and knew him as a good man and a very good priest,” Deacon Brannigan continued. “When you met Father Jim, there were no pretensions – things were easy – you found peace – you found Christ in a humble country priest.”

At the end of the funeral Mass and before being taken to his final resting place in Pennington Cemetery, Father McConnell’s sister, Sister of St. Joseph Mary McConnell, offered heartfelt words of gratitude to the St. James community.

“Jim knew God’s dream for him was to be was a parish priest,” said Sister Mary, who resides in Brentwood, Long Island.

“Jim loved his priesthood, he loved the people he served and they loved him. They loved him during life and they loved him into eternal life,” Sister Mary said. “Jim wanted his people to know that they were God’s beloved and that it’s the people of God who make up the Church – and that they are the Church at its best.”