Alan P Sullivan, OFM

1926 – 2008

Fr. Alan P. Sullivan, OFM, was born on June 15, 1926, in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1945, he was accepted into St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y.

He was received into the Province’s novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary, Paterson, N.J., in 1950 and professed first vows there the following year. Fr. Alan was solemnly professed at Christ the King Seminary, Allegany, N.Y., in 1954. In 1956, he was ordained a priest at Mount St. Sepulchre Monastery, Washington, D.C.

Following a year of pastoral studies at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston, Fr. Alan’s first assignment was parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in East Rutherford, N.J. In 1960, he entered the U.S. Navy as a chaplain, serving until 1988 in a wide variety of assignments, achieving the rank of Captain.

From 1988 to 1993, Fr. Alan was on the pastoral staff of St. Anthony Shrine. He then served three years as vocation director of Holy Name Province. He then resumed his long ministry to the men and women of the armed services as contract chaplain at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego, Calif.

His 28-year military career was marked by his unstinting commitment to duty, his compassion and encouragement to those risking life and limb in defense of the countr, and his remarkable ability to work with both officers and enlisted men.

Due to declining health, Fr. Alan transferred to St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J., in October 2008. The following week, he moved again to Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, N.J.

He died there on Nov. 3, 2008. Fr. Alan was 82 years old, a professed friar for 57 years and a priest for 52 years.