Clement Healy, OFM

1919 – 2008

Fr. Clement Healy, OFM, was born on July 28, 1919, in New York City. He attended Holy Cross Elementary School in the Bronx, and in 1933, he entered St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, N.Y.

In 1939, he was received into the Province’s novitiate at St. Bonaventure Friary in Paterson, N.J. He professed simple vows the following year and professed solemn vows in 1943. In 1945, he was ordained a priest at the Church of Mt. St. Sepulchre, Washington, D.C.

Fr. Clement’s first 12 years in active ministry were devoted to education: two years at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., one year at Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School in Buffalo, N.Y., and nine years as associate professor of physics at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y.

In 1958, Fr. Clement was assigned as the superior of the Province’s new mission at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Kingston, Jamaica, where he, along with Fr. Paul Walsh, OFM, established Our Lady of the Angels Prep School. In 1973, he was briefly assigned to ministry at St. Francis Chapel in Colonie, N.Y.

He returned to Kingston in 1974 as assistant pastor until he was assigned associate at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, in 1977. From 1979 until 1987, Fr. Clement returned to St. Francis Chapel, serving as its director. For the next seven years, he served as associate at St. Francis Chapel in Providence, R.I.

Fr. Clem’s Franciscan life was a shining commitment to both the ministry of education and to his many years in pastoral ministry. He genuinely exemplified the challenge of St. Francis, “To heal wounds, to unite what is falling apart and to bring home those who have lost their way.”

In 1994, he retired to St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg, Fla. Due to declining health, he transferred to Holy Name Friary, Ringwood, N.J., in January 2002.

Fr. Clem died Sept. 16, 2008, at Holy Name Friary. He was 89 years old, a professed friar for 68 years and a priest for 63 years.