Mourning the Deaths of Franciscans

HNP Communications Franciscan World

The Provincial Administration has learned of the recent passing of two friars and a Franciscan sister.

Fr. Finian McGinn, OFM, former provincial minister of St. Barbara Province, died on July 25 in Vista, California. He was 84 years old. An article in the Fresno Bee hailed Fr. Finian for “using his language skills to teach Hmong and Spanish at Fresno Unified and Fresno State, marching for farmworker rights, and reaching countless others with his multilingual Masses.” In 2010, in Fresno, which became his home away from home because he spent more than 25 years of ministry in that city, 500 people attended a banquet in celebration of the popular friar’s 50th anniversary of ordination. Finian, who was 66 years professed and 59 years ordained, had served as General Councilor of the Order of Friars Minor. A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated on Aug. 5 at Old Mission Santa Barbara.

Fr. Philip Pavich, OFM, a former member of Sacred Heart Province, died in Iowa on July 29 at the age of 89. He was a member of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land at the time of his passing. Ordained in 1957, he held several positions in Sacred Heart including assistant novice master, instructor of Christian Doctrine, assistant pastor and master of clerics. While with the Custody of the Holy Land, he served in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Tiberias. Philip spoke English, Croatian, Italian, German and Hebrew. He transferred to the Croatian Franciscan Custody, during which he served in Medjugorje and the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. His funeral Mass was held on Aug. 3 in Chicago, Illinois.

Sr. Anne Caldwell, OSF, 75, died on July 5 at the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany in Allegany, N.Y. She was a professed member of the Franciscan religious order of sisters for more than 50 years. Her funeral Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse on July 13, and she was laid to rest at St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Allegany.

Editor’s note: Each month, HNP Today publishes news of the deaths of Franciscan brothers, priests, and sisters. Information should be emailed to the HNP Communications Office. Announcements about deaths in the United States can also be found on the US Franciscans website.

 – Compiled by Jocelyn Thomas

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