BUTLER, N.J. — A Mass of Christian Burial was offered Nov. 30 at St. Anthony Church for Anthony Moore, OFM, who died Nov. 23 at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, N.Y. He was 85 years old, a professed friar for 64 years and a priest for 59.
Provincial Vicar Dominic Monti, OFM, was principal celebrant and Leon Ristuccia, OFM, preached the homily. Burial followed at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Butler.
Early Years
Anthony was born Sept. 3, 1925, in Flushing, N.Y. The child of Patrick and Blanche Moore, was baptized William Gerard. William studied at St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y., from 1941 to 1945.
In August 1945, he entered the Holy Name Province novitiate at St. Bonaventure Church, Paterson, N.J., receiving the name Anthony. He professed first vows there the following year. Anthony professed final vows at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C., in 1949 and was ordained a priest in 1951 at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington.
Ministry
Anthony’s first assignment was instructor of sociology at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., in 1952. However, while a students in Washington, he became interested in the Province’s new mission field in Japan, and so volunteered for that effort in 1953. After eight years in the parishes of Gumma Ken, he returned to the United States in 1961 and resumed teaching sociology at Siena. In 1965, Anthony began ministering in the parish ministries of the Province, to which he devoted himself for the remainder of his life, serving successively as pastor of St. Stephen’s Parish, Croghan, N.Y.; St. Anthony of Padua, Yulan, N.Y., and Sacred Heart mission church, Pond Eddy, N.Y.; St. Mary’s, Americas, Ga.; Holy Cross, Callicoon, N.Y.; St. Mary’s, Obernburg; St. Joseph, Winsted, Conn. He also served as chaplain, from 1987 to 1990 at The Family School in Obernburg. Since 2002, he had been based in Yulan.
Anthony is survived by his sister, Sr. Mary Felicia, RGS, a member of the Good Shepherd Sisters, to whom condolences may be sent at 406 Hemingway Street, Marlborough MA 01752-6751, and his brother Fr. Donald J. Moore, S.J., who resides at Loyola Hall Residence, Fordham University, Bronx NY 10458-9993.
Memorial contributions can be made to: The Franciscans — St. Anthony’s Guild, 4 Jersey Street, East Rutherford NJ 07073-1012.