Editorial

Two Abundantly Gifted, Faithful Priests

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The Church recently lost two innovative, engaging priests with the deaths in the New York Archdiocese of Msgr. William B. O’Brien and Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete.

Their ministries—which brought each of them national recognition— could not have been more different. But each in his own way reflected a grounding in and love for the teachings of the Catholic Church, and its mission to meet the people of God where they are.

Msgr. O’Brien, a onetime Bronx pastor who died Oct. 19 at age 90, was a founder and the public face of Daytop Village, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program that expanded throughout New York and in five other states and became a worldwide model for other programs.

With determination and faith, Msgr. O’Brien took it upon himself to confront the intractable problems of the hard-core addicts and ex-convicts that came Daytop’s way—refusing, as so many others did, to give up on them. Countless lives, and souls, were saved through his efforts.

Msgr. Albacete, a Puerto Rico-born former aerospace researcher who died Oct. 24 at age 73, was a true intellectual who was unafraid—indeed, eager—to articulate Church teachings in forums where they were likely to come under fire. Witty and eloquent, he was an author, a theologian and an adviser to popes, and one who relished his chosen role of defining the role of faith in a science-based culture.

His articles about religion appeared in such staunchly secular publications as The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, and he was a consultant on PBS “Frontline” documentaries on the Church. In 2008, noted atheist Christopher Hitchens chose to go opposite Msgr. Albacete in a televised debate on the topic “Does science make belief in God obsolete?”

Despite their accomplishments, however, neither of these priests neglected their service to the Catholic faithful.

Msgr. O’Brien, who was ordained a priest of the archdiocese, began his ministry as a parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Even while founding and leading Daytop, he served the parishioners of St. Brendan’s in the Bronx, where he spent many years in residence. At the time of his death, he was a senior priest in residence at St. Pius X in Scarsdale.

Msgr. Albacete was a priest of the Washington Archdiocese, but had close ties to New York. He served as an adviser to the Manhattan-based Northeast Hispanic Catholic Center and taught at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, at the invitation of Cardinal John J. O’Connor. In his last decade, he became spiritual adviser to the U.S. branch of the lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, a relationship he described as one of the most important in his life.

We are saddened that the Church and society have lost these faithful and gifted priests. But we know they are now at peace, and we’re grateful for the many blessings they bestowed during their priestly service.