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Father James E. Burke, who served for 15 years as pastor of Sacred Heart parish on Staten Island, died Oct. 4. He was 87.
Father Burke was assigned to Sacred Heart from 1988 to 2003.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Thursday, Oct. 10, at 11 a.m. in the chapel of the John Cardinal O’Connor Pavilion in the Bronx. Cardinal Dolan will celebrate the Mass, and Father Louis Jerome, pastor of St. Charles parish on Staten Island, will deliver the homily.
Father Jerome began working with Father Burke at Sacred Heart on Sept. 8, 2001, serving as administrator before he became pastor of Sacred Heart in 2003.
“He helped people by getting a Mass together for that week, celebrating the Mass and counseling people after 9/11,” Father Jerome, who was pastor of Sacred Heart for 12 years, told CNY.
“I think we lost eight or nine people on 9/11. He was very good in helping grieving people.”
Father Jerome said he visited with Father Burke a few months ago at the John Cardinal O’Connor Pavilion, where Father Burke had lived since his retirement in 2007.
“He loved the John Cardinal O’Connor residence. He was very happy there,” Father Jerome said.
Born in Manhattan, he earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, where he studied for the priesthood, and a master’s from Manhattan College. He was ordained by Cardinal Francis Spellman at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1958.
He was administrator of Assumption, Maybrook, 1987-1988, and St. Columbanus, Cortlandt Manor, 1985-1987. He served as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Pelham Manor, 2003-2007; St. Patrick, Yorktown Heights, 1981-1985; St. Bartholomew, Yonkers, 1959-1964; St. Mary, Wappingers Falls, 1958-1959; and Immaculate Conception, Amenia, 1958.
Father Burke served at Cardinal Spellman High School, the Bronx, as an administrative assistant, 1977-1981, and procurator, 1974-1977, and was on the faculty of Cardinal Hayes High School, the Bronx, 1964-1974.
Burial will take place in St. Raymond Cemetery, the Bronx.
