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Msgr. James Dorney, longtime pastor of St. Peter’s parish in the New Brighton section on Staten Island and a highly regarded co-regional vicar and co-dean of Staten Island, died Oct. 26 in Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton. He was 83.
Msgr. Dorney reportedly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on his way to serve at the 7 a.m. Mass. Parishioners who had been waiting for the liturgy to begin contacted the rectory when Msgr. Dorney failed to appear. Father Glendino Ragsag, parochial vicar at St. Peter’s, found Msgr. Dorney lying at the foot of the stairs that lead from the rectory. Still conscious and alert, he was taken to Richmond Medical Center where he died a little after 1 p.m.
“He was very lucid. He had actually wanted to celebrate the 7 o’clock Mass, thought he could do it,” said Father Michel Cichon, pastor of St. Peter-Assumption-St. Paul. “He was thanking people at the hospital the way he normally would. He was joking with people. And then at about a quarter to 11, he started to demonstrate some agitation and that was seen as a sign of his not being able to breathe properly. It was at that point they discovered the bleeding at the base of the brain was much worse than they thought and that there was nothing they could do to operate.”
Father Cichon, who has known Msgr. Dorney since 1985, described his friend as a holy man who was deeply committed to the community he loved and served.
“He was involved as a police chaplain. He was involved as a Coast Guard chaplain. He was very ecumenically oriented,” Father Cichon recalled. “He was involved in all sorts of social concerns, feeding the poor, education. He would never say no. Whenever he was asked to support a cause, he was right there with his whole heart.”
Msgr. Dorney served as pastor of St. Peter’s from 1986 until his retirement in 2013. He was pastor emeritus of St. Peter’s at the time of his death. He had been administrator at the parish, 1983-1986.
Among other initiatives during his tenure at St. Peter’s, he helped organize, along with the University of Notre Dame Club of Staten Island, the annual “Eve of Solemn Remembrance” to mark the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center. When the parish celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2014, parishioners gave their longtime pastor a standing ovation during a Mass with Cardinal Dolan.
Msgr. Dorney served as co-regional vicar of Staten Island beginning in 1998, and became co-dean last year. He was parochial vicar at St. Margaret Mary, Staten Island, 1976-1983; St. Paul’s, Congers, 1974-1976; St. Elizabeth’s, Manhattan, 1966-1974; St. Agnes, Manhattan, 1965-1966; and Our Saviour, the Bronx, 1958-1965.
When named co-vicar of Staten Island along with Msgr. Peter Finn, Msgr. Dorney said, “It is truly exciting because the island is such a wonderful place with such wonderful people.”
Born in the Bronx, he attended Cathedral College and continued his studies for the priesthood at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie. He was ordained a priest in 1958 and named a monsignor by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995.
“He was holy. He was generous. He was reverent,” Father Cichon said. “He was someone of whom the archdiocese priesthood can be very, very proud.”
The wake will be held at St. Peter’s Church, 53 St. Mark’s Place, Staten Island, on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 9 p.m., and Friday, Oct. 30, from 4 to 7 p.m. A Mass of the Holy Eucharist will be offered at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Peter’s. Auxiliary Bishop John J. O’Hara will be the principal celebrant, and Msgr. Finn will be the homilist.
The Funeral Mass will be offered on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. at St. Peter’s. Cardinal Dolan will be the principal celebrant, and Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden, N.J., will be the homilist. Burial will be at St. Peter’s Cemetery, Staten Island.
