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Father Thomas A. Lynch, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus-St. Gregory the Great parish in Manhattan, died April 28 after a long illness. He was 55.
Father Lynch had served at Holy Name of Jesus-St. Gregory the Great since 2020. He was pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scarsdale, 2018-2020, and Our Lady of Angels, the Bronx, 2007-2018.
A Parish Vigil Mass will be celebrated Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Angels, with Auxiliary Bishop John S. Bonnici as celebrant and homilist. A Funeral Mass will be offered at 12 noon on Friday, May 6, at Holy Name of Jesus. Cardinal Dolan will be the celebrant, and Msgr. Kevin J. Nelan, dean of Manhattan South and pastor of Immaculate Conception in Manhattan, will deliver the homily.
Msgr. Nelan taught Father Lynch at Cathedral Prep Seminary High School in Manhattan and described Father Lynch as a very good person, very good priest and very good friend.
“He was one of the finest priests we’ve had,” Msgr. Nelan said. “He was very caring, very responsible, very diligent in his studies, very diligent in his preparation of his homilies, very diligent in his teaching capacities. He was always concerned about the sick. He was very active in the Spanish ministry when he went to Westchester.
“He was a very good teacher at (St. Joseph’s Seminary). I know that from the many priests who had him. He was a very fine priest, serving God’s people.”
Msgr. Nelan was with Father Lynch March 1 at the episcopal ordination of Bishop Bonnici at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and last saw Father Lynch at a birthday party on April 24.
Born in the Bronx, Father Lynch earned bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and philosophy from Manhattan College. He entered St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, where he studied theology, and was ordained by Cardinal John O’Connor in 1992.
He studied Church history at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1994-1998.
He was administrator at Nativity, Manhattan, 2006-2007; professor of Church history at St. Joseph’s Seminary, 1998-2006; and parochial vicar at Holy Family, the Bronx, 1992-1994.
His mother, Margaret, died on April 30. His brothers, Timothy, Kevin, Maurice, Patrick and John Joe, survive him.
Burial will follow the Funeral Mass in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne.
