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| FR. JOHN FRANCIS (ROY) YURCO, SS.CC. | |
 Photos by Jack Iddon |
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| In photo above, a Mass of the Resurrection was held at St. Joseph's Church on Thursday, September 23. Top, right, Brother Jim Rukavina, ss.cc., who was like a personal nurse to Fr. Roy during his illness, offered the first reading. Bottom, right, Fr. Michael Shanahan, ss.ss. who was ordained with Fr. Roy in 1962, preached the homily at the funeral Mass. | |
Fr. John Francis (Roy) Yurco, ss.cc., an
ordained member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of
Jesus and Mary (SSCC) in Fairhaven, Massachusetts passed away at
Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven on Sunday, September 19th after a
long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Fr. Roy, who
would have
been 77 years old on October 10, was born in New York City to
Ludwig and Della (Risavy) Yurco, who had immigrated to the
United States from Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s. The middle
child of three sons, Fr. Roy was predeceased by his two brothers
and is survived by his sister-in-law Diane of Chicago. Having
learned about the life of Saint Damien of Molokai in the
vocation club at school at the age of 15, Fr. Roy felt a
connection to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. After
visiting the Queen of Peace Seminary in Jaffrey, New Hampshire,
he entered the novitiate in Fairhaven in 1956 and was ordained
in Jaffrey on June 21, 1962.During his almost 50 years as a priest, Fr. Roy served his Church and his Congregation in many capacities. As a young priest, his first assignment was as a teacher in Glendora, California. From 1964 to 1965 he assisted at both St. Joseph’s in Fairhaven and Our Lady of the Assumption in New Bedford before being assigned for a short time to the National Enthronement Office in Washington, DC. Upon his return to the area he was appointed procurator at the “Monastery,” in Jaffrey before accepting a position at St. James Church and New England Medical Center in Boston where he served for ten years. In later years, Fr. Roy was an associate at St. Anthony in Mattapoisett and pastor of St. Boniface in New Bedford. He also was the spiritual director for the Damien Council of the Knights of Columbus and later became Grand Knight, one of the only priests to ever hold that office. Fr. Roy’s final assignment was as chaplain at Our Lady’s Haven, where he fondly remembered removing the pews around the altar to make room for the residents in wheelchairs and where eventually he became a beloved resident. A Funeral Mass was celebrated for Fr. Roy at St. Joseph’s Church in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 10:00 AM followed by burial in the Sacred Hearts Community Cemetery. |
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Contact Information: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Provincial Administration: 77 Adams Street, P.O. Box 111, Fairhaven, Massachusetts 02719-0111 Phone: 508 993-2442 | Fax: 508-996-5499 | Email: Sacred Hearts Congregation
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