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| Father Boyle in June of 2010 during his 45th Anniversary Mass. |
By Sister Marla Marie Lucas
During this week that our Maronite Church commemorates the Deceased Priests, to my sorrow, I lost a good priest and friend this Wednesday February 16, Rev. Monsignor Patrick J. Boyle. May he rest in peace.
Father Boyle was the first pastor I served as a young sister assigned in 1987 to St. Brendan’s parish in the Bronx. Father Boyle was a beloved priest and pastor to so many, serving at St. Brendan's for 28 years. After St. Brendan's, he was assigned as pastor at the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, New York where he died peacefully after suffering lung cancer.
Father Boyle was known for his kindness, generosity, humor, faith, patience, ... to only name a few of his outstanding qualities. I was blessed to attend his 45th Jubilee Mass last June at which 1,000 people gathered to honor and celebrate Father Boyle's priestly ministry. Please read here for a well-done story on that event which also highlights the life of one of Our Lord's beloved priests.
I was always inspsired by his genuine love and respect for each person whom he met. He once told me that Ash Wednesday was one of his favorite days as a priest because he would meet people he did not ordinarliy see the rest of the year. He would spend the whole day in Church to meet those folks and give them a warm welcome.
Father Boyle will be missed and mourned by many. I offer this prayer for him, taken from the Hoosoyo of the Deceased Priests celebrated in our Maronite Liturgy:
O Christ, our Lord and God, you have chosen your priests in your likeness and have sanctified them that they may minister your mysteries. You, O Lord, are truly the fount of life and the giver of all good gifts. Accept, O Lord, the prayers we raise on behalf of those you have sent to shepherd your Church. As you raised up righteous Aaron and the sons of Levi, you have also illumined your Church with worthy ministers and servants. Let their true faith reign in our hearts. Let the memory of their deeds inspire us to virtuous lives. Grant peace and serenity to the priests who have gone before us to your holy dwellings. May their works precede them as a record of their faith and a memorial of their lives. May the Evil One flee at the sight of their coming from the path that leads to you. Let none of your deceased ministers be tempted by the devil and his legions. May the marks of your holy Mysteries shelter and protect them on their journey to you. We will glorify and thank you, O Christ, your Father, and your Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.