Fr. John Baptist Pesce C.P.

Father John Baptist Pesce, a Passionist priest, died on September 26, 2018 after a brief illness. He was 95 years old. Fr. John Baptist was born on November 2, 1923 and was the son of the late Louis Pesce and the late Santina Roseo Pesce. He was the brother of the late Dominick Pesce. Fr. John Baptist graduated from Emerson High School in Union City, New Jersey in 1940. He attended Seton Hall College in South Orange, New Jersey from 1941-1943. Fr. Pesce entered the Passionist novitiate in 1943 and professed vows at Saint Paul of the Cross Monastery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1944. He was a gifted athlete. Fr. Pesce was ordained to the priesthood February 27, 1951 by Bishop James McNulty at Saint Michael’s Monastery, Union City, New Jersey. He was stationed at Saint Joseph Monastery, Baltimore, Maryland, Saint Paul of the Cross Monastery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Saint Michael’s Monastery, Union City New Jersey from 1952-1956. An eloquent speaker, Father Pesce conducted parish missions and retreats while living at Saint Mary’s Monastery, Dunkirk, New York from 1956-1965. He then served at Saints John and Paul, the Passionist Generalate in Rome, Italy for one year. Returning to the United States in 1966, Father Pesce was the Rector of Calvary Retreat Center, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and was involved in the Passionist second novitiate program. He continued to devote himself to the preaching apostolate at Holy Family Monastery, West Hartford, Connecticut and at immaculate Conception Monastery, Jamaica, New York from 1968-1970. From 1970 to the present, Fr. John Baptist lived at Holy Family and was engaged in the ministry of preaching retreats for laity, clergy, and Religious. An independent scholar and an advocate for the social justice ministry for the Church, Father Pesce received the Most Rev. Joseph F. Donnelly Memorial Award from the Catholic Social Justice Ministry of the Archdiocese of Hartford on October 26, 2010. He continued a life of dedicated study, prayer and service in local parishes in the Hartford area and was noted for his spiritual guidance at Holy Family Monastery until his death. The funeral liturgy for Father John Baptist will take place at Holy Family Monastery Chapel in West Hartford on Monday, October 1 at 11:00am with calling hours from 9:00am to 10:45am. Interment will be at the Holy Family Cemetery on the grounds of the Monastery in West Hartford. Donations may be made in memory of Fr. John Baptist to Holy Family Monastery and Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road, West Hartford, CT 06107.