Rev. Anthony J. Bolger, STL

Deceased: 2015-01-07

Diocese: HONOLULU

Seminary Graduation Year: 1970

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Father Anthony Bolger, S.T.L.  a retired priest who served the Diocese of Honolulu for 35 years, died Jan. 7 at his residence in Tijuana, Mexico. He was 71 and a priest for 45 years.

Father Bolger served 24 years of active ministry as a parish priest in Hawaii.

Anthony J. Bolger was born on Sept. 16, 1943, to Thomas J. and Sylvia L. Schneider Bolger in Toledo, Ohio, one of three brothers and three sisters.

He studied at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and The Gregorian University in Rome where he earned a licentiate of sacred theology in moral theology a few years after his ordination.

He was ordained by Archbishop James Hickey in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 19, 1969.

Father Bolger’s first assignments as a priest were as an associate pastor of St. Mary Church and an instructor at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.

In the 1970s, he worked as a high school chaplain and an associate pastor and administrator in parishes in northern California.

Father Bolger came to Hawaii in 1978 to a four-year assignment as associate pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Kailua. He then served as an associate pastor at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace from 1982 to 1984, followed by one year as an associate pastor at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.

In 1985, he was named pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu, followed by assignments as pastor of St. Anthony Church, Kailua, and St. Theresa Church, Kihei, Maui. He retired on the Mainland in 2002.

As a priest, Father Bolger was also involved in the Marriage Encounter movement, hospital ministry, youth retreats and clergy education. He also served on the diocese’s Peace and Justice Commission and the Liturgy Committee.

Father Bolger is survived by his sisters Mary Alice Mix and Maureen West.