Deceased: 2008-04-28
Diocese: PATERSON
Seminary Graduation Year: 1956
Father John A. Sullivan, pastor and educator, 77 Father John A. Sullivan, 77, a retired priest of the Paterson diocese, died on April 28, 2008. Bishop Serratelli will preside at a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 2 in the Church of the Assumption, Morristown. Homilist at the Mass will be Msgr. John B. Wehrlen. A native of Morristown, Fr. Sullivan graduated from Assumption School, the former Bayley High School in Morristown and St. Peters College in Jersey City. He studied for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington and North American College in Rome, where he completed his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood in 1955. After receiving his licentiate in sacred theology from Gregorian University in Rome in 1956, he served as assistant pastor at St. Philip Parish, Clifton, from 1956 to 1961. He then was named director of Morris Catholic High School, Denville, in addition to being appointed procurator of the former diocesan mission in Bolivia. In 1965, he was named rector of the former Neumann Prep in Wayne and remained there until 1968, when he was named pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham. He received a masters degree from Manhattan College in 1968. In 1972, he was granted permission to join the theology faculty at Mount St. Mary University in Emmitsburg, Md., where he taught until 1990. He marked the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2005. After retiring, Fr. Sullivan moved to Seaside Park, where he resided at the time of his death.
