Life of Father Abramowicz remembered
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
Family, friends and clergy gathered in St. Stephen Church, Perth Amboy, Nov. 11 and 12 to mourn the death of Father Richard B. Abramowicz, who was married in that church and after becoming a widower and entering the priesthood, served as parochial vicar in St. Stephen Parish.
Father Abramowicz, 86, who was retired and living in Oceanport, died Nov. 9, 2005, in Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch.
Father Abramowicz’ body was received by Father Thomas F. Ryan, dean of the Perth Amboy Deanery, in St. Stephen Church, Nov. 11. Msgr. John B. Szymanski, diocesan vicar general, presided at the Mass of Commemoration and Father Edward J. Struzik provided the homily.
Msgr. William Benwell, vicar general and moderator of the curia, presided at a Mass of Christian Burial Nov. 12, also in St. Stephen Church, and Father J. Maciej Melaniuk, pastor, Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, South Plainfield, gave the homily.
“We feel the pain of his loss as an uncle, friend, priest,” Father Melaniuk said. “But as our sadness passes, how can we remain sad for the man who is with the God he loved and the wife (Regina, who died in 1981) he loved? We should give thanks to God for the gift of life, especially for the life of Father Richard.”
Nancy Hudak, 57, a lifelong member of St. Stephen Parish, said Father Abramowicz was a “very people-oriented person” who loved to fish. Hudak’s son, Brian, 24, served as an altar server for Father Abramowicz. “He used to treat the altar servers to meals at McDonald’s and take them on trips,” Hudak said.
Father Abramowicz was born in Jersey City May 18, 1919, one of 10 children of the late Joseph and Amelia Szostak Abramowicz. He attended Our Lady of Czestochowa Elementary School, Jersey City, and Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey. He earned a bachelor’s degree while studying at Seton Hall University, South Orange, and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington. He undertook post-graduate studies in Seton Hall University.
Father Abramowicz was a retired major with the U.S. Air Force, where he served in the medical service corps, and a retired budget analyst with the U.S. Army.
He completed his formation training in Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake, Mich., and was ordained to the priesthood May 31, 1986, in St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Metuchen, by then-Bishop Theodore E. McCarrick.
He served in the parishes of Immaculate Conception, Annandale; St. Stephen; Sacred Heart of Jesus, Manville, and Sacred Heart of Jesus, South Plainfield. He retired in June 1994.
In addition to his wife, he was predeceased by a twin brother, Msgr. Sylvester Abramowicz, in 2003; brothers, Anthony and Alfonse, and a sister, Helena Z. Doles. Surviving are three sisters, Amelia Goscienski of Jersey City, Felicia Stewart of Scotch Plains, and Bernice Robertson of California; and several nieces and nephews. Interment was in St. Gertrude’s Cemetery, Colonia.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law