Fr. Clement Cardillo, SDB, a member of the Salesian community of Orange, N.J., died at St. Catherine of Siena Nursing Home in Caldwell, N.J., on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2011. He was 86 and had resided at St. Catherine since March of this year.
Fr. Clem was the son of Anthony and Beatrice Cardillo and was born in Port Chester, N.Y., on June 20, 1925. The family were members of the Salesian parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary there, and Clem was baptized there on August 30, 1925.
After completing his first year of high school in Port Chester Junior High School, in September
1940 Clem enrolled at Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J., as a sophomore and graduated from high school in June 1943. He entered St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Newton in September and professed first vows on Sept. 8, 1944.According to the practice of the era, Clem did his first year of college studies during the novitiate. For reasons not indicated in the records—poor health would be a reasonable guess—after his profession Bro. Clem did not continue at Don Bosco College in 1944-1945. In 1945-1946 he taught American history and general science at Don Bosco Juniorate in Suffern, N.Y., and the following year taught geometry at Salesian HS in New Rochelle.
In the fall of 1947 he returned to Don Bosco College and graduated in August 1950 with a B.A. in philosophy. During the 1948-1949 year he also taught and assisted the high school seminarians, and from 1949 to 1951 he was assistant to the novices. During the 1950-1951 school year he also began his theological studies at Fordham University.
From 1951 to 1954 Bro. Clem studied theology at St. Anselm’s Institute in Bollengo, Italy, where he was a capable student. A note by the director in March 1952 indicates that he was outstanding in his piety, of a “good and open character” with good abilities but weak health. He was ordained by Bishop Paolo Rostagno of Ivrea in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin on July 1, 1954.
Fr. Clem spent his first years as a priest at Don Bosco Juniorate in Haverstraw, N.Y. (1954-1955), teaching French, among other things; at St. Michael’s School in Goshen, N.Y. (1955-1956), as catechist (campus minister and infirmarian); and at Sacred Heart Juniorate in Ipswich, Mass. (1956-1960), as prefect of studies and then as catechist. In 1960 he became director of the Ipswich juniorate, serving there till 1965, the same year that he earned a master’s degree from Boston College in educational psychology; his thesis was entitled “The Assessment of Minor Seminarians.” He interned at the Boston V.A. Hospital and in a Boston-area public school system.
In 1965 Fr. Clem was named pastor of St. Anthony’s Church in Paterson, N.J., where he served until 1980. Of that period he wrote: “It was with trepidation that I took the assignment of being pastor of St. Anthony’s Church in Paterson in 1965. It was my very first parish, and I feared I would not be up to the task. But the Lord was kind to me. He blessed the church with good-hearted parishioners, and through their dedication and commitment I was able to purchase five properties, renovate the rectory and the church, install centralized air conditioning, and construct the St. Anthony’s Men’s Club. But most of all I was able to help the community of Christ enrich their faith and get closer to the Lord.”
When he stepped down as pastor, he was saluted in the House of Representatives by Congressman Robert Roe of New Jersey “in recognition of his exemplary achievements, in service to God and to our people, so unselfishly dedicated to the betterment of mankind,” and “of the love, affection, and reverence with which Fr. Cardillo is held by all of us who have had the good fortune to know him” (Congressional Record, Aug. 19, 1980).
While he was pastor he continued his psychology studies at Boston College and Columbia University, earning a doctorate from B.C. in 1972. His dissertation was entitled Empathy and Personality Traits. Licensed as a psychologist in New Jersey, he directed his practice primarily toward priests and religious. In 1980 Bishop Lawrence Casey of Paterson appointed him co-director of the diocese’s Consultation Service Center, where he worked for 28 years, until the diocese terminated the service as a cost-cutting measure. He continued in private practice, counseling both religious and lay people, until retiring on Jan. 1, 2011. In that period he belonged to the Salesian communities of Paterson (1980-1991) and Orange (from 1991). The fees he earned helped Salesian seminarians with financial needs.
In addition to serving as director of the Paterson Diocese’s Pre-Cana program for a number of years, Fr. Clem was a member and was twice chairman of the N.J. Board of Psychological Examiners, which administers examinations to those applying for state licensing, checks their credentials, and investigates complaints of unprofessional conduct.
On Oct. 31, 1982, New Jersey’s Federation of Italian Societies honored him as Man of the Year, saluting “the impact of his fine deeds, whether they be at the spiritual, psychological, or social level.”
In 1998 Pope John Paul II named Fr. Cardillo a recipient of the papal medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in recognition of his services to the Church, particularly in the Paterson Diocese.
Fr. Clem always found his Salesian vocation “a source of joy and peace.” He once wrote: “My life as a Salesian has not only enriched my personal life, but it has allowed me through my ministry to bring comfort to people suffering both mental and spiritual anguish. Albert Einstein once said, ‘Only a life lived for others is worth living.’ I truly believe that this has been the focal point of my vocation.”
Fr. Steve Leake, director of the community in Orange, said of Fr. Clem: “Our Salesian Constitution #18 states that the Salesian ‘knows that by his work he is participating in the creative action of God and cooperating with Christ in building the kingdom.’ Fr. Clem lived this constitution to the full as he worked with zeal as a pastor, psychologist, teacher, and friend to so many. He was a tireless worker for souls in the manner of Don Bosco!”
Fr. Clem is survived by his brother Joseph of Chevy Chase, Md., and his sister Gussie Marino of Old Lyme, Conn.
Fr. Clem's funeral was celebrated at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Orange. Fr. George Hanna, former pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Port Chester and present pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Washington, offered some reflections at the wake on Nov. 25. Fr. Tom Dunne, the provincial, presided over and preached at the funeral Mass on the 26th. Burial was in the family plot in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Port Chester.
No comments:
Post a Comment