Saturday, July 22, 2023

Fr. Thomas Provenzano, SDB (1967-2023)

Fr. Thomas Provenzano, SDB (1967-2023)


Fr. Thomas M. Provenzano died unexpectedly on July 21 in his room in the rectory of St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y. He was 56 years old and had been a professed Salesian of Don Bosco for almost 30 years and a priest for almost 22 years. He was parochial vicar in the parish and vice director in the Salesian community.

According to Fr. Pat Angelucci, director and pastor, Fr. Tom’s alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. and he got up to turn it off. When he didn’t show up for the 8:00 a.m. Mass, Fr. Pat went to his room and found him dead on the floor. The first suggestion was that he’d had a heart attack, which hasn’t been confirmed. The evening before, he’d engaged in lively table conversation with his confreres, heard confessions, and taped an upcoming talk on the Eucharist.

Tom Provenzano was born on March 18, 1967, in Bronxville, N.Y., the youngest of


Anthony and Edythe Volpe Provenzano’s four sons. He was baptized at Immaculate Conception Church in Tuckahoe, N.Y., the family’s parish, within a month of his birth and confirmed there in 1980. He attended Salesian High School in New Rochelle, graduating in 1985, then spent three years at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Although he admired the Salesians’ “great sense of camaraderie,” he entered the New York Archdiocese’s candidacy program for the priesthood in 1988 instead of the Salesians. As a diocesan candidate, he completed a B.A. in philosophy at Iona College in New Rochelle in 1991.

But Don Bosco staked a claim on Tom, and in January 1992 he entered the Salesian formation program at South Orange, N.J. In August that year he began a year of novitiate with seven classmates in Rosemead, Calif., under the guidance of Fr. Harry Rasmussen. Seven of them professed on August 15, 1993, in Rosemead. Bro. Tom made his perpetual profession in New Rochelle on August 21, 1999.

Two years of postnovitiate formation in South Orange followed first profession. During that time Bro. Tom earned an M.A. in education from Seton Hall University (1995). He did practical training at his alma mater, Salesian High, between 1995 and 1997, teaching history and religion. He began theological studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, in 1997. When the Salesians withdrew from the PCJ the following year, Bro. Tom and two other students moved to the Salesian Theological Institute at Tlaquepaque, Mexico. He earned a bachelor’s degree in theology there as well as learning Spanish.

Fr. Tom was ordained in his home parish in Tuckahoe on August 25, 2001, by Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, SDB, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He began his priestly ministry at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Paterson, N.J., as parochial vicar for a year. In 2002 he was sent to St. John Bosco Parish in Chicago as parochial vicar, and from 2003 also vice director.

Fr. Tom returned to Salesian High in New Rochelle in 2007 as campus minister (CYM) and religion teacher. Three years later he was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Elizabeth, N.J., as director and pastor. When the Salesians withdrew from the parish in 2013, he returned to Chicago as director and pastor of St. John Bosco. Completing six years with those responsibilities, he moved to College Park, Md., in 2019 to begin studies for a doctorate in theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington. He didn’t complete that project, but instead took up parish ministry once more in 2021 at St. John Bosco in Port Chester.

Fr. Tom blogged at The AX: 2021 (theaxattheroot.blogspot.com), trying “to give a Catholic-Christian perspective on pop culture, current events and whatever else strikes me at the moment.”

Adam Rudin, program director of the Salesian Lay Missioners, regretted Fr. Tom’s death: “I always found him to be very personable, jolly, and a great conversationalist. I would always look forward to seeing him and spending time with him when the SLMs would stay in Port Chester. He was always so welcoming and took a genuine interest in getting to know the SLMs.”

Salesian Cooperator Janis Aldridge wrote: “In South Orange, at the Salesian house of formation, we came to know Tom as a young man—some thirty years ago. Then, in 2014-2017, while living in Chicago, Allen and I were privileged to attend Masses, be inspired by his sermons, and laugh together at his jokes. Fr. Tom also drove out to the suburbs of St. Charles [town west of Chicago] to be with Salesian Cooperators in formation, and officiated when they took their Promise.”

Joan Sirc, former secretary to the principal of Salesian High School, remembers Fr. Tom very well: “The first time he came to us at Salesian he was a brother. He spent a lot of time sharing his day and always his pleasant humor. He will be missed.” 

Fr. Tom is survived by his brothers Joseph, Anthony, and Salvatore and their families.

Auxiliary Bishop John Bonnici of New York presided at his funeral Mass, and Fr. Pat Angelucci preached.

Fr. Tom Dunne (left) with Fr. Tom P., 2009

Funeral Arrangements

At St. John Bosco Church                             Wednesday, July 26

260 Westchester Avenue                                Reception and wake                2:00 – 6:45 p.m.

Port Chester, NY 10573                                 Mass of Christian Burial         7:00 p.m.

Thursday, July 27

            Burial                                                  10:30 a.m.

            Salesian Cemetery

            3 Craigville Rd., Goshen, NY 10924

 

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