"How he wished to go": priest dies while celebrating mass

The Deacon's Bench ^ | 10/23/2010 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[markomalley]

From the AP in Florida:

A Catholic priest reportedly died during morning Mass at a church near Tampa.

The website for the St. Stephen Catholic Church in Valrico says Monsignor John Scully died Friday while consecrating a holy ceremony. Scully had been a priest for 62 years.

A cause of death was not immediately released.

The church's website says Scully was originally from the northeast but spent the majority of his time in the Tampa area ministering in a variety of areas.

The bishop of Tampa/St. Pete, Robert Lynch, had this to say on his blog:

I have just received word that Monsignor John Scully, a priest for sixty-two years of this diocese (and St. Augustine for twenty years prior to our formation) died this morning while concelebrating the morning Mass at St. Stephen's parish in Valrico. The exact moment of his death occurred during the Institution prayers of the Mass or the "consecration" of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. It was precisely how he wished to go and would have scripted it had we any power over the time of our death. Monsignor Scully did so many things during his sixty-two years of priesthood, started parishes (St. Catherine's, Largo and St. Michael's, Clearwater (both named after his own mother and father) to name but two, schools and institutions...

..Suffice it to say for the moment, one had to have a stone heart not to appreciate his zeal, energy, and desire for souls. As our Diocesan Director for the Propagation of the Faith for many years, Monsignor Scully's ministry took him to remote parts of the globe, baptizing and confirming, absolving and marrying. He gave his ministry not just to the people of the parishes to which he was assigned but to the world as well. As I digest the news, it is almost like a giant oak has fallen and a huge space has been revealed - one that will not be easy to fill, even though he has been retired for about ten years. When I would suggest to him that he had done enough, he would look at me as if I didn't get it and tell me in effect, "heaven can wait." It did until this morning and, John, rest there now in the peace you earned, reunited with your beloved mother, Catherine, and father, Michael and other members of your family. We are all a little better for knowing you.

UPDATE: The local Tampa newspaper has more reaction, and remembrances from those who knew him.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him...

[TexasTransplant]

That is wild ... I was thinking that they are out in the desert but they are basically the original Cities in California, I don’t know why I thought what I thought.
I visited their Websites and just WOW, I can just imagine

Thank you

(We have the Alamo, down town San Antonio)

I love FR, I learn so much

[arielguard]

I live in Riverside CA, and any time I get the chance I go to one of the missions. They have an air that can’t be explained. My wife and I go to Mission San Juan Capistrano every year on our anniversary. No particular reason we started that other than we love it.

[married21]

Roughly speaking, U.S. Highway 101 in California connects many of the missions. Just plan a road trip up the coast between San Diego and San Francisco and you can stop at many of them along the way.

Some are very close to the highway. Others would be a little side trip. We seem to visit Mission San Juan Capistrano and Mission San Luis Obispo about once a year, and pick up the others occasionally, as well. Most missions are active parishes. However, the one near Lompoc, (La Purisima?) is a state-run museum. The church is not consecrated any more. It’s still interesting, but don’t expect to attend mass there. However, there’s another mission not too far from that, Santa Inez, which is an active parish. Also, San Antonio is in the middle of a military base in the middle of nowhere. When I visited as a child, the only other occupant of the parking lot was a steer!
I like Santa Barbara’s museum the best, for it’s explanation of why and how Indians and Spanish connected with each other. I like almost any of the churches as places to contemplate.

[livius]

There are 21 missions and most of them still function as parishes. They had been seized by the Mexican government during the time that California was part of Mexico after the latter country obtained its independence from Spain, and basically then were obtained by ranchers who had friends in government. Years afterwards, when California became part of the US, Abraham Lincoln restored their ownership to the Catholic Church.

Some of them have been heavily restored and some not; some have good museums and some don’t really tell you much of anything. But they are all worth seeing. We started in San Diego and then worked our way up to San Luis Obispo (I think there were 5 or 6 missions in between the two). A few years ago, we had done the Northern and Central California missions, so this completed the chain.

Here’s a good website about them: http://www.missionscalifornia.com/

[livius]

This was in the early 19th century.

[AliVeritas]

Prayers. Rest in peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAbOgpcSEYg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82L8AaqA-Dc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6oM1iLJH6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7DplVjBQ8U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPnufDDPXFY