Paraphrased from article by Pete Sheehan in The Long Island Catholic, August 2, 2006
Father Andy our retired priest in residence was ordained June 2, 1956, in the Brooklyn Diocese. He grew up in St. Albans, Queens and went to SS. Joachim and Anne Church in Queens Village
Fr. Andy was assigned to St. Agnes Church, Rockville Centre , “before it was the cathedral.” In 1963, Father went to Catholic University of America in Washington to study education, to prepare for his becoming the founding principal of Holy Trinity Diocesan High School , Hicksville , in 1965. He then moved on to associate pastor, administrator, and then pastor at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Wyandanch, during 1968-1984. In 1984, Father Andy took a sabbatical to study theology and Scripture. From 1985 to 2002 he served at the diocesan mission in the Dominican Republic , eventually becoming pastor. He came back at times for health reasons, serving as associate pastor at Holy Family in Hicksville from 1990 to 1991 and at St. Anne's in Brentwood from 1992 to 1993 in-between. Needless to say, Fr. Andy is fluent in Spanish.
He came back to Long Island in 2002 at the direction of Bishop Murphy to serve 10 months as administrator at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Roosevelt . The following year he became coordinator of the diocesan Hispanic Ministry for the Town of Brookhaven . We were privileged to have Fr. Andy join us as our retired priest in residence after that. Fr. Andy then stepped in as Administrator 2007 – 2009 when we needed him and then back to our busy “retired” priest status.
No matter where Fr. Andy was, his believed and taught a fundamental Catholic teaching of human dignity for all people as given to them by God.
