Fr. Emil Fardellone was a beloved West Bank pastor

    Salesian Father Emil Francis Fardellone, who served the Catholics of the West Bank for 31 years, died peacefully Dec. 30 in the hospice section of Wynhoven Health Care Center in Marrero. He was 96 and had entered hospice on Nov. 9, a few days after suffering a fall and then being diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.
    In 1970 Father Fardellone took on parochial ministry, serving as pastor of St. Rosalie Church in Harvey for 13 years. In 1982, while still pastor of St. Rosalie, he was asked to establish St. John Bosco Church in Harvey, initially as a mission of St. Rosalie and shortly after as a parish. He remained at St. John Bosco until 1994.
    St. John Bosco parishioners celebrated the burning of the church’s mortgage in 1986, a mere three years after the start of the 700-seat church’s construction. The parish also built a middle school, which is affiliated with St. Rosalie Elementary School, and a large parish family life center.
    From 2005 until his death he was part of the Salesian community at Archbishop Shaw High School. As long as he was able, he continued to offer his priestly services.
    In a 2011 interview with the Clarion Herald, Father Fardellone said, “The Bible says, ‘You are a priest forever.’ There’s no retirement from the priesthood.” Recalling his decision to enter the seminary at age 15, he said, “Since 1931 to this date, I don’t regret a second of it. Not a second.”
    Father Fardellone was born in Manhattan and attended New York City public schools. He enrolled at Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J., in July 1931. He made his first profession of vows in 1934 and graduated from Don Bosco College Seminary in 1938 with a B.A. in philosophy.
    Father Fardellone was ordained on July 2, 1944, in Newton, N.J. He taught at Salesian schools in Tampa and New Rochelle, and in 1950 he began the first of three periods as director of schools in Tampa, Boston and New Rochelle. He served as New Rochelle Province’s superintendent of schools (1963-1967).
    Funeral rites for Father Fardellone were celebrated at St. John Bosco Church in Harvey on Jan. 2 and at Salesian High School in New Rochelle on Jan. 4. He was buried in the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.