REV. JAMES J. CRONIN
January, 1937 --- May, 2012
Pastor of St. Mary Parish and School, Milford, CT
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January, 1994 --- January, 2012
The St. Mary School and Parish family was saddened and shocked to hear of Father Cronin’s passing on May 5, 2012. He had just retired from active ministry on his 75th birthday, this past January.
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During his almost 50 years as a Priest, Father served several parishes of the Archdiocese, the longest as Pastor here at St. Mary’s. For the last 20 years, he served as the Archdiocesan Pro Life Committee Chairperson – consistently championing the church’s central belief of protecting life from the first moment of conception.
Father was also a leader in the cause to secure the rights of parents who choose to have their children educated in non-public schools, specifically Catholic Schools. Many times the parents, board members and staff of the school heard Father talk about the misuse of the concept of “Separation of Church and State” in our city, state and country. Many times everyone heard him passionately appeal to all of us to “get in the ear” of our state representatives to insist that we are granted those rights we should have.
All of our present students knew of no other Pastor than Father Cronin until January, as many were baptized by him, and all of our third through eighth graders received their First Communion from him.
All our graduates since 1995 were taught Latin by him, most of whom will tell you how helpful that was when they began their high school experience. Some graduates also were taught Greek by Father.
While a solid leader, he was very humble. Although not obvious to everyone, he was always there to support those to whom he delegated the responsibility of Catholic School Education.
He was very proud of his ministry as a Priest, but he didn’t flaunt it. In fact, around the school he rarely wore his Roman collar – so much so that when he did, the students knew he was on his way to an important meeting or liturgical function.
To sum it up, Father Cronin was a man of God, one who lived out his ministry and taught all of us -- parishioners, employees, parents, volunteers and students, that we too each have a ministry – one we should live out to the fullest.
We will all miss him but we all know that he will always be with us -- except now in a very special way.
