Church of the Resurrection Pastor Dies of Cancer

Monsignor Patrick J. Boyle, 70, pastor of Rye’s Church of the Resurrection and Vicar for Central Westchester, died around 11 a.m.  Wednesday in his room at the church rectory after a long bout with cancer.

The cancer had spread from his lungs to his throat. But almost to the end, Boyle, known as “Paddy” to those who knew him, joked about the froggy sound he made when he delivered his sermons filled with one-liners his parishioners refer to as “Paddyisms.” His Irish wit often resulted in standing ovations from his parishioners at the end of his homilies.

He was a profile in courage, for not being able to personally deliver progress reports on his illness as of late. He made the apology in a written message read at all Masses this past weekend.

In his pastoral message, Boyle thanked Resurrection parishioners for their ongoing prayers and said the cancer had progressed to the point where he had difficulty talking but was resting comfortably and had just received a Sacramental blessing from Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, had recently come to Rye to anoint Boyle with the Sacrament of Healing, including Holy Communion.

In June, Boyle celebrated the 45th anniversary of his ordination into the priesthood (May 29, 1965, a few days before his father died) and his 70th birthday (March 16, 1940).

During a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating the anniversary of his ordination not long ago, Boyle began his homily by saying he never thought he would live long enough to be 70, but now he didn’t think that was so very old. And then he said he was going to keep his talk short  (“No more than 15 to 20 minutes, because people start tuning out around the eight-minute mark” he said at the time).

He minimized his role in raising $6.5 million to help restore the aging Resurrection church, from repairing the leaking roof and restoring the stained glass windows to fixing the air-conditioning and heating and giving the interior church a new paint job.

In a talk with this Patch writer before that sermon, Boyle said: “What fun it is to be a priest, what a wonderful opportunity the priesthood is to help people, and what an honor it is to serve God with so many wonderful fellow priests.”

Boyle grew up in the South Bronx in the Mott Haven section where his father, John, from Donegal, Ireland, ran a tavern called the Cyprus Bar & Grill with Boyle’s mom, the former Kate McIngley.

Boyle and his brothers, Jimmy and Michael, grew up at 235 Cyprus Ave. in one of three linked tenements renovated by the city. The brothers went to St. Luke’s and then the future Monsignor went on to Cathedral Prep and into Dunwoodie Seminary in Yonkers in 1945, where his fellow seminarians affectionately called him Paddy.

During his ordination anniversary talk at Resurrection, Boyle introduced his brother, Jimmy; his brother, Michael; and his cousin Bridget Boyle.

Jimmy told Patch after the Mass that his brother was born to be a priest.

“Paddy was always a people person, always wanted to help people, always wanted to be a priest. He made his own makeshift altar at home, and was always saying his own Mass from the time he was seven, eight years old.”

In his talk with Patch, Boyle fast forwarded through his career, starting with his first parish, St. Stephen’s in Manhattan, followed by five years with Catholic Charities and then 28 years at St. Brendan’s in the Bronx. While at St. Brendan’s he helped raise money to build a new school and gym before coming to Resurrection as pastor around eight years ago.

He mentioned some of the things that happened along the way: One of his saddest days as priest was offering a funeral Mass in a church filled with five caskets containing the burnt bodies of five children killed in a fire. One of his strangest nights took place when he was taking one of his regular nocturnal walks only to encounter one of his parishioners shimmying down a fire escape in her roller skates (“Never could figure out why,” he mused).

One of his most rewarding moments, he said, came when he was looking out from the pulpit during his homily and saw several members of the same family that he had known for more than 40 years smiling up at him.

He had baptized their children, and grandchildren during his time at St. Brendan’s, he said. The family included mother Diane Parra, and two of her daughters, Monica Parra (Boyle’s goddaughter) and Anna Ramos, whose daughter Boyle had just baptized. Monica and Anna were regular visitors during Boyle’s hospitalization when he first learned he had cancer around two years ago.

Boyle received treatment for his cancer at Sloan-Kettering and Phelps Memorial Hospital in Tarrytown. After his diagnosis, parishioners at Resurrection rallied around him, with some recommending the best surgeons and oncologists and others driving him to the hospital for chemotherapy treatment. Even an altarboy gave Boyle a treasured lolly pop that he had never eaten because he always wanted to remember the young boy telling him it would make swallowing easier after the cancer went to the throat.

Boyle handled it all in stride—and with his Irish sense of humor, joking about the cousin who hired someone to worry for him and, when asked how he could afford to pay for a “worrier,” he said: “Let someone else worry about it.”

And then there is my favorite Paddyism: He joked about how much weight he was losing because the cancer made swallowing so difficult.

 “I’ve lost so much weight that when I lift my hands up towards the heavens during Mass and say: ‘Lift up your hands to heaven and God’ I remind myself to lift up my pants as well,” he said. 

Every Resurrection parishioner –and there are thousands—has a favorite Paddy story.

Mine came when my wife, Stephanie, and I went to the Resurrection rectory to see him just before leaving for the airport for Dallas where my daughter-in-law had just undergone a difficult childbirth. We wanted to have a Mass said for her, our son, and their son. He then walked us into the empty church and said a Mass for our family, just Boyle alone on the main altar and me and Steph kneeling together in the first row. It was a wonderful spontaneous gesture by a wonderful man.

That is how I will always remember him.

That and his last line at the end of Mass on the day he celebrated his ordination as his parishioners walked from the church to the tent on the front lawn where a celebration of Paddy’s priesthood was about to begin.

“Be careful if the sky begins to fill with thunder and lightning when you are under the tent for the celebration,” he said in closing. “I worry about things like that. That’s what a pastor does. And I can’t afford to hire a worrier.”

Boyle’s wake will take place in the main chapel at Resurrection from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, and from noon to 7 p.m. Friday. There will be a funeral service there Friday at 7:30 p.m. The funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. Saturday followed by interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Valhalla.

Editor's Note: Michael Iachetta wrote this story. The authorship was incorrectly identified in an early version of this report.