July 12, 2012

Father Hugh Crean celebrates 50th anniversary of ordination

 

REGIONAL

(Photos courtesy of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish)

Staff report

WESTFIELD – On Sunday, June 24, former pastor Father Hugh F. Crean returned to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish, here, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.  

Father Crean, former vicar for clergy in the Springfield Diocese, concelebrated the 11 a.m. Mass and was honored at a reception at the parish center immediately following the liturgy.

A Westfield native, Father Crean studied classics and philosophy at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. He earned his theology degree at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained by Springfield Bishop Christopher J. Weldon at St. Michael’s Cathedral on May 26, 1962.

His early assignments included serving as a parish assistant at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Greenfield, St. Joseph Parish, Pittsfield and St. Michael Parish, East Longmeadow. He also served a three-year term on the Diocesan Senate for Implementation of the Second Vatican Council from 1966-69 and then pursued his doctorate in theology at the American College, Louvain, Belgium.

Father Crean taught religion at Elms College in Chicopee and served as diocesan director of the Bicentennial Committee and the Eucharistic Congress for the 1975 International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. His subsequent parish assignments included administrator pro tem at St. Paul Parish, Springfield and team minister at Sacred Heart Parish, Springfield.

He also served on the Bishop’s Commission for the Clergy and is the former vicar of clergy in the Diocese of Springfield. In 1984, Father Crean was appointed to the newly formed diocesan Presbyteral Council called for by the new Code of Canon Law.

He served as pastor of Holy Name Parish in Springfield from 1922-99.

Father Crean retired in 2004 after serving as pastor at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish for five years. While pastor there, he negotiated the sale of the old church property to make way for the Great River Bridge construction. 

To honor Father Crean’s commitment to education, parishioners of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament raised money to donate 185 school desks to children in Third World countries through the Food for the Poor organization’s “Save Me a Seat” program.

(Editor’s note: For more photos of Father Crean’s anniversary celebration at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, see the iobserve Photo Gallery.)