Rev. Michael Hegarty, 69; became priest in his 50s
The Rev. Michael P. Hegarty, 69, of Cherry Hill, who followed up a career as a religious brother by becoming a South Jersey priest in his 50s, died of liver failure Wednesday, May 22, at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.
The Rev. Michael P. Hegarty, 69, of Cherry Hill, who followed up a career as a religious brother by becoming a South Jersey priest in his 50s, died of liver failure Wednesday, May 22, at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.
As a religious brother, he was a counselor in the 1960s at St. Gabriel's Hall in Audubon, Montgomery County, which provides therapy for teenage males.
"A turning point in his life happened [after] his brother Charlie had been murdered" during a robbery in West Chester, niece Mary Anne Wolf said Tuesday.
"My uncle took some time off for reflection" from his work as a religious brother. "It impacted him severely, especially the way he died.
"He wanted to go further in his mission of helping people," so he entered a seminary for late vocations to the priesthood.
After being ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Camden in 1995, Father Hegarty was an associate pastor at St. John's in Collingswood, Our Lady of Grace in Somerdale, St. Rose of Lima in Haddon Heights, and St. Raymond's in Villas.
Wolf said that Father Hegarty was the administrator at St. Ann's in Elmer and senior priest at Holy Maternity in Audubon, Camden County.
He was a member of the Camden Diocesan Tribunal, which adjudicates the internal legal affairs of the church, such as annulments of marriages.
He was also a member of the Diocesan RCIA Commission. The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is a program that teaches Catholicism to those seeking to convert.
Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys and in 1961 entered the De La Salle Christian Brothers, the religious organization that teaches at, among other schools, what is now La Salle University.
He earned a bachelor's there in 1966, a master's in counseling at Villanova University in 1969, and a master's in social work at Temple University in 1988.
Besides counseling at St. Gabriel's, he worked for the Philadelphia office of Catholic Social Services and taught at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Bishop Walsh High School in Cumberland, Md., and at West Catholic.
He entered the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., in 1991, left the Brothers in 1994, and graduated in 1995.
"He was a teddy bear," Wolf said. "He just brought joy to a lot of people."
Besides his niece, Father Negarty is survived by 12 nieces and nephews and 33 grandnieces and grandnephews.
A viewing was set from 3:30 to 6:45 p.m. Friday, May 31, at St. Vincent Pallotti Church, 901 Hopkins Rd., Haddon Township, before a Funeral Mass at 7 p.m. there.
A Saturday morning burial was set at SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield, Delaware County.
Donations may be made to the Christian Brothers, District of Eastern North America, 444A Route 35, South Eatontown, N.J., 07724-2200.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.healeyfuneralhomes.com.
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