Robert E. McCreary, OFM Cap., 1937-2021

Our brother Robert E. McCreary, 84, was called to the Lord’s eternal life on Wednesday morning, March 24, 2021, at Canterbury Place Nursing Home where he was cared for in his last month.  His cousin and our confrere Robert L. McCreary, OFM Cap., and his sister, Charlotte, kept company with him during the days prior to his death, supporting him with prayer and the sacraments of the Church.

The first of four children born to Judge Robert McCreary and his wife Ellen (Cain), young Robert grew up in Monaca, PA.  He was born on January 2, 1937, and was baptized at St. John the Baptist Church there, attending its public elementary school. After one year at Monaca High School, he chose to enroll at St. Fidelis High School and College Seminary in Herman, PA, in 1951, the same year that his cousin Robert L. McCreary enrolled in the College program there.

As was the custom at the time, on completion of a man’s second year of college at St. Fidelis, Robert entered the Capuchin novitiate at Annapolis, MD, where he was invested with the Capuchin habit on July 13, 1957, and received the Religious name Brenan, which he held until 1968 when friars could return to their baptismal names. In the community, that left us with something of a crisis: cousins Br. Conan and Br. Brenan just happened to both be “Robert,” meaning that the Province had two friars named “Robert McCreary.” It was common among us to differentiate the cousins as “Robert E.” and “Robert L.” but in time, it was even easier as the confreres would know them as “Roberto” and “Bob.” Problem solved.

From the 1957 edition of the St. Fidelis Yearbook, Skullcap.
Robert would move on to don the Capuchin habit
and the name Br. Brenan the following summer.

Roberto professed vows as a Capuchin in 1958 before returning to Herman to complete college. After graduation, he moved on to Capuchin College in Washington, DC, for his studies in Theology in preparation for priestly ordination which took place on February 8, 1964.

On his first assignment as a priest, Roberto began twenty-two years of missionary work among the people of the island of Puerto Rico, serving almost exclusively in parish ministry.  He was deeply committed to Adult Education among the women and men there and made great use of his M.A. in Religious Studies to upgrade the level of catechesis in the local parishes where he served.  His parishioners were kept up to date on the events and teachings of Vatican II, especially through Roberto’s translations of the various Council documents into Spanish so that the people could more easily read, hear and understand this profound moment in the life of the Catholic Church.

This photo of a young boy and Roberto in Puerto Rico, taken early in his ministry there, was used in a vocational booklet printed in 1985 by the Capuchins of North America. It remains an iconic remembrance of our campaign to "Live the Dream. Make the Difference."

An energetic and dynamic pastor, the young man truly appreciated the grace of his missionary ministry, but as he approached 50, he began to consider what the Lord was calling him to in the future.  In 1985, writing to his Provincial Minister (his cousin Bob!), he reflected: From ages 1-14 I was a child at home; from 14-28 enclosed in a seminary, and from 28-48 in a foreign culture.  I would love to spend some years participating in American life as an adult.

It took a couple of years, but in 1987 our brother Roberto began an extensive sabbatical in Europe before coming to Washington, DC, and eight years of parochial service at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, serving there as Pastor from 1990 until 1995 – an especially challenging period for the District of Columbia and for his largely Latino parish in an area fraught with civil unrest at the time.  Roberto was more than up to the task and helped parishioners remain centered on missionary service to one another and to their troubled community.

Our brother Bishop Donald Lippert, OFM Cap., on Roberto’s death wrote: I served with him as a deacon in Utuado, PR, and later as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart when he was the pastor there.  He was a zealous and tireless parish priest... very creative in his pastoral approach.  He was at the forefront of involving lay leaders in the church and taking them seriously.  Taking the time and effort (as a kind of second career) to learn Haitian creole to be able to serve the Haitians at Sacred Heart is praiseworthy to say the least.  He was humble and self-effacing... in fact, I believe that he never really appreciated the pastoral impact that he had on the lives of so many.

Though his great energy and creativity were well used during his time in Washington, he accepted assignment to the vastly different environment of Cresaptown in western Maryland late in 1995 to fill the developing needs of the Province, serving as pastor of St. Ambrose Parish for two years that were filled with challenges for him despite its serene location.  While faithfully serving the people of the parish, our confrere found the slower and more deliberate pace of a much smaller parish to be a difficult fit for his very lively and creative pastoral style. In 1997 Roberto was reassigned to St. Joseph Parish in York, PA. He spent twelve satisfying years as parochial vicar, finding that the variety and pace of the parish activities and celebrations provided plenty of outlets for his creativity and ministerial vitality.  Beyond the available opportunities for service in the parish, Roberto began a prison ministry to the Chinese detainees incarcerated at the York County Prison (victims of the Golden Venture smuggling tragedy of 1993) and instituted Landings, an outreach to non-practicing Catholics.

It was at this point in his life that his eyesight began to fail. In 2009 he took on his last regular assignment, returning to the Beaver Valley to assist the Diocese of Pittsburgh by celebrating Spanish language masses in Muse, PA. After fifty years of priestly service, though, failing eyesight defeated his desire to forge ahead in ministry. At his Golden Jubilee of priestly ordination in 2014, he remarked that he was quite surprised by this development: “losing my eyesight and not being able to evangelize more widely – I began a more contemplative existence.” That contemplative life indeed kept his heart and mind focused on Christ during his final years, which he lived peacefully at St. Augustine Friary in Pittsburgh until skilled care became necessary. Sister Death called him home at Canterbury Place in Lawrenceville, a few blocks from the friary.

Roberto was preceded in death by his parents, and is survived by his brother Charles, of Coral Springs, FL, and two sisters: Suellen (Hassett) of Kenmore NY and Charlotte Marie of Columbia, SC, many cousins including our brother Robert L. McCreary, OFM Cap., and over 10,000 Capuchin brothers throughout the world who honor his faithfulness and goodness.

 

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