Journal News – June 10, 2016
by Michael D’Onofrio
WEST NYACK – Longtime New York City firefighter Tom Colucci has given up hoses and ladders for a clerical collar and a pulpit. Colucci was ordained as a priest in May after spending two decades in the New York City Fire Department. After jointly celebrating a morning Mass this week at his hometown parish, St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Colucci said a firefighter and priest were not so different.“With the fire department, you’re saving lives. Here in the priesthood, you’re saving souls,” said Colucci, who grew up in Bardonia and graduated from Albertus Magnus High School in 1974.
“You’re both helping people, reaching out at their neediest moments. … You put other people first, which is the essence of being a fireman and the priesthood,” he added.
Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, said he believed Colucci was the first retired FDNY firefighter to enter the seminary and become a priest.
“It certainly is rare,” Zwilling said.
But while Zwilling said Colucci’s path to priesthood was not the one most traveled — men typically enter the seminary in their 20s and early 30s — he said there was a common thread running through his life.
“His life had always been one of service to others,” Zwilling said.
Colucci, 60, said becoming a priest “was always kind of in the back of my thoughts,” but witnessing the September 11 terror attacks and surviving a gas explosion while battling a blaze gave him the impetus to enter the priesthood.
Colucci responded along with thousands of other first responders to Lower Manhattan to help with the search and rescue operation after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in 2001. He arrived just as the North Tower collapsed.
“At that time, it really solidified my move to the priesthood,” Colucci said. “I saw the worst in humanity but then I saw the best in humanity.”
Colucci’s move into the priesthood were put on hold when he was seriously injured.
While fighting a gas fire in Manhattan in 2003, Colucci said a “huge explosion” tossed him backward and he struck his head. A blood clot formed in his brain, and he suffered from physical aliments and slurred speech for a time. The injuries were so serious that he received last rites.
He underwent two brain surgeries and was in the hospital for more than a month.
“I think God gave me a special grace to survive the explosion and gave me another life, essentially,” he said. “9/11, the gas explosion — I think he was leading me all along in the direction of the priesthood.” Colucci retired from the FDNY as a captain in 2005 after 20 years in the department.
Colucci never married or had children. After retiring, he entered the Mount Savior Monastery in Pine City, in western New York, where he studied and prayed for more than seven years.
When he entered St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers in 2012 to study for the priesthood, Colucci recalled with a laugh that he was “by far” the oldest student.
“I was older than most of the professors,” he added.
After four years at the seminary, Colucci was ordained on May 28 along with eight others and five Franciscan Friars of the Renewal by Cardinal Timothy Dolan during a ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. About 1,000 firefighters attended.
A day after his ordination, Colucci helped lead Mass at St. Francis church in West Nyack. Colucci said he and his parents — Donald and Marilyn, who still live in Bardonia — have been parishioners of the church since it was formed in the 1960s. He served as an altar boy there, and he is the first in his family to be a priest. Colucci’s parents also attended the first Mass he concelebrated.
“It feels very good to be back at my home parish,” he said. “This is a great place to start. I feel very comfortable here. … It’s good to start here and get some practice.”
Standing outside the St. Francis church this week before 9 a.m. Mass, parishioner Monica Powers-Meade, of New City, said the community was “very proud” of Colucci’s ordination.
“I think he will inspire parishioners … and he’ll be a catalyst for change for the community,” Powers-Meade said.
Lucille Pilacamp, another parishioner, said Colucci was doing well during his first few weeks on the job. “He’s a very good speaker. He gives a wonderful homily.”
Colucci will remain at St. Francis until he begins his new assignment at St. Mary, Mother of the Church in Fishkill on June 18.
Rather than retiring to a warmer locale during his twilight years, Colucci said he wanted to answer God’s call to become a priest later in life.
“Most retired firemen are in Florida playing golf and having a good time,” Colucci said with a laugh. “But I think he called me to be a priest, and I followed it. … He calls some guys very young, and some middle age, and some at a later age.”
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