Deacon Joseph Fitzherbert Glasgow Sr., pastoral minister at Rochester’s Roman Catholic Community of the 19th Ward, died Dec. 18, 2004 at the age of 84.
The 19th Ward community, which comprises St. Monica’s, St. Augustine’s and Our Lady of Good Counsel churches, deeply mourned the loss of “Deacon Fitz,” as he was known, according to Father Robert Werth, who served as the community’s pastor from 1992 to June, 2004.
“There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as strength,” Father Werth said, noting a phrase many people used to describe the deacon. The priest said Deacon Glasgow was “graceful — meaning full of God’s grace — and even-keeled” and said “he bore struggles with great dignity and had the energy of a teenager.”
Sister Marie Susanne Hoffman, SSJ, the 19th Ward’s pastoral administrator, wrote in the community’s Dec. 26 bulletin that “Deacon Fitz encouraged us to be a holy parish family, a family where the presence of God is alive and has center place. He was especially eager to seek the presence of God in those who needed special care, those who were suffering, those who were in need, those who were marginalized or broken.”
Deacon Glasgow was born in British Guiana, now Guyana, in South America. In his homeland, he served as a lay parish worker. He moved to Rochester in 1989 and began his career here in 1990 as a pastoral visitor, later becoming pastoral minister at St. Monica. He was ordained a permanent deacon in 1996.
Deacon Glasgow was active in ministering to Caribbean Catholics of the Rochester Diocese, and helped organize such events as the annual Diocesan Caribbean Mass.
Deacon Glasgow is survived by his wife Daphne, several children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as other relatives and many friends.
Bishop Matthew H. Clark presided at his funeral Mass on Dec. 23 at St. Monica. Interment took place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Rochester.
