Father Michael C. Hogan, brother of the late Bishop Joseph L. Hogan, died Sept. 8, 2011, less than two weeks before he would have turned 86.
The priest had resided at St. John of Rochester Parish in Fairport since 1994 and had become an integral part of the parish, said Father Peter Clifford, pastor.
"He was a warm, gentle, humorous, loving, very generous man who is literally beloved by this parish. (His death) is causing nothing short of an emotional eruption in the parish," Father Clifford said.
Father Hogan was born in Lima, where he was baptized and confirmed at St. Rose Church. He attended St. Rose School and Lima High School before completing his seminary studies at St. Andrew’s and St. Bernard’s seminaries in Rochester. Bishop James E. Kearney ordained him June 2, 1951, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester.
After ordination Father Hogan served as assistant pastor at Geneva’s St. Francis de Sales Parish from 1951-53, and at Sacred Heart Cathedral from 1953-60. He also served as assistant pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Elmira from 1960-65 before returning to St. Francis de Sales to serve as assistant pastor from 1965-67. In 1967 he became Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s secretary, and he served in this capacity until Archbishop Sheen left Rochester in 1969 to become titular archbishop of Newport, Wales.
"He was asked by Archbishop Sheen to be his secretary and did so with great loyalty and remained close and connected with Archbishop Sheen in the years following (the archbishop’s) retirement from Rochester," said Father Peter Clifford, pastor of St. John of Rochester Parish in Fairport.
He then served as administrator of St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Honeoye Falls for one year before becoming that parish’s pastor in 1970. He left Honeoye Falls in 1975 to become pastor of St. Mary Parish in Corning, where he remained until 1982. He later served as pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Ithaca from 1982-87, and St. Mary Parish in Honeoye from 1987 until his retirement in 1994.
After retiring Father Hogan moved to St. John of Rochester, where he would live for the next 18 years. The parish celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination last June. Father Hogan visited dozens of sick and hospitalized parishioners each week, and he also regularly said Mass at a local nursing home as well as an independent-living facility for senior citizens.
"He had an incredible ministry to the sick, and to those who were hospitalized. This is all while saying the 6:30 a.m. daily Mass (at St. John of Rochester) Monday through Friday, and being in attendance at all weekend Masses for 18 years," Father Clifford said.
Father Hogan generously served his parishioners and all who needed him, and as a result he was beloved by many, Father Clifford added. He also was well-known for his remarkable wit, and could ignite "uproarious laughter" without demeaning others, he said.
"He was the ultimate priest. He was gentle, kind and loving. That was the way he conducted his priesthood throughout his life," he said.
Father Hogan will lie in state at St. John of Rochester, 8 Wickford Way, Fairport, from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 14 and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sept. 15. Bishop Matthew H. Clark will preside at Father Hogan’s funeral liturgy Sept. 15 at 10:30 a.m. at St. John of Rochester. Interment will follow at St. Rose Cemetery in Lima.
