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Father Rofrano
Longtime pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem was 90Pallottine Father Peter J. Rofrano, S.A.C., the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in East Harlem, Manhattan, died May 19 at Lenox Hill Hospital. He was 90. Father Terzo Vinci, S.A.C., pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Yonkers and provincial delegate of the Pallottines' Italian Province, offered the Funeral Mass at the East Harlem church on May 25. He also was homilist. Father Rofrano had served as pastor of the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel since 1986. It was his second assignment in the post; he previously was pastor there from 1956 to 1965. He also was pastor of St. Ann's, his home parish in East Harlem, 1975-1986, and served there earlier, and he did fund-raising work for the Pallottine Fathers. He also served in the Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Brooklyn and Ogdensburg. For the Pallottine Society, he served as provincial delegate from the Italian Province and as consultor to the province. At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he presided over the 100th anniversary of the papally ordered crowning of the Madonna in 2004. Father Rofrano was known as a good administrator. He built two convents and a new school during his first pastorate there. He also initiated a Latin Tridentine-rite Mass in the parish, which was once mainly Italian but which is now ethnically diverse. At his last public Mass, he spoke to a group of high school Latin students attending the Tridentine Mass, telling them, "Be strong, remain strong in your faith. After all, as Catholics we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior here with us at the Mass. What else do we need?" Father Rofrano also was very involved in the famous Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in mid-July, and he was active in the archdiocesan Italian Apostolate for many years. "He was a very dedicated priest, very generous, and a great administrator," said Father Vinci in an interview. "In his last years, he suffered a lot but he never complained," Father Vinci said. "I believe that, like Pope John Paul II, he united his suffering with our Lord, Jesus Christ, on the cross." Born in East Harlem, Father Rofrano entered the Pallottine Order's Italian Province from the parish. Preparing for the priesthood, he studied philosophy and theology at Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained there in 1939. He is survived by a sister, Mary Fitzgerald. The Mount Carmel Tridentine Mass group will celebrate a Month's Mind Memorial Requiem Mass for Father Rofrano at the East Harlem Church on Saturday, June 23, at 1 p.m. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, Queens.