Deacon Joseph W. Loungo Sr., 85, who served the faithful in Glassboro and Mullica Hill, died on Sept. 15.
Retiring from active diaconate ministry in 2016 after nine years at Saint Bridget (later University) Parish in Glassboro, he continued to serve there until 2019, when he moved to Mullica Hill’s Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit.
Deacon Loungo continued in Mullica Hill as retired clergy until last year.
“He was a very likeable, kind-hearted man who loved being a deacon,” remembered his longtime brother in the diaconate, Deacon Robert Fanelli, of the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit.
“He would do anything for anybody,” Deacon Fanelli said.
Entering diaconate discernment in 1991 together, the two were both ordained March 15, 1997, by Bishop James T. McHugh.
After going their separate ways in parish assignments, they reunited in 2019 in Mullica Hill.
“I was just happy to be serving with him,” Deacon Fanelli said.
“It didn’t take long for the people to fall in love with him,” he continued, recalling the time when Deacon Loungo gave a presentation on the Blessed Mother to religious education students, and passed out rosaries to everyone.
“He was so kind-hearted. When he saw people, he smiled.”
A skilled carpenter, Deacon Loungo “was generous with his craft,” Deacon Fanelli said. “He would make birdhouses for people, and whatever else they asked.”
Born in Camden to Anthony and Anna Loungo, he was raised in Audubon Park.
After high school, Loungo was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving with the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 30th Artillery Brigade, Air Defense, in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged, having earned the Good Conduct Medal and the Marksman Badge, Rifle.
Following his military service, Loungo returned to Gloucester County, and on Sept. 10, 1966, he married Margaret Stapleton.
He began work as a tool and die maker in Westville before moving on to the print and manufacturing industry until 1980, when he took a job as a fabrications expert at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
After retiring from his time on the docks in 1995, he turned his talents to serve others in a new capacity by entering the permanent diaconate.
Father Michael Field, a retired priest of the Diocese of Camden, was Deacon Loungo’s pastor in Glassboro and Mullica Hill. Father Field said he remains grateful for “a very holy man of God.”
“He was a wonderful minister of God’s love, for his family, Church and country,” Father Field said.
“In any capacity, he was ready to assist and preach the Good News. I’m going to miss his friendship and wisdom.”
Noting Deacon Loungo’s “humble, approachable manner,” Father Field recounted a story that the deacon’s son, Michael, shared at his funeral Mass on Sept. 18.
A young man had told Michael about the friendship he and his fellow students struck up with his father, when as a college student at Rowan University in Glassboro, he lived across the street from the Loungos.
Deacon Loungo helped him and his student housemates with a project in their garage to create a “man cave.”
“In return, they helped him paint his house,” Father Field said.
Father Nicholas Dudo, vicar for clergy and current pastor of the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit, noted that while Deacon Loungo had stopped assisting in active ministry by the time he arrived in 2025, his reputation lived on.
“Parishioners have described him as being truly kind and gentle, and a man of great faith,” Father Dudo said.
In delivering the eulogy, Michael Loungo said that his father worked with his hands his entire life, be it creating and fixing things, or baptizing new Catholics: “He built many good things; he built them for others, and he put his whole self into it.”
“He kept building, he kept showing up, he kept serving others,” Michael Loungo said.
Deacon Loungo is predeceased by his parents, as well as his sisters, Ida Watkins and Joanne Hardymon.
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Margaret M. Loungo (nee Stapleton); children Christine (James) Skalamera, Regina (Jerrod) Gervasi, Joseph (Kelly) Loungo Jr. and Michael (Andrea) Loungo; grandchildren Bryant (Yanet) Loungo, Allyson (Brad) Loungo, Victoria (Jeremy) DiGiovanni, Jerrod Gervasi Jr., Gabriella Loungo, Yavara Loungo Cantillo and Arno Loungo Cantillo; and great-grandchildren Charlotte Loungo and Riley Newell.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept. 18 at Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit.
A Rite of Committal was celebrated privately for the family at New Saint Mary’s Cemetery & Mausoleum in Bellmawr.
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