Bishop announces priest retirements

Bishop Dennis Sullivan announces the retirement of six priests of the Camden Diocese next month.

The half dozen priests, who will each retire July 1, have ministered as pastors and administrators, in the Camden Diocese but also Washington, D.C. and beyond; in the suburbs and the city. They have been involved in family life, pro-life, youth and social justice ministries as well as parish work. The retiring priests are:

— Msgr. Joseph V. DiMauro, pastor of Holy Angels, Woodbury.

— Kenneth P. Hallahan, Senior Priest and In Residence, Sacred Heart, Camden.

— Msgr. Michael T. Mannion, Director of Community Relations, Part Time Parochial Vicar, Most Precious Blood, W. Collingswood and In Residence, Mary, Queen of All Saints, Pennsauken. Msgr. Mannion continues in residence at Mary, Queen of All Saints Parish.

— Father Terry M. Odien, Vicar for Clergy and In Residence, Christ Our Light, Cherry Hill.

— Msgr. Joseph W. Pokusa, Senior Priest and In Residence, Holy Child, Runnemede. Msgr. Pokusa continues in residence at Holy Child Parish.

— Father William S. Vandegrift, pastor, Saint Thomas the Apostle, Brigantine.

Msgr. DiMauro, 75, has been pastor of Holy Angels since 2010 and previously served as pastor of Saint Agnes Parish, Blackwood, 1993-2005; Saint Patrick, Woodbury, 2005-10; and Saint Matthew, National Park, 2010.

Before becoming a pastor, Msgr. DiMauro also devoted years to family life ministry, serving as director of the Camden Diocese’s Family Life Bureau; chairman of the Common Policy for Pastoral Marriage Preparation; diocesan coordinator for the White House Conference on Families in 1980; and secretary of Family Life, among other positions.

He also has served the diocese on the Buildings and Real Estate Committee, Planning Commissions, Cemetery Committee, College of Consulters, Presbyteral Council and other bodies.

Born in Philadelphia, he attended Resurrection College in Ontario, Canada, and was ordained May 20, 1967.

Father Hallahan, 70, has been serving as a senior priest since 2010, first at Our Lady of Hope, Blackwood, and for the past two years in Camden.

He was pastor of Saint Joan of Arc Parish, Camden, 2000-09, and was parochial vicar at Saint Joseph Pro-Cathedral, Camden, for the decade previous.

He studied in Rome at Academia Alfonsiana and then earned a doctorate in theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, He was ordained July 26, 1975.

Father Hallahan was involved with the Camden Diocese’s Parenting for Peace and Justice program and served as local coordinator for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Msgr. Mannion, 71, has been director of community relations for the diocese since 2008.

Before he was ordained, he worked for a short time with Saint Teresa of Kolkata. Since his ordination on Dec. 17, 1971 in Rome, he has been involved in campus ministry at Rowan State College (now Rowan University), The Catholic University of America in Washington, and Rutgers-Camden; been spiritual director at the Saint Pius X Spiritual Life Center in Blackwood; and served as rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Camden.

He also has been a popular pro-life speaker and spiritual director of Project Rachel. In recent years he has been spiritual advisor to the Diocesan Council of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, associate state chaplain of the New Jersey Knights of Columbus, and chaplain of the FBI – Philadelphia Division.

Father Odien, 69, has been Vicar for Clergy of the Diocese of Camden since 2006 after serving as pastor of Holy Saviour Parish, Westmont, for nearly a decade, 1996-2005.

Father Odien studied at Christ the King Seminary, Saint Bonaventure, New York, and LaSalle University, Philadelphia. He was ordained May 17, 1973, and spent many years in education, first as a teacher at Paul VI High School, Haddonfield, and later as director of religious education for the diocese. In the 1990s he served a term as president of the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership.

He also served as a chaplain for Samaritan Hospice and as director of Health Care Ministry for the diocese.

Msgr. Pokusa, 73, in recent years has been both a senior priest in Runnemede and one of the church’s Missionaries of Mercy.

Over the course of his priestly ministry, he has shouldered both administrative and pastoral responsibilities. He holds a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and served for years as chancellor and served for a time as Judicial Vicar of the diocese. From 2005-10, he worked for 10 years on the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington.

He was pastor of Saint Teresa Parish, Runnemede, 1991-99; Saint Gregory, Magnolia, 2000-02; and Christ the King, Haddonfield, 2002-05.

He was ordained May 23, 1970.

Father Vandegrift, 72, has been pastor of Saint Thomas Parish since 2010.

He previously served as administrator of Saint Augustine Parish, Ocean City, 1994-97 (after serving there as parochial vicar for three years); pastor of Saint James, Penns Grove, 1997-2003; and pastor of Saint Raymond, Villas, 2004-10.

Born in Philadelphia, he studied at Mount Saint Mary’s, Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained May 24, 1980.

He was parochial vicar at Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bellmawr, 1980-83; Saint Matthew, National Park, 1983-87; and Saint Maria Goretti, Runnemede, 1987-92. In addition to his parish duties, he served as spiritual moderator for Separated and Divorced and for New Beginnings.