Father Joseph Raymond Ferrara, 73, a former pastor, teacher and Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Camden, died Dec. 8. He was 72.
Since 2019, he had been retired from active ministry.
Born July 11, 1951, in Philadelphia, Father Ferrara undertook studies at Saint Francis seminary in Loretto, Pa., before being ordained a priest of the Diocese of Camden by Bishop George H. Guilfoyle on May 20, 1977.
For the first three decades of his ministry, he served at high schools throughout South Jersey, teaching religion at Holy Spirit, Absecon, and Paul VI, Haddonfield, where he was also chairman of the Religion Department. He later became vice-principal at Saint James, Carneys Point, and Saint Joseph, Hammonton.
In 2004, he was appointed the Diocese’s vicar for clergy, a role in which he served until 2007.
He was pastor of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish, Egg Harbor Township (2000-04); Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Berlin (2006-09); Saint Simon Stock, Berlin (2009-10), and Holy Trinity, Margate, where he served from 2010 until his retirement.
Father John Vignone, a retired priest of the Diocese of Camden, enjoyed a friendship with Father Ferrara for more than 50 years, beginning when the two met at a seminarian get-together in Wildwood in 1969.
In addition to the camaraderie and fellowship they shared, their priestly ministries intersected occasionally, as they taught religion for five years together at Paul VI High School. Father Vignone also followed Father Ferrara as pastor of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish in Egg Harbor Township.
“Joe was an incredible priest, devoted to his friends and family,” Father Vignone remembered, adding that he “cared for all the students he taught and the parishioners he served.”
“I’m going to miss our friendship. We were like brothers.”
A viewing for Father Ferrara will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 13 at Saint Simon Stock Parish, 178 White Horse Pike, Berlin. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m., with Bishop Dennis Sullivan presiding. Father John J. Vignone will be the homilist. Interment will follow in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Berlin, NJ.
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