By Gretchen Keiser

Father Joseph Cavallo, a former pastor and campus minister in the archdiocese was remembered Nov. 12 as a priest "of the abandoned, the poor," in a funeral Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta.

The priest, who had been ill for the past two years, died Nov. 7 at the Shrine, where he spent his last years as a priest. He was pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, Atlanta, and for a number of years campus minister to Catholic students at Emory University and Atlanta University. He was 46.

Bishop James P. Lyke, OFM, was the principal celebrant at the Mass, which was concelebrated by over 60 priests of the Atlanta archdiocese. Father Gerry Conroy, a Glenmary priest working in areas of social justice, gave the homily.

Migrant workers, Southern textile workers seeking to form a union, and civil rights leaders were among those who "found Joe" when they came to Catholics looking for support, Father Conroy said. "The call to justice was a call he always heard and understood."

The priest chose the reading from Luke's Gospel where Jesus says the Spirit of God "has anointed me ... to bring the good news to the poor."

"I think Joe's selection of this passage represents that he understood it and loved it ... His constant choice was to live at the side of the poor," Father Conroy said.

Several hundred friends and former parishioners attended the Mass, in which the Shrine choir and Our Lady of Lourdes soloist Janis Griffin sang contemporary hymns and traditional Gospel music.

At the end of the Mass, Shrine pastor Father John Adamski read a poem written for her uncle by Caroline Cavallo, his niece who dances with the Danish ballet.

Bishop Lyke thanked Father Cavallo's mother, and his brother and sisters "for the gift of your son and brother, Joseph" to the archdiocese. "Remain proud that this man did wonderful things for this archdiocese," he said. He also thanked the priests and staff of the Shrine for their care of Father Cavallo, and urged all the priests who attended to respond to the call for justice.

"We must be signs of care and compassion for the poor and agents of the justice of God, no matter where we minister," Bishop Lyke said.

A prayer service, led by Father Henry Gracz, was held Nov. 11 at the Shrine.

Born in California, the son of an Air Force career man, the late Joseph Cavallo, Sr., Father Cavallo began studying for the priesthood when he was in high school and originally planned to serve the diocese of Trenton, NJ. However, then Atlanta Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan persuaded him and his New Jersey bishop that the Atlanta archdiocese needed priests urgently. By that time the Cavallo family had settled in Marietta, near Dobbins Air Force Base.

As a result, he completed his studies at St. Meinrad's School of Theology in Indiana, where he received a Masters of Divinity and was ordained June 27, 1970 at the new parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, Smyrna, where he had worked while a seminarian.

Father Richard Morrow, then St. Thomas pastor, said five seminarians, including Cavallo, were sent to help him launch the new parish, and they went door-to-door canvassing the area and setting up and organizing activities. "We all lived together and it was there that they put together what they believed the priesthood to be," Father Morrow said.

Father Cavallo served as an assistant pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sacred Heart, and St. Jude's, all in Atlanta, and St. Thomas in Smyrna before beginning a long tenure in campus ministry.

He served Catholic students at the Emory University campus from June 1977 to June 1981 and then Atlanta University students from June 1981 until 1985. While Atlanta University chaplain he lived at St. Anthony's parish in the West End and was administrator for two years of Holy Trinity parish in Peachtree City from 1983 to 1985, and administrator of St. Pius X parish in Conyers. In February 1986 he was named pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, where he remained until 1989.

Father Adamski said that as a priest "he was very comfortable dealing with the marginalized, in situations where there wasn't a church presence." He "was interested in making the connection" between the church and people on the fringes of society, Father Adamski said.

He and Father Gracz were the first chaplains appointed to help the Atlanta chapter of Dignity, an organization representing gay and lesbian Catholics. At different times he was involved with the rights of workers, with the Catholic Church position supporting labor unions and the right of workers to organize unions, and with conflicts between corporate responsibility and ethics.

The Cavallo family has been active in the church, particularly in Marietta. Father Cavallo's grandmother, Carrie Elfner, was parish secretary at Holy Family from its foundation until her retirement. His mother, Ruth, has been secretary at St. Joseph's in Marietta for many years and his brother, Richard, works for Paulist Communications.

"He was active with human rights and human dignity. Those were the kinds of things he cared about," his brother said. If he believed there was wrong, "he tried to right it, without regard for what people thought of him." He was also "a good uncle" to his niece and nephews and "a very giving person."

In addition to his grandmother and his mother, Father Cavallo is survived by two sisters, Dr. Bette Potter of Atlanta and Mrs. Ann McCommon of Smyrna; his brother, Richard, of Marietta, one niece and six nephews.