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ATLANTA--Father James M. Cummings, SM, died July 22 in the hospice
section of the Mother Theresa Home in Lemont, Ill. He was 83.
Father Cummings, who had been in deteriorating health for the past
several weeks, received the last sacraments the week before his death and
Communion just a short time before he died.
“He was a man who loved being a priest and who loved helping
people,” said Father James Hartnett, SM, president of Marist School.
“While he might like to sometimes have you think that he was big and
tough, he really had a gentle, caring heart.”
He served in the Atlanta Archdiocese for over 40 years, most
recently as chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Atlanta.
Father Cummings was born and raised in Chicago. Preparation for
his vocation to the priesthood started at an early age. He attended Quigley
Preparatory Seminary, the minor seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago, and
spent his senior year of high school and his first two years of college at St.
Mary’s Manor in Langhorne, Pa., the minor seminary of the Marist Fathers
and Brothers.
His devotion to the Blessed Mother steered his priestly vocation
to the Marists, according to Father Hartnett.
The next year of his seminary training was at the Marist
novitiate, Our Lady of the Elms, in Staten Island, N.Y., at the end of which he
professed his first vows in the Society of Mary on Sept. 12, 1937. He then
moved to Marist College in Washington, D.C., for six years of studies in
philosophy and theology. On June 10, 1943, Father Cummings was ordained a
priest by Bishop Michael J. Keyes, SM, of Savannah, in the community chapel at
Marist College.
Following his ordination, he taught at St. Mary’s Manor for
one year and served as a parochial associate at the Holy Name of Mary Parish in
New Orleans from 1944-47.
Father Cummings then came to Atlanta where he lived and worked for
nearly 40 years. His first assignment began in 1947 when he taught at Marist
College High School, “the old Marist,” as it is frequently called
with affection, then on Ivy Street in downtown Atlanta. Among various subjects,
he taught Latin and religion.
He remained at Marist until 1952, when he left the classroom and
became a parish associate next door at Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta.
In the summer of 1955, Father Cummings became pastor of St.
Francis Xavier Church in Brunswick, a parish which had been entrusted to the
care of the Marists in 1897 and which included extensive mission areas. At the
time, the parish included spiritual responsibilities for St. William’s
Church on St. Simons Island, the mission in Darien, and Mass every Sunday for
Catholics visiting Jekyll Island. During his time in Brunswick, he more than
doubled the size of the church building on St. Simons.
In 1961 Father Cummings entered a new phase of his priestly
service, becoming a preacher for what was known as the “Mission
Band,” a group of Marists who conducted retreats, renewals and missions in
parishes around the United States. Three years later, he returned to New
Orleans as pastor of Holy Name of Mary Parish. Then he returned to Atlanta for
another assignment in the summer of 1970 as associate pastor of St.
Joseph’s Church in Marietta.
In 1978 Father Cummings began the last and longest of his priestly
assignments, serving as chaplain of St. Joseph’s Hospital in northeast
Atlanta, which included living with his community of Marist priests and
brothers at nearby Marist School.
For the next 18 years, until his retirement, he provided spiritual
and pastoral care for thousands of patients and visitors at St. Joseph’s
as well as for the medical staff and the Sisters of Mercy who run the hospital.
In addition, Father Cummings offered service on weekends to various parishes
around the Archdiocese of Atlanta, notably at the Church of St. Andrew in
Roswell and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Cumming. Because of such help,
the diocesan clergy of Atlanta came to know him and regard him with deep
affection, including him in many of their social and professional activities.
In 1996 he retired from the chaplaincy of St. Joseph’s while
continuing to live in retirement at the rectory of Marist School. Suffering
from a number of seemingly minor health difficulties in his later years, his
health began to deteriorate significantly in recent months. Early in June he
was moved to the Mother Theresa Home on the outskirts of Chicago to be near his
brother and other family members.
Father Cummings was preceded in death by his parents, by his
brother, John, and by two sisters, Catherine and Lorraine. He leaves behind his
brother, Michael, and his family of Evergreen Park, Ill., as well as several
nieces and nephews.
A Mass was celebrated at Our Lady of the Assumption Church,
Atlanta, on July 31. Burial followed in the Marist section of Westview
Cemetery. Contributions may be made in memory of Father Cummings to the Marist
School Building Fund or St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. |
