In Memory

Rev. Patrick Moore, S.F.M.
1911–2004

By Frank Hegel, S.F.M.
March 2005

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Fr. Pat Moore died peacefully in Sudbury, Ontario, on November 20, 2004, just weeks before his 93rd birthday. Born on December 27, 1911, in Ingersoll, Ontario, Patrick John Moore was the first of three children to John J. Moore and Frances Moore. He studied for the priesthood with Scarboro Missions at St. Francis Xavier Seminary and was ordained on September 23, 1934, in London, Ontario, by Bishop Kidd.

After assisting at parishes in Ontario, Fr. Pat sailed for China in 1936, becoming immersed in language study at Lishui and spending time with Scarboro Father Craig Strang at Tsingtien. He returned to Canada after just a year due to ill health.

He was appointed to the St. Francis Xavier Seminary staff in 1938 and again in 1943. In between these two postings, he served the Hamilton Diocese and the Chinese Catholic Mission in Vancouver.

In 1944 Fr. Pat went to the Dominican Republic to serve the parishes of Bayaguana, Monte Plata and Boya. He left in 1947 to accompany Scarboro's Msgr. McGrath on a Fatima pilgrim tour in the United States.

In 1948, Archbishop Pittini of Santo Domingo delegated Fr. Pat to go to Fatima in Portugal to obtain a pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady of Fatima. After having the statue blessed in a private audience with the Holy Father, Fr. Pat flew to Santo Domingo. He arrived there in June 1948 and for the next nine years he preached the message of Fatima, travelling nearly 300,000 miles by land, sea and air throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada, the Yukon and Alaska. In 1959 he led a pilgrimage to the Philippines.

Wherever he went, he visited parishes, preaching and holding public recitations of the Rosary in the streets. There were also radio and television programs featuring the statue of Our Lady.

From 1963-1982, Fr. Pat served as director of the shrine at St. Mary's, Ontario, spending the summer months there and the remainder of each year travelling and spreading the Fatima message.

In 1982 he embarked on a year-long tour throughout the Philippines, Australia and Thailand, followed by another visit to the Dominican Republic.

Early in 1984 he received the news that he had Lou Gehrig's disease. Doctors gave him two years to live. After many prayers to Our Lady in Fatima and to St. Theresa in Lisieux, France, his health began to improve.

Then, in May of that year, Fr. Pat fell while riding his bicycle in Sudbury, Ontario, and broke his femur in three places. The injury required three operations in three years and forced him into retirement. He spent the next years with the D'Aloisio family in Sudbury until his death last November. He had been a priest for 70 years.

Fr. Jack Lynch, Superior General of Scarboro Missions, along with Fr. Vic Vachon who served with Fr. Pat in the Dominican Republic, drove to Sudbury for the wake at St. Patrick's Church, attended by approximately 150 people. Fr. Jack presided at the funeral liturgy and gave the homily. Concelebrating were Fr. Vachon, Bishop Plouffe and nine other area priests.

Fr. Pat is buried in the D'Aloisio family plot in Parklawn Cemetery in Sudbury. As Bishop Plouffe said in his commendation at the end of mass, it was remarkable to see the love and generosity of this family for a priest who was not even a relative. And they did so for the last 20 years of his life. Their six children were the pallbearers.

Members of Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario, were also present. Immediately after the burial, they received the statue of Our Lady of Fatima to be kept at Madonna House as Fr. Pat wished and arranged.

Fr. John Comiskey wrote: "I heard the news of Fr. Moore's death and wanted to express my sympathy to the members of Scarboro Missions. Fr. Moore visited our family home many times when I was a kid, and even prior... on the night before I was born. That night he blessed my mother and said that I was going to be a priest. He may have said this to countless other parents, but on that night he was right! I will remember Fr. Moore for his kindness, holiness and great faith. He was an inspiration to me as a kid and I am very glad I had the opportunity to tell him that after my ordination."

May he rest in peace.

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