Florida Catholic | Obituary :: Father Sylvestre

OBITUARY

Father Ernest Sylvestre, pastor, Christ the King

Published: 12.07.07

PERRINE | Although he had been pastor of Christ the King Parish only 15 months, Oblate Missionary Father Ernest Sylvestre wasted no time getting things done. After endearing himself to the people, he took on a huge project: raising funds to build a new church.

Those who knew him said such “energy, daring (and) risk-taking” were typical of the 73-year-old priest, who died Nov. 26 after battling leukemia.

“He was the type who would say, ‘OK, we can move that whole building over here.’ (He was) not afraid to take on things like that,” said Oblate Father Karl Davis, associate pastor at Christ the King.

Father Davis explained that the multiethnic community has been “displaced in its own space” since Hurricane Andrew ravaged its church in 1992. Masses are still being celebrated in what used to be the fellowship hall.

“It’s a daring thing to take on, building a new church. Within less than a year, he started a drive to build a new church and was able to call the community together,” Father Davis said. “He sort of picked the ball up again and there’s been a considerable amount of enthusiasm around it.”

Father Sylvestre, born April 21, 1934, in Providence, R.I., had been a priest for 46 years. He was ordained in Rome in 1961 and served in the Philippines from 1962 to 1991.

He left the Philippines to serve as assistant bursar general for the Oblate community, based in Rome, then studied in Israel until 1996, when he took up a parish assignment in Chula Vista, Calif. He served briefly in Guadalajara, Mexico, and then returned to California in 1998, becoming pastor of a parish in Oakland and district superior of the Oblates.

In 2000, he came to Florida, serving as a pastor in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. He was named pastor of Christ the King in August 2006.

“I think what he did for fun was be a priest,” said Robert Sylvestre, recalling how his brother, the eldest of five children, had wanted to be a priest at a very young age.

“He died exactly the way he wanted,” Sylvestre said, noting that his brother had been “absolutely alert throughout this ordeal and prayerful right to the end.”

“He told me he wanted to die in the presence of his fellow Oblates, family and friends. As it turned out, the two priests resident here in the rectory were here, my wife and I were here, and there were three ladies from the parish, two of whom were nurses.”

Father Sylvestre had spent as many as six weeks in the hospital during the last six months, after doctors diagnosed the chronic anemia he had been experiencing for the past two or three years as leukemia. When it became clear that only a miracle would save him, he opted to go home to the rectory and return to the hospital two or three times a week for infusions of platelets.

“The people embraced him, they cared for him, especially during his time of illness. I think that really touched him deeply so a bond was forged in a relatively short period of time. He will be missed,” Father Davis said.

Archbishop John C. Favalora was scheduled to preside at the Mass of Christian Burial Dec. 4 at Christ the King. More services and burial at the Oblates’ Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in Tewksbury, Mass., burial at St. Joseph Cemetery in East Chelmsford, Mass.

Father Sylvestre is survived by one sister, Doris Jacques, brothers Robert and Raymond, all of Rhode Island, as well as many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by one brother, Richard.

Donations in Father Sylvestre’s memory may be made to Christ the King Building Fund, 16000 S.W. 112 Ave., Miami, FL 33157-2804.

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OBITUARY

Father Ernest Sylvestre, pastor, Christ the King

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