Funeral Masses will be offered Sept. 11 and 14 for Conventual Franciscan Father Joseph Benicewicz, a Baltimore native and former president of Archbishop Curley High School In Baltimore. Father Benicewicz died unexpectedly Sept. 6 in Kensington, Conn. The 1978 graduate of Archbishop Curley was 64.
He served as president of his alma mater in Northeast Baltimore for four years, beginning in 2010.
Upon graduation from Archbishop Curley, Father Benicewicz entered the Franciscan Friars novitiate in Ellicott City. He attended St. Hyacinth College Seminary in Granby, Mass., where he earned a degree in philosophy in 1983.
He taught for a year at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, N.Y., and then continued his studies in theology at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, N.Y., where he earned a Master of Divinity in 1988.
He was ordained a priest on May 28, 1988, in Albany, N.Y. Following his ordination, he re-joined the faculty of St. Francis High School for 18 years. While at the school, he was a math and religion teacher, baseball coach, department chairperson, assistant principal, principal, and lastly president of St. Francis.
In 2005, he began a five-year term as treasurer of his religious community’s St. Anthony of Padua Province.
In 2010, he took over as president of Archbishop Curley High School where he served until being appointed pastor and rector of St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee, Mass, in 2014. His final assignment was as pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church in Berlin, Conn.
He was the son of the late Walter and Theresa (nee Niemczyk). He was predeceased by his brother, Walter, Jr., and is survived by his sister, Lorraine Ludwig.
Visitation hours will be on Sept. 10, 1-7 p.m., at St. Paul Catholic Church, 461 Alling St., Berlin, Conn., with a Franciscan wake service at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul Catholic Church.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church Sept. 14 at 11 a.m., followed by interment at St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Baltimore.
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