Father Alphonse G. Rose, a Baltimore native who led St. Margaret Parish in Bel Air and then the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland, is being remembered for his bravery, compassion, intellect and service to the church.
Father Rose died July 22 at Stella Maris in Timonium, days after undergoing a heart procedure. He was 85.
“He had a God-given ability of mind and body, and he really cared about people,” Monsignor Thomas J. Donellan said. “You ask the people at any of the places he served, and you will find that he was well-liked and admired.
“Al and I were, in practice, brothers.”
The two were ordained priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1956, but were friends for more than seven decades, as both arrived as freshmen in 1944 at what was then Loyola High School in Towson.
“World War II was in full swing, and there weren’t that many people on campus,” Father Donellan said. “We shared the same values, and thought the same way, more or less, in terms of the church.”
Father Donellan remembers the two being young associate pastors on the west side of Baltimore County, instituting adult religious education programs that utilized course materials from what was then the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
“Father Rose was a leader in promoting the new liturgy, the (Second) Vatican Council and religious education,” Father Donellan said. “He was able to get a church built that reflected the needs of the new liturgy.”
Father Rose was assigned to St. Margaret in Bel Air in 1964, just as Vatican II reforms were being instituted. While he was an associate pastor when its new church was dedicated in 1969, Gloria Bailey, a volunteer there, said, “He oversaw everything that was being done with the building of the new church.”
That project was made possible by creative financing, as related by Deacon Patrick J. Goles, another longtime parishioner.
“We had a unique bond program,” he said. “Individuals loaned the church money, and you were paid back. Some said, ‘just keep it,’ but it was still a challenge, because we were a small, country parish back then.”
Deacon Goles and Father Rose both served on the faculty of the nearby John Carroll School. Just prior to being ordained a permanent deacon, Deacon Goles was appointed principal of St. Margaret School by Father Rose.
“I was the first non-religious person to become a principal in the archdiocese,” Deacon Goles said. “Father Rose used to say, ‘a turtle only goes forward by sticking its neck out.’ “
Deacon Goles said that Father Rose was not afraid to make a stand where he saw injustice.
“In the mid-1960s, blacks were essentially disenfranchised from voting in the town of Bel Air, and Father Alphonse and Father Tom Penn, who would later leave the priesthood, picketed the town hall.”
In 1970, the trial of H. Rap Brown, a Black Panther charged with inciting a riot in Cambridge, was moved to Bel Air.
“Father Rose opened up the school gym and set up cots for the civil rights folks, at some risk,” Deacon Goles said.
Bailey, meanwhile, said she was the first female cantor at St. Margaret, and among its first extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, all with the encouragement of Father Rose. She credits him with starting a Thanksgiving tradition at St. Margaret, a 10 a.m. Mass that turned into a food drive.
“Everyone brings bags of groceries to help feed the hungry and homeless,” she said. “You should see the truckloads of food going out of the church. That’s a great tribute to him.”
Bailey and her late husband, Kenneth, were longtime friends of Father Rose, who celebrated liturgies for their 25th, 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries.
Father Rose was rector of the cathedral from 1976 to 1981. His sister, Rosemary Albert, said he led fundraising for a restoration that included its bell tower.
“When people build something, they never think about deferred maintenance, which was an issue for the cathedral parish,” said Sue Abromaitis, a longtime cathedral parishioner and professor of English at Loyola University Maryland. “Father Rose initiated collections that were dedicated to that. He was always thinking ahead.
“I can’t think of any area he didn’t excel in. During his time at the cathedral, the population of worshipers, the number of baptisms, the people in RCIA, they all went up.”
Father Rose’s ministry included a sabbatical year of study in Rome, and being an associate pastor, at Church of the Ascension in Halethorpe, 1956-64; St. Margaret, 1964-70; Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Washington, 1982-84 and 1986-90; and St. Mark in Catonsville, 1990-91.
He also served as a chaplain of the Catholic Evidence League of Baltimore; at the School Sisters of Notre Dame Motherhouse, 1984-86; and at Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1991-98.
“When he was at the cathedral, it was one of those things, if you happened to wake up in the hospital, Father Rose would be there,” Abromaitis said. “The chaplaincy at Hopkins was an incredibly strenuous job. He was dedicated to Catholic patients, but he served all patients.”
Retired from active ministry in 1998, Father Rose took residence at Mercy Ridge in 2011.
He was once quoted as saying, “Growing old has its problems. Growing old as a priest has its joys.”
He was raised at St. Leo the Great Parish in Little Italy, and then the former St. Andrew Parish in East Baltimore, attending both of their parish schools. In 1948, he entered what was then Loyola College, before entering St. Mary’s Seminary and University.
“He was the ultimate priest in terms of taking care of people,” said his brother, Vincent Rose.
“I was always introduced as ‘Father Rose’s sister,’ never Fran,” said his sister, Fran Pilson. “I didn’t mind. He was always there, for our family, and others. Baptism, weddings or funerals, he was the priest people would call.”
“He was a great man, one of the greatest,” said Father Michael Roach, pastor of St. Bartholomew in Manchester. “He was one of the greatest liturgical scholars our archdiocese has seen, and a remarkable linguist, but never over-bearing about his expertise.
“After his name was read (at St. Bartholomew July 24), a couple came up to me in tears. He had married Jay and Saritha Uebel. He had that effect. People were drawn to him.”
A viewing will be held at Ruck Funeral Home on York Road in Towson July 26, 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.; and at the cathedral July 27, 2-8:30 p.m. A vigil service will be held at the cathedral July 27, at 8 p.m. The funeral Mass will be held July 28, at 11 a.m., at the cathedral.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Father Rose’s name may be made to the Retired Archdiocesan Priest Fund, 320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore MD 21201.
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