Father Szymkowiak, former Redemptorist pastor in Baltimore, dies at 88

Redemptorist Father Gerard John Szymkowiak, a former pastor of St. Michael in Fells Point and Sacred Heart of Jesus-Corazón de Jesus in Highlandtown who was known for his attention to liturgy and his hardworking spirit, died Oct. 3. He was 88.

Following his 1968 ordination, Father Szymkowiak was assigned to assist at St. Michael in Fells Point, becoming pastor in 1975 and serving there until 1981. 

After assignments in Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania, he returned to Baltimore in 2005 to serve as pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus-Corazón de Jesus until 2011 when he was named rector of St. John Neumann Residence, the retirement community for Redemptorists in Timonium. He served there until 2014 and later ministered in Pennsylvania.

Barbara Aupperley, a parishioner of Sacred Heart of Jesus-Corazón de Jesus in Highlandtown, knew Father Szymkowiak well when he served at her former parish of St. Michael. Aupperley, a former cantor at St. Michael, described Father Szymkowiak as one of her family’s “go-to” priests. He concelebrated her wedding Mass nearly 54 years ago, she said, and he celebrated other baptisms, weddings and funerals for four generations of her family. 

“Father Gerard always embraced every aspect of his priesthood with great dedication and enthusiasm,” Aupperley told the Catholic Review. “He was great to work with, as his passion for the task at hand was so contagious. He was a great priest who would go the extra mile in all his undertakings.”

Father Szymkowiak’s obituary from the Redemptorists noted that he had a reputation for careful attention to the church and rectory wherever he served. In particular, he was known for his green thumb.

It quoted Redemptorist Father Denis Sweeney as saying, “He was always about making the sanctuary beautiful and a fitting place to adore the Lord.” The obituary also quoted Father Szymkowiak’s mother as once observing that his religious community always sent him to places to “fix them up.”

The Redemptorist obituary added, “A favorite word out of Father Gerard’s mouth was ‘beautiful,’ often dragged out in his wonderful Baltimore accent.”

Father Szymkowiak was born Nov. 29, 1936 in Baltimore. He was baptized and confirmed at St. Casimir in Canton, where he attended the parochial school.

He studied at St. Mary’s Minor Seminary in North East, Pa., and made his novitiate at St. Mary’s  in Ilchester, where he professed first vows on Aug. 2, 1962. He undertook philosophical studies at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary and St. Alphonsus College, and completed theological studies at Mount St. Alphonsus, where he earned a bachelor of divinity degree in 1968 and a master’s degree in religious education in 1969. He was ordained to the priesthood at Mount St. Alphonsus June 23, 1968.

A funeral Mass was offered Oct. 9 at Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Ephrata. 

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