St. Casimir Parish in Canton lost one of its bright lights Aug. 22 when parishioner Victor Malabayabas was killed in his Baltimore City neighborhood after an apparent robbery attempt.
Malabayabas, a 60-year-old father of three, was a local success story, working his way from menial jobs as an immigrant to a brokerage position at financial powerhouse Morgan Stanley.
According to police reports, he was attacked and robbed in Canton Aug. 20, falling and striking his head. He died two days later in a local hospital.
Conventual Franciscan Father Dennis Grumsey, pastor at St. Casimir for the past 12 years, said he and his parishioners are trying to focus on the positive impact Malabayabas made on their community and church.
“Everybody is in a state of shock,” Father Grumsey said. “He was such a good man, and his death has really hit us pretty hard. We’re trying to help everyone focus on his life and the positive impacts he made, and not the way he died.”
Malabayabas was a stalwart member of St. Casimir since 2008, serving as a parish greeter at Masses, sharing the blessings from his garden with other parishioners and serving as a member of the Knights of Columbus. He also volunteered in his Southeast Baltimore Community in a variety of roles for the Friends of Patterson Park and the Patterson Park Audubon Society.
“He would do anything for anyone,” Father Grumsey said. “He served as one of our greeters and he was heavily involved with our annual festival. Anything we asked him to do, he stepped up 100 percent. He was just a good Catholic – strong in his faith and always so positive.”
Father Grumsey said Malabayabas and his wife, Carina, regularly walked to St. Casimir each morning to attend daily Mass.
Malabayabas had a passion for gardening; so he turned a small patch of green space at the parish into a place to grow vegetables. Father Grumsey said Malabayabas grew everything from tomatoes to zucchini and fresh herbs in the garden. He then would harvest his bounty and leave it for parishioners in the foyer of the church.
“The archdiocese was deeply saddened when we learned of the tragic death of Victor Malabayabas,” Archbishop William E. Lori said. “He was dedicated to his faith and his community and to creating a welcoming space for parishioners at St. Casimir. We pray for his family and the community of St. Casimir’s during this difficult time.”
A native of the Philippines, Malabayabas was profiled in a 2013 article by The Catholic Review.
A pilot for 11 years in his native country, Malabayabas immigrated to the United States in 1996. He worked as a dishwasher and ferry operator in New York before getting a temp job at Morgan Stanley. He put in long hours to study finance and eventually became a broker, working nearly two decades in cash management in Morgan Stanley’s Fells Point office.
His passion remained volunteering, however.
“I really love this community,” he said of Southeast Baltimore in the 2013 interview with The Catholic Review.
He said he believed it was important that his children, Greg and Kiera, saw their father volunteering.
“I want to expose them to what volunteering is,” he said. “That way they will remember.”
A viewing will be held at Kaczorowski Funeral Home in Dundalk Aug. 25, 4-9 p.m.; the Knights of Columbus Fatima Council No. 10137 will pray the rosary at 6:30 p.m. and the Knights’ 4th Degree Honor Guard will be present at his casket. St. Casimir will host a funeral Mass Aug. 26 at 11 a.m. Friday.
A Baltimore City Police Department spokesperson wrote in an email that it “is an open and active homicide investigation,” but provided no updates on a search for a suspect.
Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org
To view 1993 the profile of Malabayabas click below:
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