Reverend James Francis Leary, Class of 1968, died Tuesday, September 21, 2021. Fr. Leary served in various parishes and assignments in the Archdiocese prior to his retirement, most recently as the Pastor of Saint Peter Claver Church in West Hartford. We extend our deepest sympathy to Fr. Leary’s loved ones at this time of loss and offer them our prayerful support.
- A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in the Chapel of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center, 467 Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield, on Thursday, September 30, 2021, beginning at 11:00 AM. A visitation will take place in the Chapel prior to the Funeral Mass beginning at 9:00 AM.
- Burial will follow at Old St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Waterbury.
May he rest in peace.
Clergy Bio – Rev. James Francis Leary
A native of Waterbury, Rev. James Francis Leary attended SS. Peter and Paul Grammar School and Sacred Heart High School within the city. Upon deciding to study for the priesthood, he went to St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield during his collegiate years and was then sent to St. John Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, to study philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Hartford at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford by the Most Reverend Joseph F. Donnelly on May 23, 1968. Fr. Leary’s first assignment was as an assistant at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Hartford. He then returned to St. Thomas Seminary, working there for several years as an instructor. Moving back to parish ministry, he served at St. Timothy Church in West Hartford. In addition to parish work, Fr. Leary served at different points as Chaplain of St. Francis and Hartford Hospitals, a member of the Presbyteral Council, and Dean of multiple Deaneries in the Archdiocese. As a pastor, he led the people of St. Joseph Church in Bristol and then St. Peter Claver Church in West Hartford, where he would remain until his retirement in 2015.