Rossmoor resident was first pastor at St. Bartholomew’s R.C. Church in East Brunswick.
Monsignor J. Morgan Kelly, 84, founder and organizer of St. Bartholomew’s R.C. Church, East Brunswick, died Thursday at McCarrick Care Center, Somerset.
He was born in New Brunswick, on Nov. 13, 1915, one of five children of Joseph and Nellie Kelly, and was a resident of the Rossmoor. He graduated from St. Peter’s High School in New Brunswick, attended St. Benedict’s Preparatory in Newark, Seton Hall University and St. Mary’s Seminar in Emmitsburg, Md. He completed his theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminar in Darlington.
A member of St. Peter’s R.C. Church all his early life, he graduated from St. Peter’s grammar and high schools, where he was captain of the state parochial basketball champs of 1933-1934. From St. Peter’s, he went on to prepare for college at St. Benedict’s, where he also captained the basketball team. On March 17, 1945, he was ordained to the holy priesthood at St. Mary’s R.C. Church in Trenton.
After four years at Mount Holly he was assigned to St. Michael’s Children Home in Hopewell in 1949. During the same period, he also served as CYO director of Mercer County and taught for a time at Villa Victoria Academy in Trenton.
In 1958, he was reassigned for a brief period to parish work at Incarnation R.C. Church in Trenton before being tapped by the bishop as the founder and first pastor of St. Bartholomew’s R.C. Church on June 12, 1959.
He celebrated the first parish Mass at Memorial School in July 1959. By the end of the same year, the rectory had been built. Ground was broken for the church in May 1961 and the dedication of the church and other basic units followed in July 1962. The completion of the complex as it now exists reached fruition with the dedication of the school and convent on May 9, 1965.
Last year, he was awarded the Monsignor Harding Award by the alumni of St. Peter’s Schools for distinguished service to the church and community.
A Mass by Bishop Edward T. Hughes was held Sunday at St. Bartholomew’s Church, and Mass by Bishop Vincent De Paul Breen was held Monday morning, also at St. Bartholomew’s. Interment was at Holy Cross Burial Park, South Brunswick. Arrangements were by Rezem Funeral Home, 457 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick and E.R. Boylan, funeral director of Boylan Funeral Home of New Brunswick.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Bartholomew’s R.C. Church, 470 Ryders Lane, East Brunswick, 08816; to the McCarrick Care Center, 15 Dellwood Lane, Somerset, 08873 or to St. Peter’s University Hospital, 254 Easton Ave., New Brunswick, 08903.