IN MEMORY
Rev. Richard Veltri, SFM
1934-2011
March/April 2012
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On September 12, 2011, Scarboro Missions lost another of its members with the death of Fr. Richard James Veltri at Centenary Hospital in Scarborough, Ontario. He was 77 years of age. He is predeceased by his parents, Dominic and Jessie, and brothers Frank, Joseph, Ernie, Isadore and Robert. He is survived by his brother Louis and sisters Mary (Fuchs) and Teresa (Stanfield).
For many years, Fr. Richard had been suffering from cancer and put up a courageous fight. In his last years he was often heard to say, “We all have to carry whatever cross God leads us to. So I am offering mine.”
Fr. Richard was born in Port Arthur, Northern Ontario, on October 16, 1934. (Port Arthur was part of an amalgamation in 1970 that became the city of Thunder Bay.) After attending Port Arthur Collegiate, he studied at North Bay Teachers’ College and Lakehead University to become a teacher. While doing a teaching stint in the Bahamas, he met Scarboro missionaries working there and from that contact came his decision to join the Society.
After ordination in August 5, 1967, by Bishop E.Q. Jennings in Fort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario, Fr. Richard was assigned to Scarboro’s mission in Japan. He studied at the Franciscan Language School and at Sophia University in Tokyo, before beginning pastoral ministry in Nagoya and later Takanawa, Tokyo. Returning to Canada in 1974, he served in Scarboro’s Mission Information Department and as Secretary General for the Council.
Throughout the 1980s to the present, Fr. Richard greatly enjoyed serving the people of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Scarborough, as well as helping out at other parishes. In the early 1990s he received his Licentiate in Canon Law and his Masters in Canon Law at the University of Ottawa, and served on the marriage tribunal of the Archdiocese of Toronto as well as doing similar work for the Diocese of Thunder Bay.
Fr. Richard attracted many people to journey with him through life and formed many deep and lasting friendships. “He had a surprising number of friends from Japan, given that his time there was not that long, who remained good friends and contacts,” said Scarboro missioner Fr. Roger Brennan.
While in Japan, Fr. Richard learned to cook Japanese cuisine. “He was an excellent cook,” said Fr. Roger, who also recalled his capacity for creativity, not only expressed through his love of cooking, but also through his love of weaving and his art classes. “When he was healthy, he was an avid gardener,” said Fr. Roger. “He loved gardening. It was the real Italian peasant in him and he had a terrific garden.”
Friends enjoyed Fr. Richard’s kindness, his generosity and his wit. He was proud of his Italian heritage and had a great love of family and of children. His funeral at Scarboro Missions was one of the biggest Scarboro had seen in years as large numbers of people came to mourn his passing. Many laughed as they recalled Fr. Richard’s way of saying exactly what was on his mind, yet they loved him deeply and were thankful for his great love for them.
On September 15, 2011, the Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated by Fr. Jim Gauthier in the chapel at Scarboro Missions. Fr. Roger Brennan gave the homily. Following the service, Fr. Richard was laid to rest in Queen of Clergy Cemetery at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Scarborough where close to 50 Scarboro missioners have been buried. May he rest in peace.
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