The first Filipino parish priest on New York’s Long Island has died after weeks of battling coronavirus, according to CBCP News.
Monsignor Romualdo “Boy” Sosing, a native of Northern Samar, died at a hospital on Sunday evening in NY or Monday morning in the Philippines. He was 67.
The priest was serving his second term as pastor of the Holy Name of Mary Parish in Valley Stream when he contracted the virus in early May.
“It is with great sadness that 6:15 tonight, Msgr. Sosing, surrounded by his family, had passed and is now at peace,” the parish said in a Facebook post.
The Holy Name of Mary School also expressed condolences for the priest who served the parish since 2011.
“Monsignor Rom was a man of great faith, who believed in the power of prayer, especially the rosary,” said Mrs. Pam Sanders, HNMS principal.
“He was a kind and gentle man, and he will be greatly missed,” she added.
Ordained priest for the Diocese of Catarman in 1977, Msgr. Sosing served the Diocese of Rockville Centre since 2004.
Previously, he served as administrator of St. Luke’s Church, Brentwood, and associate pastor of Notre Dame, New Hyde Park, and St. Dominic, Oyster Bay.
Msgr. Sosing became a US citizen in 2013.
A Filipino missionary based in Spain had also succumbed to Covid-19 on May 1.
Augustinian Fr. Gilbert Luis Centina III, an award-winning author, and poet, died in León city in northwest Spain. He was 72.
In the Philippines, the first priest to die from the disease was recorded in the Davao region.
Fr. Arnel Celis of the Diocese of Tagum died on April 27, and the first Covid-19 death in Tagum City.
