Father Anthony Rucando, pictured here after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Our Lady of Grace church and other buildings, prepares to depart the parish on June 30. File Photo.
“It’s not that I’m leaving you. I’m taking your love with me.”
Father Anthony Rucando calls his impending departure from Our Lady of Grace “bittersweet.” He doesn’t, as he puts it, “look forward” to moving on, but in the Catholic Church, protocol states that priests have the opportunity to apply, at 71, for “senior priest status.” Father Rucando turns 71 on June 28, and June 30 will be his last day at OLG. After six and a half years here, the much-loved pastor is leaving for St. Anastasia’s parish in Douglaston.
“For lots of reasons, it’s time,” he said, noting that he will retain this new senior status until he must retire in four years. Canon law in the Roman Catholic Church requires retirement by both priests and bishops at age 75.
Fr. Rucando has been serving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, which manages more than 250 schools and parishes in Brooklyn and Queens, for 45 years. He was ordained on May 30, 1970, and spent the next ten years as a parochial vicar in Brooklyn. Just three years after his installation at OLG, the venerable priest saw the church — along with its school, convent, and rectory — through the destruction that came with Superstorm Sandy, and the months of repairs thereafter. The buildings were extensively damaged, with floors and all the pews needing complete restoration. The church was closed from October 2012, when Sandy hit, until the following April.
“I leave knowing I’ve done my best and seen wonderful people do their best as we’re all challenged to do and be in our faith,” said Fr. Rucando. “We’re not here for ourselves – we’re here for others.”
The pastor called his successor – Father Marc Swartvagher – a “very good choice” who’s on “Facebook, Twitter, and all that stuff.” The new pastor starts at OLG on July 1 and is currently on a 1,400-mile, 29-day bikeathon from Florida to New York, to promote vocations to the priesthood.
Fr. Rucando will continue to celebrate the sacraments with his new Douglaston parish, remaining available to help in the diocese. “In some aspects I will be more free to be the priest I was ordained to be,” he said.
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