One Year

Sacred Heart Church hosted the one-year anniversary mass for Fr. Michael last week on March 13th, 2010. The mass was celebrated by Fr. Anthony Sorgie, long time family friend and classmate of my brother. My family announced the commencement of the Father Michael Memorial Scholarship which will be offered to one student from Sacred Heart School or Sacred Heart's CCD program to attend a Catholic high school in New York City. We will award $1,000 toward the secondary education of a student who has a good academic record and who is actively involved in the parish. An essay along with academic records and a letter of recommendation from a parishoner will be required for the application. More information will be available here and in the Sacred Heart bulletin as it becomes available.

Several hundred family members, SH parishioners as well as parishioners of Michael's former parishes, were in attendance. After the mass, fellowship was held in the school gymnasium where a video of Michael's last years was screened for the attendees.

Of note: There was a very nice booklet handed out at the end of the mass which included pictures of Michael along with some quotes from the prayer journal he kept during his cancer treatments. The family is somewhat concerned that some private information that is out of context might give those who do not know my mother, the impression that she is obsessed with money. This is not the case. My mother has been battling dementia for some time now and this is something that weighed hard on Michael's heart in his dying days, as it does on the hearts of all of her family. He was praying that her mind would become clearer. One consequence of my mother's dementia is a great confusion about numbers and an obsession with the mail. This has lead to a focus on bank statements which confuse her greatly. Though this is a perfectly common situation in the lives of persons fighting brain disease, taken out of context, it may make some think that my mother is greedy or sinfully obsessed with money, which is exactly the opposite of her nature. My mother has always been extraordinarily generous despite growing up poor and being of modest means - much like Michael - and she is neither greedy, nor immorally obsessed with money. I know that anyone who is familiar with my mother knows what a wonderful person she is. We apologize if this quote caused anyone any confusion.

Priest, Son, Brother, Friend

Fr. Michael Sepp was born into a modest New York family on March 11th, 1953. He was the first born son and the second child of Joan Duffy Sepp and Elmar Sepp. Elmar was an immigrant from Estonia who supported his new growing family by working as a carpenter. Joan had worked as a New York telephone company operator before settling into family life. They had six children by the time Michael was 17 years old. At the age of 24 he found God calling him to serve Him as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of New York. By the age of 29, he was ordained into the priesthood by Terence Cardinal Cooke in 1982. He served the parishes of St. Batholomew in Yonkers as a Deacon and then St. Rita's in Staten Island for his first parochial assignment as a priest. After serving the people of St. Rita's for six years, he chose to follow a call to become a missionary priest in South America. Michael loved the film "The Mission" and wanted to serve the poor. He went to Cochabamba, Bolivia to study Spanish while awaiting an assignment that never materialized. The political climate in Bolivia combined with a the death of his beloved Aunt Mary in New York, inspired him to return to New York where he felt he was needed and could do more. He was immediately assigned to Our Lady of Angels parish in the Bronx where he would serve for 6 years. There he honed his Spanish language skills. He soon found that there was a poor parish in Manhattan's Harlem that needed the help of a good priest. Michael was soon at Resurrection Church on West 151st Street. After six years of service as the pastor of Resurrection, Fr. Michael was then assigned to what would be his biggest challenge, Sacred Heart in the South Bronx. It was actually just over the Macombs Dam Bridge from Resurrection and an easy transition in some ways, but Sacred Heart, a much larger church and school, needed more attention and more of Fr. Michael's energy. He gave all of himself to Sacred Heart, as he did with each parish he was assigned to. A short time after taking the healm at Sacred Heart he was asked to add to that responsibility and take over as pastor of an additional church on Shakespeare Avenue called, St. Francis of Assisi. He certainly was a busy man and stayed that way until the end. Just days after his 56th birthday, on the night of March 13th, 2009. Fr. Michael Sepp gave up his earthly body and took his reward in Heaven.

This blog is meant as a tribute to Fr. Michael Sepp: an amazing priest, a perfect son, a loving brother and a dedicated friend. Feel free to post reply messages with nice or funny stories about Fr. Michael.