Father Vincent J. Termine

Father Vincent J. Termine, former pastor of Most Precious Blood Parish in Brooklyn, New York and beloved brother and uncle, died December 26. He was 93. He served God for 69 years as a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and is survived by many whose lives he touched. Father Termine was born March 4, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. One of five children of the late Charles and Mary Termine, he graduated magna cum laude from St. John's University and entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, Long Island, at age 20. He was ordained a priest on April 11, 1944 and started his priesthood at the age of 24 at the Church of Saint Michael-Saint Edward in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. There, he gained notice for his dedication to the youth of the parish. He also served as chaplain for Brooklyn and Cumberland hospitals, as well as for the old Raymond Street Jail. In 1950, Father Termine was assigned to St. Rocco's Church in Park Slope, where he helped build a youth center. A year later, he was transferred to Saint Marks Church in Sheepshead Bay. There he said Mass at a military tuberculosis hospital in Manhattan Beach. Father Termine next served at Saint Blaise Church in Crown Heights (now the Church of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Blaise) and then, Saint Francis of Paola Church. He also served as the Catholic chaplain for the Brooklyn Sanitation Department. In 1967, Father Termine was transferred to Most Precious Blood Parish in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn. The old church was deteriorating at the time, and Father Termine had to shut it down and move services across the street to the parish school. Most Precious Blood School also faced problems as it was in need of a new teaching order, which was hard to find. Father Termine addressed all of the parish's challenges with determination and tenacity. After a long search, he found an order of nuns from Italy and India to run the school and teach the local children. He then raised the more than one million dollars necessary to rebuild Most Precious Blood Church, and dedicated the new Church building on January 4, 1976. He regularly drew more than 2,000 faithful attendees to the Church's weekly Masses. He served as pastor of Most Precious Blood Parish for 27 years. One of his greatest challenges during his tenure at Most Precious Blood Church came in the mid-1970s. Gerard Papa, then a local law student, approached Father Termine, and asked to use the Church hall so the team he coached could play in the Catholic Youth Organization. His team, the Flames, was integrated - a rarity at the time. Father Termine believed in the integrated team, and gave them permission to use the Church bingo hall for basketball practice. Through Father Termine's support and dedication, the Flames overcame racial strife to become the city's largest and most successful integrated youth basketball program. As Father Termine once said, "When kids play together, they learn to get along together." To this day, the Flames' local league bears Father Termine's name in honor of the support and love he showed them all these years. Father Termine retired as pastor in 1995 but continued to say Mass at the church regularly. He lived at his home in Coney Island until 2009, when he went to live on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, with his brother John and his sister-in-law Virginia. Father Termine quickly adopted Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Johns Island as his new spiritual home and said Mass on Sundays there until late last year. Father Termine is survived by his brothers, Dr. Charles Termine and his wife, Eleanor, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Dr. John Termine and his wife, Virginia, of Kiawah Island, South Carolina, as well as ten nieces and nephews and numerous great nieces and nephews.