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Reverend Thomas W. Buckley
June 16, 2022

Obituary

Reverend Thomas W. Buckley, 93, of Abington, Boston, passed away on Thursday June 16th peacefully at the Regina Cleri Home in Boston. He was born in Abington, son of the late State Auditor and Commissioner of Administration and Finance, Thomas H. and Helen (Moriarty) Buckley. She was formerly the Postmistress of the North Abington Post Office.

He was educated at the Boston Public Latin School and Harvard College. After receiving his Master’s Degree in the Classics from Fordham University, he entered St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, to pursue Theological Studies. Fr. Buckley was ordained to the priesthood by the late Richard Cardinal Cushing on February 2, 1955.

His first assignment was to the Sacred Heart Parish in Middleboro, from there he was assigned to higher studies of the Bible at the Catholic University of America and at schools in Rome and Jerusalem. Upon his return from the Holy Land, Fr. Buckley was assigned to the Catholic Student Center in Cambridge, where he served as a Chaplain at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. In 1965 he was appointed to the faculty of St. John’s Seminary in Brighton to teach New Testament studies. There he was also faculty moderator of the Irish Academy. He also taught the New Testament at the Daughters of St. Paul House of Studies, Jamaica Plain and St. Scholastica Priory, Still River. In 1981, Fr. Buckley was appointed pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Essex where he served as its last residential pastor until retiring in 2003. In retirement he assisted at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Halifax and at other churches on the South Shore and Cape Cod.

A member of the Catholic Biblical Association and the Society of Biblical Literature, Fr. Buckley was the author of several articles and books on the Bible including “Apostle to the Nations, the Life and Letters of St. Paul, “Seventy Times Seven: Sin Judgement and Forgiveness in Matthew" and a series of homiletic essays on the lectionary readings of the church year. Member of Charitable Irish Society, Massachusetts Historical Society and a former member of the Old Colony Harvard Club.

At each of the quinquennial reunions, he co-chaired the Memorial Service for his deceased classmates, Harvard, Class of 1949. He was also secretary for this class.

Fr. Buckley is survived by his sister Maryellen A. Harrington of West Roxbury. He was predeceased by his brother John R. Buckley of Abington and his sister Dr. Suzann C. Buckley of Keene, NH. He is also survived by eight nieces and nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and great grandnieces.

His funeral mass will be held on Friday, June 24th at 11:00AM in the St. Bridget’s Church, Abington. Burial will follow in the St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Rockland. Visitation will be on Thursday, June 23rd from 2:30-4:00PM in the Regina Cleri Home, 60 William Cardinal O’Connell Way, Boston and Friday, June 24th from 10:00-11:00AM in the St. Bridget’s Church, Abington.


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Blanchard Funeral Chapel
666 Plymouth Street
Whitman, MA 02382
781-447-0170