Rev. Gerard Bolduc

1941 - 2014

Rev. Gerard Bolduc

Rev. Gerard R. Bolduc, OMI, 72, of Belleville, Ill., born May 23, 1941, in Lewiston, Maine, died Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, in St. Louis, Mo.

Father Gerry began his education at the Oblate College in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1959 and continued in Ottawa, Ontario, at St Joseph's in 1962. He also received education at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Ontario, the Oblate College in Natick, Mass., Weston College in Cambridge, Mass., the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a doctorate in social work, the School of Theology in Andover, Mass., and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. He professed his first vows as a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate in Colebrook, N.H., in 1962 and was ordained a priest on Sept. 6,1969, in Natick, Mass.

His early ministry included pastoral assignments at Ste. Jean-Baptiste and St. Joseph the Worker Shrine in Lowell, Mass. He served as chaplain at the Men's Correctional Center in South Windham, Maine. He was the pastoral assistant at the Bureau of Human Relations in Portland, Maine. He served as chaplain for the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., the Federal Correctional Facilities in El Reno, Okla., the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., and the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, N.J. He did vocation work for the Missionary Oblates and was the Director of Pastoral Formation for Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Mich.

More recently, Father Bolduc held parish assignments at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Calumet, Okla., and in Florida at both St. John Fisher Parish in West Palm Beach and St. Phillip Church in Opa Locka. He retired at St. Henry's Oblate Residence in Belleville, Ill., where he resided at the time of his death. Throughout his ministry, Fr. Bolduc was very active in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement, having served as head chaplain and presented at hundreds and hundreds of encounters.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Roger and Juliette, nee Pepin, Bolduc; and a sister, Doris Morin.

Surviving are his sister, Murielle, and her husband, Harold Parks of Gorham, Maine.

Memorials may be made to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Condolences may be expressed online at www.rennerfh.com.

Visitation: Friends may call from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 10, 2014, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows Church, Belleville, Ill.

Funeral: A Mass of the Resurrection will follow immediately at 11:30 a.m. at the Shrine Church. Burial will be Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, at St. Joseph Cemetery, Chelmsford, Mass.

GEORGE RENNER & SONS FUNERAL HOME, Belleville, Ill.