Knowing of his deep involvement with the Church as a devout Catholic, we sought a comment from former City Mayor and businessman, Mr. Compton Young on the recent passing of His Eminence, Pope John Paul II.

Now, from the mourning vanguard moving on
dear Comrade, I salute you and I say
Death will not find us thinking that we die.
– Martin Carter

AS HE stood there, looking down at the remains of a young man he had come to love like a brother, a wave of emotions washed over him.

“Deep inside of me…I felt….I really wanted to bawl…I never bawl for a long time…”

The young man lying in the coffin, dressed in all his ecclesiastical finery, was Father Floyd Grace, a young man who gave up a promising career in banking, both here in his native Guyana and the United States to which he and his family emigrated some years ago, to enter the priesthood. He was ordained on May 20, 2000.

The last time the two had spoken, Young said, was on the morning of Thursday March 10. It was a habit they indulged twice a week; on Tuesdays and on Thursdays. On this particular Thursday, Father Floyd, as he was known to all and sundry, had complained of feeling a pain in his stomach. He would jokingly dismiss it, however, saying he suspected it might be just wind, and the two had a good laugh over it.

During the course of their conversation, the subject of Father Harold Wong’s poor health came up and Father Floyd promised that he would remember him in his prayers since he was offering a mass at 09h00 that morning for the Pope.

Two days later, Young would receive a call saying that Father Floyd had collapsed in the presbytery that afternoon and was in hospital. Later that evening he learnt that his condition had worsened and that he was in intensive care. He died on Monday, March 14, at the White Plains Hospital in up-state New York. In another few months, on May 14, he would have celebrated his 37th birthday.

The doctors said it was cancer. It had originated, it seems, in the pancreas. His late father, too, it seems, had had trouble with his pancreas and had died when Father Floyd was just three. The remarkable thing about it, Young said, is that Father Floyd had had no inkling that he was ill, which was rather unusual, since, from the little he had learnt from talking to people in the medical field, he should have shown some sign of being diabetic.

“But he never shared that with me at all…that he was a diabetic. As a matter of fact, he was never sick either. I was very close to Father Floyd… he grew up with me in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. We did practically everything together… we went to Jerusalem …. He’s even my son’s godfather…”

Pope John Paul II, meanwhile, would, as we all know, rally out until Saturday April 2, when he finally passed away after suffering a series of debilitating illnesses. What was uncanny, however, was that the same Edward Cardinal Egan who officiated at Father Floyd’s funeral service would, according to Young, also officiate at the Pope’s.

It is a well-documented fact that Cardinal Egan, who is Archbishop of the archdiocese of New York, was one of the 117 cardinals deemed eligible to elect a successor to the late Pope John Paul II.

Among qualities he was looking for in the yet-to-be-elected pontiff, he told reporters upon arrival in Rome for the funeral, was the same boundless energy as did Pope John Paul II and his mastery of languages.

“It would be a wonderful thing,” he said, “if he has a lot of energy. It would be very fine if he speaks a number of languages, understands a number of languages. It would be well if he has done a certain amount of travelling. It would be most important that he’s a man of prayer and that he focuses on the congregations, the communities of faith, the parishes and the dioceses.”

It is fine
But, to return to the saga of Father Floyd’s passing and the utter sense of loss he felt at seeing his friend lying there, forever silenced, Young, who was privileged to have been granted a private viewing, said:

“When the people drove me to the funeral home, like my legs couldn’t move. I had not seen him in a year. And I went into the room…and there was Father, lying down there; my friend; my brother…my real brother…and I felt… You try to explain this to people and they won’t understand… but I know it’s the Holy Spirit saying to me: ‘It is fine; it is fine.’

“And as I got closer to the coffin, I felt there was a calm coming over me…and Floyd lying down there… with his chasuble and his street clothing…his glasses and his shoes… and his stole… with his rosary in his hands… and his university ring…and I know that he is a Saint; I know that! I don’t have to wait on Rome to make him a Saint!

“And as I stood there… my soul is saying: ‘Just loose it off and let it go!’ Because many times, people hold back their loved ones without knowing it; they continue to mourn; they continue to cry… And I said: ‘Floyd, I know you’re in Heaven and I will let it go right now, because I know that I have somebody that can intercede for me…”

That he was beloved by all those whose lives he touched in his four short years as a priest was evident, Young said, judging from the outpouring at his funeral service.

Cardinal Egan, who had the privilege of ordaining Father Floyd, referred to him as a ‘gentle priest’, while Monsignor Wallace A Harris, vicar of Central Harlem, who did the homily, summed up what he called “his priestly identity” in four words, namely: Character; conscience; sacrifice and fidelity.

He would later describe him as “a man of high character who always gave of his time; was unfailingly faithful to his responsibilities, promises and friends; and one of those priests who are constantly working and doing things for other people.”

Father Edwin H Cipot, who was a classmate of Father Floyd’s while at St Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie said that not only was he a good friend but a good man as well. “He was a good and gentle man who would take time with anyone. He just didn’t know how to say no.”

The two had met under rather unusual circumstances before either had thought of joining the seminary …for the annual Chrism Mass held at St Patrick’s Cathedral back in 1993. As Father James Jackson wrote in his obituary, both happened to be standing together near the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

He quotes Father Cipot as recalling that at the time of their meeting, he was an out-of-work actor “schlepping around Manhattan looking for new roles”, and Father Floyd an up-an-coming briefcase-toting businessman who was into banking. Six months later they would meet again at the St John Neumann Residence which is reserved for men thinking of joining the priesthood.

They were both ordained on the same day by Cardinal Egan, and have since been in the habit, whenever they happen to meet for Chrism Mass, of going off by themselves to the corner where they first met to offer a prayer together and share a quiet joke. Chrism mass is the traditional gathering every year of priests and bishops to reaffirm the vows they made at the time of ordination.

The funeral service was held on Friday March 18 at the Holy Name of Jesus Church, a predominantly White parish in up-state New York where Father Floyd served for nine months as parochial vicar. A graduate of Fordham University, he was transferred there in May 2004 from St Frances de Chantal Parish in the Bronx to which he was assigned as parochial vicar following his ordination.

The day before the funeral, a service, called the Mass of the Holy Eucharist, was also held at ‘Holy Name’ in honour of Father Floyd, with the chief celebrant being Bishop William J McCormack, former director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Some 60-odd priests from all across the US were said to have attended the funeral. According to Young, the body lay in state there at the church from March 17, which is also the Feast-day of St Patrick, until it was buried the following day.

Father Floyd was interred at the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, in a section reputedly reserved for the crème de la crème of New York. Among those with whom he rubs ‘caskets’ are actors James Cagney and Sal Minco; baseball great, ‘Babe Ruth’; and comedian, Fred Allen.

He is survived by his mom, Ms Millicent Grace; sisters Viveca, Elna and Yvonne, and brothers Gilbert and Marlon.

A memorial website where one can offer tributes, condolences or light a memorial candle, has been set up in his memory by the members of the St Frances de Chantal parish.