Former Navy chaplain served Honolulu diocese for 8 years
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Father Ronald John Burke, a retired U.S. Navy chaplain from Detroit who served as a parish priest in Hawaii from the 1980s until 2002, died Oct. 30 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was 74 and a priest for 46 years.
He was pastor of Resurrection of the Lord Parish in Waipio from 1995 to 2002.
The parish bulletin for St. Genevieve Church in Las Cruces, the last parish he served as a retired priest, described Father Burke as “an amazing and dedicated priest, and a wonderful friend and father figure.”
The bulletin also quoted one of the late priest’s favorite sayings: “Between last Sunday and this Sunday, what did you do to make God smile?”
Father Burke was born on Feb. 25, 1945, in Detroit, the son of an airplane pilot and a librarian, Francis Leo Burke and Helen Marie DeLisle. He was part-American Indian on his mother’s side.
He was ordained on April 8, 1972, by Bishop F. Joseph Gossman, auxiliary bishop of Baltimore.
He served two years as a parish priest in Pennsylvania before joining the U.S. Navy as a chaplain in 1974. As a chaplain, he served at a number of bases in Texas, Japan and California. He also served at Pearl Harbor.
Father Burke was incardinated in the Diocese of Honolulu on Dec. 8, 1984, but continued as a military chaplain until he began ministry in Hawaii on Dec. 1, 1994, as an associate pastor of St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani.
He was appointed administrator of Resurrection Parish on Feb. 5, 1995, and pastor on July 1, 1996.
He retired in 2002 and set up residence in the Diocese of Las Cruces two years later.
Father Burke’s funeral was Nov. 10, in New Mexico. Resurrection of the Lord, Waipio, will announce a memorial service soon.