Father Edward T. Serena, one of the many alumni of Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston to serve in the Archdiocese of Boston, died in Plymouth on Dec. 5, 2021.

A native of Derry, Pennsylvania, he was born on Nov. 20, 1936, one of the eight children of the late Lawrence and Gertrude (Berkmeyer) Serena.

Following seminary formation at Pope St. John, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on June 20, 1981, by Humberto Cardinal Medeiros.

During the next 25 years of his active priestly ministry, he served in archdiocesan parishes. All the assignments, except for one, were to parishes in the south region of the archdiocese. That exception was a short appointment as an associate at St. Augustine, South Boston.

His first assignment was as an associate at St. Joseph, Medway (1981-1984); associate, Immaculate Conception, Stoughton (1985-1986); and associate at St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater (1986-1993).

Bernard Cardinal Law named him pastor of St. Ann by the Sea Parish in Marshfield in 1993 and it would be his longest assignment, serving for the following 13 years.

He was granted senior priest/retirement status on Oct. 31, 2006, by Boston's archbishop, Seán P. O'Malley, who had just the previous March been named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI.

He was briefly called out of retirement in Carver to be the temporary administrator of St. Peter Parish in Plymouth.

Father Serena's funeral Mass was celebrated on Dec. 9 at St. Bonaventure Church in Plymouth's Manomet section. Following the funeral Mass, he was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Plymouth. His brother Ernest of Norwell survives him.