byFather Robert M. O'Grady Pilot Staff
Father Garrett J. Barry Pilot file photo
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A Norwood native born Dec. 30, 1937, he was a son of the late Garrett and Marie (Gerety) Barry. Father Barry was raised in his beloved Norwood, attending the huge parish elementary school at St. Catherine of Siena and then continuing his education under the watchful eyes of the Sisters of St. Joseph, as he commuted to Boston's South End for secondary school at Cathedral High School.
He was a seminarian of the archdiocese undertaking preparation for ordination at archdiocesan seminaries, first at Cardinal O'Connell in Jamaica Plain and then at St. John, Brighton, for both philosophy and theology.
Richard Cardinal Cushing ordained him and his classmates at Holy Cross Cathedral on May 26, 1966. The cardinal also gave him his first assignment as an assistant at Most Blessed Sacrament in Quincy's Houghs Neck section.
All of his subsequent assignments would be to archdiocesan parishes, save for two years. Those assignments would be in parishes in Boston or in its southern suburbs.
He was either an assistant or an associate at St. Clare, Braintree (1971), and St. Colman, Brockton (1971-1981). In 1981, he began a team ministry with the late Father Joseph Fagan (obit. 29 Aug. 2021) at St. John Chrysostom, West Roxbury. In 1988, he was named pastor at St. John the Baptist, Haverhill, but a pastor's administrative responsibilities were not his strong suit or interest. In 1989, he served at Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere's Beachmont section until being named parochial vicar at Holy Name in West Roxbury (1991-1997).
His last two assignments were south of Boston: from 1997 to 2004, as a parochial vicar at St. Ann, Quincy, and, from 2004 to 2012, as parochial vicar at St. Mary, Randolph. He was granted senior priest retirement status on Dec. 3, 2012, and lived until his death on Nov. 2, 2021, at his family's Norwood home.
Just a few weeks shy of his 84th birthday, he died unexpectedly. He had been assisting at various parishes near Norwood and, most recently, at the two parishes in Walpole, Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary. He had celebrated Masses there on the weekend and on All Saints Day. He had been scheduled for Mass on All Souls Day, but had to bow out. He enlisted a friend to take him to a local hospital but he died on the way.
Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley was the principal celebrant of Father Barry's Funeral Mass at St. Catherine of Siena on Nov. 6, 2021. Father Joseph Gaudet, Regina Cleri, Boston, was both a concelebrant and homilist.
Among the concelebrants were Portland Bishop Robert Deeley (the bishop had been pastor at Quincy while Father Barry was parochial vicar there); and West Regional Bishop Robert Reed; classmates and senior priests Msgr. George Carlson, Hull; and Father J. Bryan Hehir, Wellesley; Fathers Stephen Donohue and Thomas Sullivan, the Norwood parish's present pastor and parochial vicar respectively; Father Jean Aubin, pastor of both Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary parishes, Walpole; and senior priests Fathers Patrick McLaughlin and Eugene Sullivan.
Father Barry's immediate survivors are his siblings: Marie Barrett, Norwood; Kevin, Quincy; and Paula Drake and Thomas, both of Nashua, N.H. Following the Funeral Mass, Father Barry was buried in Highland Cemetery, Norwood.