Memorial Mass planned for Msgr. John Brosnan, 95
A Memorial Mass will take place May 4, 11 a.m., at St. Ann Church in Los Angeles for Msgr. John Brosnan, pastor emeritus, who died March 27 at 95. At the time of his death, he was the third oldest of the archdiocese's incardinated priests.

A priest for 69 years, Msgr. Brosnan was active in ministry until just four years ago, serving as needed at St. Ann and nearby St. Mary Coptic Church.

Born in Inchabee, Farranfore, County Kerry, Ireland, he was ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at St. Patrick's Seminary in Carlow on June 13, 1937. Upon arriving in Los Angeles in September of the same year, he was sent initially to St. Joan of Arc Church and assigned after one month to work as an associate pastor at St. Cecilia Church.

"There were no freeways yet, not one," he wrote decades later to The Tidings for an article on his golden jubilee in 1987. He remembered attending annual priest retreats at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena before the construction of St. John's Seminary in Camarillo.

Virtually all of Msgr. Brosnan's priestly years were spent in ministry in churches and Catholic organizations close to central Los Angeles. He was an associate pastor at St. Mary Church (1940-42), and spent many years as a chaplain to the Immaculate Conception Home for Girls. In 1962, he was appointed pastor of St. Ann, in the Atwater Village area north of downtown, and continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1985.

Msgr. Brosnan's Funeral Mass was held at Currans Church in Farranfore on April 4. He is survived by his sister, Presentation Sister Austin Brosnan, of Presentation Convent, Listowel, County Kerry. Burial was on the grounds of Currans Church.

Fr. Anthony Peter Runtz, CJ
Funeral Mass was celebrated April 17 at St. Louis de Montfort Church, Santa Maria, for Josephite Father Anthony Peter Runtz, 78, who died April 11.

Born in New York City of English-Irish parents and educated in England, he served in the British Army signal corps before entering the seminary. He completed his seminary studies at College Melle in Belgium and was ordained in 1958 at Weybridge, Surrey, England. From 1960-64, he was housemaster of St. George College, Weybridge, and from 1964-67, he taught religion and industrial arts at Pius X-St. Matthias High School in Downey while obtaining a master's degree in teaching from Loyola University.

Father Runtz served as an associate pastor at several Santa Barbara Region parishes, including St. Mary of the Assumption and St. Louis de Montfort (Santa Maria), San Roque (Santa Barbara) and Sacred Heart (Ventura). While pastor of St. Louis de Montfort in the '70s, the parish doubled in size from 800 to 1,600 families.

A talented woodworker, he produced cabinetry and furniture for the St. Louis de Montfort rectory, parish hall and church as well as for the Sisquoc chapel, St. Anthony's Church in Los Alamos and St. Mary's in Santa Maria. Burial took place at the Josephite plot of Santa Maria Cemetery on April 18.

La Vaughn Dyer
Funeral Masses were celebrated April 2 at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ojai and April 3 at Nativity Church in Los Angeles for La Vaughn Dyer, 90, who died March 29. She was the mother of Msgr. Timothy Dyer, pastor of Sts. Columbkille and Nativity Churches. Interment was at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Anna Phen Thi Pham
Funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 4 at Our Lady of Peace Church in North Hills for Anna Phen Thi Pham who died Feb. 1 after a long illness. She was the mother of Father Doan T. Pham, associate pastor of St. Philomena Church, Carson. Interment took place at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills.