Fr. Thomas Jones, former St. Paul the Apostle pastor, dies
Funeral Mass was held Jan. 23 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Los Angeles for Paulist Father Thomas Jones, 51, who died Jan. 16 after a long battle with cancer. Father Jones served as a beloved pastor of St. Paul's for nearly six years before resigning last fall due to ill health.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Father Jones entered the novitiate of the Paulist Fathers in 1977. In Sept. 1981, he started his formal ministry in North Pole, Alaska, where he served as a deacon at St. Nicholas Church in Fairbanks, Alaska. Following his ordination as a Paulist priest on May 22, 1982, he became an associate pastor at the parish. This five-year ministry to the far-flung tundra by single engine plane and four-wheel drive truck proved a rich resource for stories throughout the rest of his priesthood.

From 1986-88, Father Jones served on the staff of the UCLA University Center in Los Angeles, before becoming the director of campus ministry from 1988-94. While at the UCC, he was instrumental in planning the Cyril C. Nigg Center, which was dedicated in the fall of 1999. He also served on the University Religious Conference, the ecumenical religious organization of UCLA.

Father Jones was then elected first consultor of the Paulist Fathers from 1994-98 and served as the community's vice president from May 1998 until 2001. From 2001 until his illness forced him to resign in 2006, he continued as pastor of St. Paul. In his later years, he was a member of the Board of Directors for Paulist Productions and an associate editor of the Paulists' magazine, "The Catholic World."

Survivors include his sister, Mary Kathryn (Mary Kaye); his mother Kathryn (Kaye); and his Paulist brothers. Burial was at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. Memorial donations may be sent to: The Paulist Fathers or The Father Tom Jones Fund at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Los Angeles. Additional information is available on the parish web site: sp-apostle.org.

Deacon John Clarke Shea Jr.
Funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 12 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Santa Barbara for John Clarke Shea Jr., who died Jan. 9. Shea was a senior deacon in retirement following many years of ministry as a permanent deacon in the Santa Barbara region.

A Santa Barbara native, Shea graduated from Santa Barbara Catholic High School (now Bishop Garcia Diego High School) in 1947 and subsequently served in the Navy during the Korean War. He married his wife, Dolores on Jan. 10, 1953, and the couple was blessed with five children: Connie, Teresa, Daniel, Jennifer and Stephen. He was employed for many years at Ablitt's.

Shea served for many years in the Holy Name Society at Our Lady of Sorrows Church. When the family moved to Goleta, he attended St. Raphael Church where he ministered as a cantor and lector. In 1982, he was ordained a permanent deacon for the archdiocese by Cardinal Timothy Manning.

Survivors include his wife and children; brother, James; sister, Mary Heron; grandchildren: Julia and Sara Girvin, Alexandra Grant, and Cassandra and Geoffrey Shea; life-long friend, David Huff; and four nieces and nephews.

Sr. Jane Maher, SP
Funeral Mass was held Dec. 1 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in St. Mary-of-the Woods, Indiana, for Sister of Providence Jane (Dorothy Jane) Maher, who died Nov. 28 at age 87.

Born in Indianapolis, she graduated from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and received a master's degree in education from Indiana State University. During her 37 years as an educator, she taught in schools in Indiana, Illinois and California. Locally, she taught at St. Ambrose in Hollywood from 1947-49 and St. Therese in Alhambra from 1949-50.

Sr. Alice Marie Goularte, MM
Funeral Mass was held Sept. 29 at the Maryknoll Sisters Main Chapel in Maryknoll, N.Y., for Maryknoll Sister Alice Marie Goularte, who died Sept. 24.

Born in East Bridgewater, Mass., she graduated from San Benito County High School in Hollister, Calif. She was active in the Children of Mary Sodality and the Little Flower Literary Circle in the parish of San Juan Bautista. On Christmas Eve, 1935, she traveled to New York to enter the Maryknoll Sisters.

After teaching in primary schools in Waikiki, Wailuku and Kaneohe for 35 years, she transferred to Los Angeles in 1967 where she taught in the Maryknoll School for Japanese for the next 19 years. Retiring from full-time teaching, she tutored locally for four years before returning to live at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York.