A funeral Mass was offered July 4 at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Highlandtown for Father Gerard Kurek, C.Ss.R. Father Kurek died June 30. He was 84.
A Baltimore native who grew up at Sacred Heart of Jesus parish, Father Kurek was ordained in 1951. He was the administrator of St. Gerard mission in East Baltimore for 10 years beginning in the mid-1970s and he also served at St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore, St. Mary in Annapolis and in New York. He had been stationed at Sacred Heart of Jesus for the last 17 years.
In his early years as a Redemptorist, Father Kurek served as a missionary in Paraguay, whose president honored him for his ministry.