Father Frederick Pompei

Father Frederick Pompei  passed away April 11, 2019 in Plantation, FL.  Father is a native of St. Joseph’s in Oswego and a graduate of Oswego High School He studied at St. Andrew’s and St. Bernard’s Seminaries.

   Father Pompei was ordained Aug. 24, 1966, at his own parish of St. Joseph’s. He served as a transitional deacon at St. Lucy’s in Syracuse and as associate pastor of St. Mary’s in Baldwinsville, St. Anthony’s in Cortland, and St. Cecilia’s in Solvay. He was also a member of the faculty of St. Mary’s High School in Cortland and Newman chaplain at Broome Community College. Father Pompei also was the coordinator for Marriage Encounter in the Diocese of Syracuse in the 1970s.  He served at Our Lady Of Pompei for over 25 years.

   For many years, Father Pompei has conducted parish missions and renewals, retreats, seminars, and more throughout the U.S. For about 24 years, he conducted various missions and retreats as a “contract chaplain” for the U.S. Navy. He also conducted three missions for the Air Force..

  A highlight of Father Pompei’s priesthood came during a weeklong mission in Florida. Instead of having a prepared breakfast at the parish, he felt that something wasn’t right and instead went to a McDonald’s. A young woman came up to him and asked if he was a priest. She sat down and poured out her heart, saying that she had had an abortion. She asked for forgiveness. “I gave her absolution there in McDonald’s,” Father Pompei said. After that experience, he said, “I knew why God sent me to Florida.”

(Excerpted  from Catholic Sun April 28, 2016)

A Mass will be held in Father Frederick Pompei’s memory on Friday 10:00AM at St. Gregory Catholic Church in Plantation,FL  Further services will take place in  the Syracuse, New York area  under the direction of Thomas Pirro Funeral Home. Burial will take place at St. Peter Cemetery in Oswego, NY.   Local arrangements under the direction of T.M. Ralph Plantation Funeral Home