Rev. Ronald Lee Green, MM, 64

A funeral Mass was offered Aug. 14 at St. Joseph's Church, Worcester, for Rev. Ronald Lee Green, who died Aug. 6. He was 64 and had been a Maryknoll priest for 32 years.

A native of Michigan, he was a police officer for four years before entering Maryknoll in 1979. He was ordained in 1985 and served as a missionary in Kenya. From 2009 until earlier this year, he was administrator of St. Joseph's parish in Worcester.

Father Green seemed to have led many lives. In interviews with The Evangelist, he discussed his time on the police force, as an overseas missionary and as a parish priest, as well as his remarkable loss of 200 pounds and how people's reactions taught him everyone is "in need of redemption and the Savior."

He once recalled working at a nursing home downstate and "seeing the power" of the sacrament of anointing of the sick for people who were dying: "Once they had gone home to God, I felt comfortable knowing I had given them everything. 'Brother Death' and I are on a first-name basis."

Father Green was diagnosed earlier this year with an advanced stage of cancer. Surely, that faith was a comfort as he went home to God himself.

Survivors include a brother, Gary. Interment was in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Worcester.[[In-content Ad]]