ED. NOTE: Last week, Pax Christi USA heard through former staff member Phyllis Jepson that Fr. Sebastian Muccilli had passed away. Fr. Sebastian was a former associate coordinator of Pax Christi USA. I met Fr. Sebastian on several occasions; he was an active part of my own “home” Pax Christi, PC Florida. Fr. Sebastian was a kind, joyful man, with a beautiful smile and gentle way about him that embodied the peace of Christ in which he believed and from which he lived. All of us at Pax Christi USA mourn his passing and celebrate his life.
Fr. Sebastian L. Muccilli died very peacefully, with his family around him, on February 16th in St. Augustine FL. He had been suffering with Parkinson’s disease for several years.
Ordained a priest in Trenton, New Jersey on May 25, 1957, Fr. Muccilli was as an associate pastor at St. Mary Church in Alpha, NJ from 1957-1961. In 1961 Fr. Muccilli joined the United States Navy, serving in Sasebo, Japan and at the U.S. Naval Support Activity Hospital in DaNang Vietnam until 1970. He was director of Catholic Campus Ministry at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) from 1970-1982. From 1983-1986 he was an instructor at the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corner, Wisconsin. Fr. Muccilli served as associate coordinator of Pax Christi USA from 1986-1988. From 1988-1990 he was the director of St. Damien Clinic and Hospice for Children in Petion-ville, Haiti.
Fr. Muccilli — or “Seb” as most of us knew him — came to West Palm Beach in 1990. He brought his newly adopted son, Jimmi Pierre Muccilli, with him. Fr. Muccilli worked as an organizer of Parish Social Ministry programs at the diocese of Palm Beach (1990-1991), was as associate pastor at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in West Palm Beach (1991-1993), coordinator of the volunteers of the Comprehensive AIDS program (1993-1995) and the first Catholic chaplain at the newly built USVA Medical Center in West Palm Beach until 2000. He was a member of St. Francis of Assisi parish and celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest there in 2007…
Read more of Fr. Sebastian’s obituary on the Pax Christi Florida website by clicking here.