Franciscan Father Vincent de Paul Cushing, 90, died Nov. 14, 2024, at Hillhaven Nursing Center in Adelphi, Maryland. He was a professed Franciscan friar for 67 years and a priest for 61 years.
A wake service was held Nov. 23 at St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. A Memorial Mass will be offered Dec. 3 at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Butler, New Jersey with burial to follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey.
Father Vincent was born on April 6, 1934, in New York City to Joseph and Anna (née O’Connell) Cushing and baptized Harry. He attended Incarnation Grammar School and La Salle Academy in New York City.
He was received into the Order of Friars Minor on July 14, 1956, at St. Raphael’s Novitiate in Lafayette, New Jersey, where he professed first vows one year later. He was solemnly professed on Aug. 22, 1960, and ordained on March 2, 1963, at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C.
He continued graduate studies, earning his Licentiate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
His first assignment was to Christ the King Seminary in Allegany, New York, where he taught theology from 1964 to 1966. He returned to The Catholic University of America, earning his Doctor of Sacred Theology in 1972.
In 1969, he joined the staff of Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., as an assistant professor of ecclesiology. He continued teaching after he became the Union’s third president in 1975, serving until 1999.
During his tenure as WTU president, the first laypeople were appointed to the board of trustees, the curriculum for the Master of Divinity degree was revised, greater emphasis was placed on educating lay students for public ministry, and a development program and endowment were established.
Father Vincent was a staunch supporter of theological studies. From 1982 to 1984, he served as the first Roman Catholic president of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the agency that accredits theological schools. He also was the founding chairperson of the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center and In Trust, a quarterly magazine focused on theological education.
He also worked with The Lilly Endowment, Inc., to organize the Keystone Conferences, which focus on excellence in theological education.
Father Vincent was also a member of the board of trustees at Christ the King Seminary, St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York, and Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and he served his brother friars as a Provincial Councilor for the legacy Holy Name Province.
After he retired as president of WTU, he took a sabbatical to study ecclesiology, contemporary ecumenical studies and the relationship of Roman Catholicism to world religions. He returned to WTU and continued teaching systematic theology there until the school closed in 2013. He was one of the longest continually serving faculty members.
He remained in the Washington, D.C., metro area, working as a chaplain at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and ministering at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crofton, Maryland before retiring in 2021.
Father Vincent was preceded in death by parents, his brother Joseph Cushing, his sister Alice Arnold, his sister-in-law Virginia Cushing, his brother-in-law Raymond Arnold, his nephew Thomas Cushing and his niece Mary Arnold. He is survived by nephews Joseph Cushing, James Cushing and Raymond Arnold; and nieces Ann Cutignola and Eileen Grabowsky, as well as friends and his brother Franciscan friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
