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When it came time for a child’s baptism, the Reverend Monsignor Edmond J. Trench would turn to the sea.
He and the parishioners at the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church in Southampton Village would collect clamshells that the beloved priest would mark with the date of a child’s baptism. Those special clamshells still adorn the homes of the children he baptized, serving as seaside mementos of Catholicism’s first sacrament.
“It was really nice because we live out here by the ocean,” said one parishioner of the Hill Street church, Barbara Wilson, who serves as both a Southampton Town and Southampton Village justice. “I think it really showed how much he was in touch with his congregation.”
Monsignor Trench died at about 4 a.m. on Saturday at Southampton Hospital at age 81, following a battle with lung cancer.
Monsignor Trench—still called “Father Trench” by those who knew him—served as pastor of Sacred Hearts from June 1988 to June 2000 and stayed with the parish as pastor emeritus through his death. He enjoyed a good game of golf and serving as a firefighter, but, above all, he was a people person.
“He had very few hobbies. He did play golf, but what he enjoyed most was people,” his brother, John J. Trench, said. “It got to a point where most people in Southampton looked at him as a member of their actual family, they were so close.”
As family and friends streamed in and out of Brockett Funeral Home on Hampton Road on Tuesday afternoon to pay their respects during a wake, Monsignor Trench’s love of children and young members of the parish was a common theme.
“He loved the younger ones, the young couples. He really wanted to provide a path for them to take,” one of his nieces, Jean Claud, remarked. “Any young person. He was a fabulous resource for my children when they were going through Confirmation or First Communion.”
Joe Taranto, a Eucharistic minister and lector at Sacred Hearts, who described himself as a good friend of the late priest’s, said, “The children used to run up and grab his legs because he was tall and the kids were short.” The youths would get enveloped in so-called “Trench hugs.” Mr. Taranto and Monsignor Trench often would go out to dinner, but it was a sometimes-difficult experience, Mr. Taranto, said, because so many people would come up to the priest to say hello that it was hard to finish a meal.
His faith in children allowed Aria, the church’s children’s choir, to soar, according to Loreen Enright, director of the choir. “By believing in the children, he gave young musicians and singers a place to sing in a wonderful, spiritual way,” she said. One young girl, who started in the choir at 8, has gone on to become an opera singer, she said.
But although youngsters captured a special part of his heart, Monsignor Trench is also remembered for his kindness toward all.
Ruth Plock belongs to Our Lady of Poland Roman Catholic Church on Maple Street, but she went to pay her respects to Monsignor Trench this week, in large part, because of an act of priestliness that she remembers well. Monsignor Trench, she said, rose from his bed early in the morning one day to say Mass when her son died. “I never forgot,” she said. “That’s being a priest. That’s giving. That’s compassionate.”
Other mourners reflected on additional ways the priest had inspired them. At Communion, for example, he would always take his time cleaning the chalice afterward, allowing time for reflection, parishioner Elaine McDonagh recalled. “That was the most special thing,” she said. “He just slowed everything down, made everyone collect themselves and remember what they were receiving.”
His legacy lives on, in part, in the church itself. One of his most visible accomplishments is the renovation of the church and parish buildings, a project he spearheaded after joining the church.
In 2007, Monsignor Trench celebrated his 50th anniversary in the priesthood, the centennial anniversary of his church, and the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which includes 133 Catholic churches in Nassau and Suffolk counties. In an interview in The Press, the priest said that the parish was “absolutely broke” and that he had to borrow to make payroll. He acknowledged that the “worst thing a priest could do when they get there is talk money.” Yet, he did. And the people listened: Local contractors donated services and, after raising about $1.5 million, a renovation was complete and the church was debt free.
“That’s how good the people are and how proud they are of their church,” Monsignor Trench told the paper at the time.
Born in Rockville Centre on May 28, 1930, Monsignor Trench and his three siblings all attended Catholic school growing up, according to his brother John. Although John said this week he could not pinpoint exactly what drew his brother to the priesthood, he said some priests in his childhood had left “quite a favorable impression.”
Monsignor Trench followed his inspiration all across Long Island. He lived in Quogue and, when he was pastor at Sacred Hearts, in the rectory on Hill Street.
The priest who was known for his heart was also known for speaking his mind, penning letters to the editor on a variety of topics over the years. When the priest sex abuse scandal rocked the Catholic Church over the past decade, he was not afraid to “tackle that issue head-on” by talking about it, Justice Wilson said.
He also was a former chaplain for several police and fire departments, including the Southampton Fire Department and the Southampton Village Police Department.
“He could take any situation that came across, rationalize it and add balance to it,” said Mark Press, chief of the Southampton Fire Department from 1991 to 1997. “When you needed a friend, you talked to him. He was always open to anything. He just seemed to have the right answers.”
Mr. Press credited his late friend and fellow firefighter with saving a lot of marriages, as well as lives, by being there when people were in desperate need. He also had an approachability that made sitting and talking with him as relaxing as a conversation with a friend over a beer.
“It’s not often that someone like Father Trench comes along,” he said. “He’d put his hand on you and you just felt like you were being touched by something.”
“It was indeed a special privilege to have him as a brother,” his brother John said. “He’s an unusual exception. He’s a gift from God.”
Monsignor Trench is survived by his brother, John J. Trench of Ormond Beach, Florida; three nieces, Margaret Trench, Jean Claud and Susan Zaccheo; three nephews, Charles and Thomas Trench and James Lipford; as well as grandnephews and grandnieces and cousins.
Monsignor Trench’s body will lie in state at Sacred Hearts on Thursday beginning at 2 p.m. A Mass of Transferal will take place on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and a funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary “In Nomine Domini” Restoration Fund, Our Lady of Poland building and grounds fund, Heart of the Hamptons, Birthright of Peconic, and East End Hospice.
Colleen Reynolds on Mar 17, 2012