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The Rev. Peter Manzo distributes ashes on Ash Wednesday 2015 outside his church in Cherry Hill. (Image, Philadelphia Inquirer.) |
Word came to parishioners of Grace Episcopal Church Sunday morning (September 22) that the Rev. Peter Manzo, a son of the congregation, had passed away last Sunday, September 15 in High Point, North Carolina.
I remember the day in the early 1990s when I first met Peter and his wife Joan.
It was the Saturday of a Mother's Day weekend and fellow Grace Church member Lois Mattson and I were managing the parish's Mother's Day plant sale in front of the church.
Though Grace Church is on busy East 7th Street, it turned out not to be the best location for a sale because it was hard for people to pull over on 7th without jamming traffic. As a consequence, we did not have droves of sales.
But it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and quite enjoyable. Somewhere during our time, a couple we did not know evidently parked across 7th Street in the public lot and crossed over. They were mildly interested in the plant sale, but noticed the church door was open and asked if they could go inside.
"Of course," we said. And they did.
After a few minutes they came out and engaged us in conversation. They were impressed with the church's beautiful windows and asked about services. We gave them the information and said we would be glad to see them on a Sunday.
The very next day, they showed up at Mass and never left until Peter was ordained a priest.
As we got to know Peter and Joan, we learned that Peter had been ordained a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church but that his clerical career had come to an abrupt end when his first wife divorced him.
He and Joan became regular attendees and soon had joined the parish and were received into the Episcopal Church.
They were a gregarious and fun-loving couple, and shortly had begun a monthly fellowship supper for the parish. Joan did all the cooking and she and Peter put on the meal, usually for 70 or 80 parishioners in the parish hall.
I remember one October meal in particular, with an Oktoberfest theme with German-inspired food and a wide selection of beers to sample throughout the evening. (I still think pumpkin beer is weird, though.)
After a few years, the priesthood began to tug at Peter's heart. Being divorced and remarried was not an insurmountable obstacle in the Episcopal Church.
Accordingly, a parish discernment committee was appointed of which I was the chair. Six or eight of us met with Peter on a regular basis over several months to read, study, pray and do faith-sharing as a means to discern if there was a call to the priesthood.
There were frank and probing discussions in an effort to make sure the life-changing nature of ordained ministry was understood. In the end, the committee arrived at a consensus that Peter should be recommended for the next step, which included evaluation at the diocesan level and then a period of mentored service in another parish than his home church.
Peter passed muster and eventually was admitted to General Theological Seminary in New York for his Anglican theological studies.
He was ordained by Bishop Joe Morris Doss in 1999. He went on to serve as an assistant at St. Luke's in Gladstone and then was called as the rector of St. Bartholomew's Church in Cherry Hill, from which he retired in 2016.
I remember in particular many sharp discussions around Anglican history and theology -- especially the role and importance of Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII who is most responsible for the translation and adaptation of the Latin "Sarum" service books which we now know as the Book of Common Prayer.
Peter was an almost unbridled Cranmer enthusiast. I, having recently been beaten about the head and shoulders by the author Eamon Duffy, argued for a less Calvinist and more Catholic view. (Perhaps in part it was also my coming out of the Methodist tradition, which never was big on Calvin.)
After Peter and Joan moved to South Jersey, we lost touch although I did hear occasional news through the church grapevine.
Over the years, Peter became more and more conservative theologically, aligning himself with those who could not envision same-sex marriage as anything but a communion-breaker.
Although the Diocese of New Jersey did not have many clergy in this camp, Peter was fearful after 2008 that the Episcopal Church would break up over the issue.
Fortunately -- unlike in other dioceses -- a wise and moderating Bishop Councell avoided bringing issues to a fever pitch and Peter never broke communion with the Episcopal Church.
Peter Manzo was born February 16, 1947. His best friend in high school was a Jewish student, Mort Gati, founding director of Bridgeway House in Elizabeth. Mort Gati was gay, something I don't think Peter knew until he was told by his Plainfield friends who new Mort -- Lois Mattson and her husband Cory Storch, Mort's successor at Bridgeway House.
Peter was a graduate of Georgetown University (B.A.), Columbia School of Business (M.B.A.), and Cornell Law School (J.D.). His Anglican studies were undertaken at General Theological Seminary in New York City.
Peter leaves behind his beloved wife Joan and their three children Larisa, Andrew and Lucia.
A funeral service officiated by Bishop William H. Stokes will take place Sunday, October 13 at 2:00 PM in St. Bartholomew's Church, 1989 Route 70 East in Cherry Hill.
Condolences may be left on the funeral home's website here.
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