Obituary: Holy Cross Father Vincent Coppola
Holy Cross Father Vincent Coppola, 57, died at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia on Oct. 2.
He was born on April 15, 1963, in Elmhurst, New York. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Queens College, Queens, New York., and a master of divinity from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He made first vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on July 19, 1997, professed final vows on Sept. 23, 2000, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 9, 2001.
He was the son of Madeline Mooney and brother of Michael Coppola (Christine), Barbara Devine (Robert) and Thomas Coppola. He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Rose Ferrigno, and his stepfather, Raymond Mooney.
As a deacon, Father Coppola served at Most Holy Trinity in Saco, Maine, from 2000 to 2001. After ordination, he assisted at Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Parish in Bennington from 2001 to 2010. In July 2010, St. Bridget Parish in West Rutland welcomed him as the new pastor. In 2012 he also became the pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in West Rutland. He remained pastor at both parishes until 2015 when he was appointed parochial vicar of Holy Cross Parish and St. Stanislaus Parish in South Bend. In 2016, he became administrator of Holy Cross Parish, South Bend, and pastor of the parish in 2017.
In 2018, shortly after seeking to be incardinated into the Diocese of Trenton to be closer to his mother, he was appointed parochial vicar of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Toms River, New Jersey, and in July 2020, was appointed parochial vicar of St. Pio of Pietrelcina Parish in Lavallette and Sacred Heart Parish in Bay Head, New Jersey.
Visitation will take place at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, Toms River, on Oct. 8. His Funeral Mass will follow at 11 a.m. Burial will be at the Holy Cross Community Cemetery at Stonehill College, North Easton, Massachusetts.