By Brian Zanzonico
As three people inspected half-century-old newspaper clippings of the former St. Catherine of Sienna pastor's ordainment and snapshots of him throughout his life as a priest, there were whispers of how the judicial system had failed Costello by letting a two-time convicted DWI offender back on the street. On the other side of the lobby, a cluster of women spoke in hushed tones about the mug shot of the driver, Karen Fisher, and her glazed, glassy-eyed look that appeared in newspapers. An elderly woman clutching wooden rosary beads looked at Costello's family through the glass lobby doors and said that though Fisher may have erred by driving drunk with a suspended license, justice will prevail when she has to go before God.
But in his eulogy, the Rev. Paul Rahilly, pastor of St. Joachim parish in Cedarhurst, said that if Costello had opened the paper and read about a priest being run over and killed by an alleged drunk driver, his initial thoughts would be of forgiveness, not anger. "His first comment would have been, 'That poor young woman, she has to live with that for the rest of the her life,'" Rahilly said to the standing-room-only crowd.
Rahilly said that Costello, who, he joked, "had all the finesse of a herd of elephants," asked him nervously a year ago to one day preach at his funeral. Costello had three requests for his friend: don't mimic him, don't mock him, don't canonize him. "He's not a man to be canonized, but a man to be emulated," Rahilly said.
He recalled that when the two were at St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hempstead, Costello would celebrate Mass with his elderly parents every Saturday at their Bay Shore home on Costello Avenue, where he was raised. Even when Costello was tired and vowed to skip the trip to Bay Shore, Rahilly would hear his car start at the usual time, 3 p.m. sharp, and he wouldn't return until later in the evening.
As warmhearted as Costello was, Rahilly said, he was just as funny. One afternoon, a woman came to Rahilly for confession. At the end, she asked him to say a prayer for the thoroughbred she owned with her husband that was running at Belmont later in the day. Uncertain if it was the right thing to pray for, Rahilly returned to the rectory and explained the situation to Costello. Costello said he knew the couple, and the horse, and walked out the door as Rahilly started up the stairs to his room.
At dinner, Rahilly started a conversation about the horse, but Costello was distracted with his salad and didn't say much until Rahilly pressed him. "All right, I went out to place the bet," Rahilly recalled Costello saying. "It won."
Costello was born in Bay Shore in 1926, and graduated from Seton Hall High School in Patchogue and Cathedral College in Brooklyn. He attended the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and was ordained a priest in 1952 in Brooklyn by Archbishop Thomas Molloy.
Costello came to St. Catherine of Sienna from St. Mary's in Manhasset as a 37-year-old priest in 1964. When the pastor at the time, the Rev. Anthony Holzheimer, died in October 1968, Costello was appointed acting administrator until the Rev. Matthew Houlihan was named pastor in early 1969. Costello left St. Catherine's to become pastor of Cure of Ars Church in Merrick in 1971, and later served as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Point Lookout. He returned to St. Catherine's as pastor in 1995 until his retirement in 1998.
Upon his retirement, Costello lived at Saint Anne's Church, where he remained active in the ministry, celebrating the sacraments and offering his services to parishioners. He also served in several leadership roles in the diocese, including the Priest Senate, the Board of Consultors and the Priest Personnel Board, and was a dean for several terms. He also served on the Board of Catholic Charities and the Board of Little Flower Children's Services in Wading River.
St. Catherine's parishioner Anthony Spinelli, who used to worship at St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hempstead, considered Costello such a dear friend that he asked him to preside over his wedding to late wife, Elizabeth, in 1984. "We just adored him," Spinelli said. "Every time you were in his presence you felt his humility. He was so beautiful."
Bill Rottkamp, a 50-year parishioner of St. Catherine's, knew Costello when he was a young priest and later a respected pastor. "He's the kind of guy you had to like," Rottkamp said. "He had on a smile all the time. My wife and I would see him smile as he walked at night to get exercise. He liked to do that after dinner, and it's probably what killed him."
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