James Haddad, 74; monsignor was pastor at two churches

When the Rev. Monsignor James J. Haddad stood in the pulpit to deliver a sermon, he would light up with enthusiasm that drew in his listeners. The longtime priest, who held a doctorate in theology, understood how to reach congregants of all ages through clear explanations, a knack for presentation, and a conversational style that would occasionally include gems of wisdom imparted by his mother.

"He could reach everybody," said Bishop Robert F. Hennessey, who was once a student of Monsignor Haddad's at St. John's Seminary in Brighton. "Everybody would be able to get something out of [his sermons]. The thing that made his preaching so authentic was that you knew he was living it everyday."

Monsignor Haddad, retired pastor of St. Joseph Church in Needham and former pastor of St. Eulalia Church in Winchester, died Thursday at St. Patrick's Manor in Framingham of complications of kidney disease. He was 74.

A Boston native, Monsignor Haddad attended Boston College and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He attended St. John's Seminary and was ordained in 1958 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

For the first six years of his ministry, Monsignor Haddad served as pastor in churches in Greater Boston. In 1964, he was sent to study in Ireland at the Pontifical University, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. Upon earning his doctorate in systematic theology and ecclesiology in 1967, Monsignor Haddad was named first director of the Pastoral Institute in Brighton, a center for continuing the education of priests.

He held this position for nearly a decade while teaching theology at St. John's Seminary, Emmanuel College, Regis College, and at St. Michael's College in Vermont. During that time, he also traveled to South America through the Missionary Society of St. James to conduct priests' retreats and study for weeks in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

In 1977, Monsignor Haddad was named pastor of St. Eulalia, where he served for nearly a decade. When he arrived, Monsignor Haddad saw that the relatively new parish made up of young families did not have a religious education center for children, said Monsignor Francis McGann, who was assigned to St. Eulalia after Monsignor Haddad's tenure.

"He announced one Sunday that he was going to have a collection, three weeks from that day," Monsignor McGann said. "In one afternoon, he had enough to build a parish center."

With a talent for fund-raising that friends say came from his eagerness to give, Monsignor Haddad mobilized his parish into a wide range of charitable work, including the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees and the church's first "giving tree" to help needy families.

"He could stand up in church and say, "I need X for the school or Y for the parish," and because it was him asking for it, before you knew it, it was there," said Katherine McAvoy a longtime friend and a parishioner at St. Eulalia.

In 1985, Monsignor Haddad was named first executive director of the Archdiocesan Development Office, overseeing the Cardinal's Appeal, which later was renamed the Annual Catholic Appeal, and other fund-raising efforts.

At St. Joseph Church in Needham, he oversaw expansion of the church school and the building of a parish center and a middle school, which now bears his name.

In 1998, he was named a monsignor by the late Pope John Paul II. For the work throughout his ministry, Monsignor Haddad was awarded the Cardinal Cushing Medal for service to the Missionary Society of St. James in 2002.

Even after illness forced him to retire five years ago, he continued his charity. Upon his retirement, parishioners and friends gave him a going-away present of $80,000, which he donated to the St. James Society for the construction of a church and a clinic in Peru.

A funeral Mass will be said 11 a.m. today in St. Joseph's Church in Needham.