Parish Tributes
REV. CHARLES A. NELSON Pastor 1959-1978
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
Father Nelson graduated from St. Charles Seminary and was ordained by Dennis Joseph Cardinal Dougherty in 1933. He served as assistant rector of the Church of St. Gregory's in Philadelphia before being appointed founding pastor of the new parish, Notre Dame de Lourdes. He celebrated the first mass as pastor at The College Theatre on February 22, 1959. Father Nelson broke ground on the new "chapel" and school on December 20, 1959. It was almost a year later, on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, that the first mass was celebrated in the new Notre Dame de Lourdes Church. Serving 19 years as pastor, Fr. Nelson retired April, 1978 at the age of 75.
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
Father Benonis was ordained on May 10, 1952, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia, by Most Reverend John F. O'Hara. Father Benonis served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Patrick Parish, McAdoo; Holy Rosary Parish, Reading; King of Peace Parish, Philadelphia; and Saint Michael Parish, Chester. He also served on the Faculty at Saint John Neumann High School, Philadelphia, and Cardinal Dougherty High School, Philadelphia. In 1976, Father Benonis was appointed Pastor, Saint Michael Parish, Chester, where he served for four years. In 1980, he was appointed Pastor, Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish, Swarthmore, and named Pastor Emeritus in June 2001.
REV. KARL A. ZEUNER Pastor 2001-2014
REV. WILLIAM J. BENONIS Pastor 1980-2001
REV. KARL A. ZEUNER Pastor 2001-2014
Born Feb. 4, 1944 in Philadelphia, he attended St. Cyril of Alexandria School, East Lansdowne and Msgr. Bonner High School before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
He completed his studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome where he earned a licentiate in sacred theology. He was ordained Dec. 17, 1971 by Bishop (later Cardinal) James Hickey at St. Peter’s Basilica.
His first assignment upon return to the Philadelphia Archdiocese was as parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist Parish, Morrisville, followed by faculty at Roman Catholic High School.
He then served as Newman chaplain for Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges and Drexel University, parochial vicar at St. Charles Borromeo, Drexel Hill, assistant to the Secretary of Clergy and pastor of St. James Parish, Philadelphia, which also had a heavy collegiate congregation.
Father Zeuner was named pastor of Notre Dame de Lourdes in 2001 and pastor emeritus in 2014, the year that the parish was merged into Our Lady of Peace, Milmont Park. In retirement he lived at St. Anastasia, Newtown Square.