Lino S. Parente, 76, pastor and prior

The Rev. Lino S. Parente, 76, who retired in August 2013 as pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Mount Laurel, which he had led since 1989, died of complications from heart problems Tuesday, June 23, at Our Lady of Fatima Monastery there.

Since 1990, Father Parente also had been the prior - that is, head - of the monastery, whose Cistercian monks help administer the neighboring parish.

James Cattanea, an ordained deacon at Neumann since 2001, said Father Parente's "wasn't an easy job," but his work life had two guidelines, "labor and prayer."

When he arrived from Italy in 1971, the priest's intent was to help with the growth of the monastery as well as the parish, which has grown to 3,000 families from 400 when he took it over in 1989.

Cattanea, who has taught computer science since 1981 at what is now Rowan College at Burlington County, said Father Parente was "very fair and very firm."

David Petaccio, a funeral director and longtime Neumann parishioner, said Father Parente's "life was about the children."

It was Father Parente, Petaccio said, who set up a basket of lollipops for children to dip into as they headed out the door after Mass.

And, Petaccio said, "he wasn't a foolish spender."

"He was very conservative in how he spent the parish money. If yard work needed to be done, then he would recruit people from the parish. Or the monks would be out there, working the grounds."

Father Parente entered a Cistercian monastery in Italy when he was 12 and professed his first vows as a monk at the Abbey of Casamari, southeast of Rome, when he was 18.

He earned a master's degree in philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1961, was ordained a priest in 1965, and, after serving as a seminary rector in Italy, was assigned to the Mount Laurel monastery.

After he attended Rancocas Valley Regional High School and Holy Cross High School for English language classes, he began his ministry by assisting at parishes and, among others, at the former McGuire Air Force Base and at what is now the Deborah Heart and Lung Center.

In 1973, he was named vice prior of the religious community at the Mount Laurel monastery and, in 1990, its prior, a year after becoming pastor of St. John Neumann.

Father Parente is survived by three brothers in Italy, two of whom are Cistercian monks in charge of monasteries.

A viewing was set from noon to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 2, at St. John Neumann Church, 560 Walton Ave., Mount Laurel, N.J. 08054, with a Funeral Mass there at 11:30 a.m. Friday, July 3. Burial will be in Italy.

Donations may be sent to the monastery at the church address above.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mountlaurelfuneralhome.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele