Funeral services were held on Nov. 25 at Our Lady of Pompei Church on Carmine St. for Father Bernabe “Bobby” Sison who for 15 years had ministered to a growing number of Filipino parishioners attending the church.
Father Sison, 63, died Nov. 20 at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital from complications from diabetes.
A priest for 38 years, he entered the seminary when he was nine years old and left the Philippines for the United States in 1978.
Long concerned with problems of poverty and poor educational standards in New York City’s Filipino community, he introduced the first Filipino pastoral ministry here, which worked to develop social and cultural growth in that community, and paved the way for similar ministries in other Filipino populations in the tri-state area.
He is survived by his mother, Soledad Japson Bolastic, and four siblings.
