Coronavirus Update New York City: 1st U.S. priest to die of COVID-19 remembered in Brooklyn

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A touching memorial mass was held Saturday to remember the first catholic priest to die of COVID-19 in the United States.

Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay was a Mexican-born Brooklyn pastor, who died a year ago at the age of 49.

Father Jorge was ordained to the priesthood in 2004 in Newark and was assigned to the diocese of Brooklyn in 2009.

The bishop of Brooklyn held the memorial mass at Saint Brigid Church in Bushwick, where Father Jorge served as pastor.

"He was a priest and a father to those whom he served here in Brooklyn and Queens. Not just in this parish, but through the Spanish apostolic, the Mexican apostolic, through those Guadelupanoshe served so many more," Bishop of Brooklyn Nicholas DiMarzio said.

A total of four masses were held Saturday in memory of Father Jorge.

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