PULASKI, WI — Fr. James Vacco, OFM, 70, died on Friday, December 19, 2025, at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Friary in Pulaski, Wisconsin.
A beloved educator, pastor and counselor, Fr. Vacco served as a Franciscan friar for 48 years and a priest for 43 years.
Born on December 28, 1954, in Buffalo, New York, to Vito and Lucy (née Carnevale) Vacco, Fr. Vacco attended Immaculate Conception School in Eden, New York, and graduated from St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, New York.
He earned his undergraduate degree from St. Bonaventure University (1976) and a graduate degree from Washington Theological Union (1982).
Fr. Vacco entered the Order of Friars Minor in Brookline, Massachusetts, on June 23, 1977, and made his first profession there the following year, on June 10, 1978. He took his solemn vows in
New York City on June 20, 1981, and was ordained as a priest in Silver Spring, Maryland, on May 16, 1982.
His initial role was providing summer assistance in Croghan, New York, in 1978. In 1979, while at St. Patrick Friary in Buffalo, New York, he spent one year training as a chaplain student at Erie City Medical (CPE). Afterwards, he began an internship as an alcohol rehabilitation counselor at St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers in Saranac Lake, New York.
Fr. Vacco began his service in Croghan as a deacon intern and associate pastor from 1981 to 1982. He then moved to Buffalo, where he worked as a teacher and guidance counselor in Bishop Timon’s adult education program until 1985. Between 1985 and 1992, he was a parochial vicar at Holy Angels Parish in Allegany, New York.
Following this role, he served as guardian and pastor at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in West Milford, New Jersey, from 1992 to 1995.
From 1995 to 1999, he acted as chaplain at the Newman Center in Fredonia, New York, and later returned to St. Bonaventure University as a campus minister. During his time there, he also served three years on the Council of Priests for the Diocese of Buffalo.
In 2008, he briefly took on the role of temporary administrator at St. John Parish in Olean, New York.
In 2010, Fr. Vacco served for two months at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Paddington, Australia. In 2011, he became the temporary administrator of St. Philomena Parish in Franklinville, New York, appointed by the Diocese of Buffalo. From 2014 to 2022, he held various positions at St. Bonaventure University, including regional vocation assistant, pastor in residence at the university friary and vicar forane of the Southern Cattaraugus Vicariate.
He was assigned to the U.S. 6 interprovincial postulancy program at Holy Name College Friary in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2022.
He became pastor at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Pulaski in 2024, a return to service in a rural community much like the one he began his Franciscan ministry with in Croghan.
Fr. Vacco is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Vincent and Louise Vacco, and by his brother friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Bishop David Ricken offered a Memorial Mass for Fr. James T. Vacco, OFM, on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, at 11 a.m. at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Pulaski.
The formal Visitation and Funeral Mass for Fr. Vacco will be held at a later date in New York State, his family home.