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Father Benedict Taylor, O.F.M., the co-founder of Project CREATE who served in Harlem for more than 50 years, died Jan. 8 at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers. He was 88.
Father Taylor arrived in Harlem with several other Franciscan friars in 1967 and served there until 2017, when he moved to the College of Mount St. Vincent, the Bronx.
In Harlem, Father Taylor co-founded Project CREATE, now Create, in 1972, along with Ralph Perez, a former employee of St. Francis of Assisi parish, Manhattan. The program evolved to offer vocational counseling, transitional housing for young adults, senior services, substance abuse treatment, supportive housing for families and a food pantry supported in part by Holy Name Province’s Benevolence Fund.
His interest in helping the black community in Harlem and establishing Create was strengthened by a conversation about civil rights he had with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.
Father Taylor also served at St. Francis of Assisi, 1961-1967, and in Massachusetts.
He received an honorary doctorate of sacred theology from Siena College, Loudonville.
Born in Jersey City, N.J., he entered the Franciscans’ Holy Name Province in 1953, professed final vows in 1957 and in 1960 became the 10th African-American to be ordained in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
His step-sister, Myrna Pinkney, survives him.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 12 in St. Francis of Assisi Church, Manhattan. Burial was in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa, N.J.
