A Mass of Christian Burial for Father J. Raymond Favret was celebrated Dec. 31 at Guardian Angels Church in Cincinnati by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. Father James Meade was the homilist. Father Favret, who died Dec. 27, was 85.

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Father Raymond Favret

Father Favret then studied in Rome at the Angelicum, receiving a doctorate in sacred theology in 1950. He returned to Cincinnati to serve as a chaplain at the Fontbonne and taught theology at the Sisters’ College and religion at Purcell High School, where he was also the school’s treasurer. Father Favret went on to serve as assistant pastor of St. Francis De Sales Parish from 1954-1956.

In 1956 he was assigned to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he spent the next 15 years. He served as the university’s assistant procurator, acting treasurer, secretary and head chaplain.

Father Favret returned to Cincinnati in 1971 to become the rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West, where he served until 1978. He went on to serve as the director of the archdiocesan Office of the Diaconate and while continuing in that position, became director of the Office of Priestly Formation.

He was pastor of Guardian Angels Parish from 1979 to 1991. He was then appointed as a part-time resident associate at St. John the Evangelist Parish in West Chester. Additionally, Father Favret served as dean of the St. Francis de Sales Deanery from 1983 to 1991. Beginning in 1983 he served the archdiocesan Tribunal as defender of the bond and judge. He retired in 1997, but continued at St. John’s and the Tribunal.

He is survived by his brothers, Andrew, Jack, William, and Richard, and sister, Jean Dell. Interment was in Guardian Angels Cemetery.

Brother Paul Merland

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Dec. 13 at the Queen of Apostles chapel at Mount St. John in Dayton for Marianist Brother Paul Merland. Brother Merland, 77, died of cancer Dec. 8 in Dayton. He was a Marianist for 57 years.

A native of Cincinnati, Brother Merland entered the novitiate of the Society of Mary in Marcy, N.Y., in 1951. He professed first vows in 1952 at Marcy and perpetual vows in 1957 at the University of Dayton. In 1955 he completed a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Dayton, and earned a master’s degree in business administration from UD in 1977. He was a 1948 graduate of Purcell High School in Cincinnati.

In 1956 he began teaching business, religion and driver education at Marianist high schools in Ohio, including Chaminade, then-Hamilton Catholic (now Stephen T. Badin High School) and Moeller High School. He also served as the business manager at Hamilton Catholic.

Brother Merland was assigned to the treasurer’s office at the University of Dayton in 1965, where he worked for two years. In 1967 he became the first business manager at Bergamo Conference Center at Mount St. John. Brother Merland returned to the University of Dayton in 1971 and worked for the next seven years as director of special services and later as the first director of cooperative education.

After a period of time teaching at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., Brother Merland returned to Cincinnati and served nearly seven years in finance and membership at the Cincinnati Museum Center. He retired from the museum in 1998, and illness brought him to Mercy Siena in Dayton in 2007.

He is survived by his sisters, Lois Jakobi of Loveland; Patricia Merland of Cincinnati; and Jeanne Poedtke of West Chester. Burial was in Queen of Heaven Cemetery.

Bernard E. Flaherty

A Mass of Christian Burial for Bernard E. Flaherty was celebrated Dec. 23 at St. Veronica Church in Cincinnati. He died on Dec. 19 at age 85.

He is survived his wife, Aida S. Flaherty; his sons, Father Michael Flaherty, pastor of St. Veronica; Patrick Flaherty and Gregory Flaherty; his sister, Virginia Purtell; stepchildren Martha Katrus, Glenda Zimmerman and Carlos Schmidt; as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Interment was at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Montgomery.

Gertrude Wollering

A Mass of Christian Burial for Gertrude Wollering was celebrated on Dec. 23 at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church in Bridgetown. Wollering died on Dec. 19 at the age of 96.

She is survived by her children, Father Carl Wollering, pastor of St. Jerome Parish, and Cliff, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Interment was in the church cemetery.