Monsignor William F. Burke (1917-2005) was ordained in 1943. His love of the Rockaways began at St. Francis deSales in 1945 before his transfer to St. Camilus Church in 1951. He founded the famous The St. Camillus Band in 1952. In 1963, he began his work at Institutional Services of the Brooklyn Diocese but remained a fixture at St. Camilus.