We were saddened to learn of the death Thursday, November 24, of actress Florence Henderson at the age of 82.  We extend our condolences and prayers to her family and all those who loved her.

She was well known for portraying Carol Brady in the television program “The Brady Bunch.”

Multiple members of our community were acquainted with Florence, including Paulist Fr. James Lloyd. She was a special guest and performer on a Christmas episode of “Inquiry,” the television program Fr. Lloyd hosted Sunday mornings on NBC New York from 1958 to 1973.

See the video below for this episode (starting at 29:44). At 52:00, she sings “Silent Night.”

Florence also took part in “Touch of the Child,” a live Christmas musical with a book by Paulist Fr. Bob Curtis (1932 – 2004) that was presented at St. Paul the Apostle Church, the parish we serve in Los Angeles.

In the late 1960s, she also did a concert of Broadway show tunes at our seminary, St. Paul’s College, in Washington, D.C..  “It was a fun evening,” recalled Paulist Fr. John Geaney, rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Grand Rapids, MI.

Fr. Geaney added, “She was a great lady, a good Catholic and always had a warm word for the Paulist Fathers.”

(Deacon Greg Kandra has penned a post at Aleteia on Florence’s Catholic roots.)