Confirming earlier reports, Fr. Kevin Murphy will soon retire from the active priesthood due to health concerns. Fr. Murphy, who is 68 years old, is approaching the end of his first term as pastor of St. Louis church in Pittsford, one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Rochester. His previous assignment was at St. Joseph in Penfield. According to a reader who attends St. Louis, Fr. Murphy has been struggling with diabetes and foot/leg issues.
Despite what one’s opinion might be of this man and his views on the Church, please keep him in your prayers, and ask the Lord that his retirement be happy and healthy.
From the St. Louis bulletin:
“If you were not here last weekend, you missed my announcement that I have requested from Bishop Clark that I take early retirement from pastoral leadership…after discussions with my Primary Care Physician and Bishop Clark, I have decided that this would be the best approach for me and for St. Louis…I have been blessed in so many ways over the past 5 ½ years, but my health has been an on-going concern… it is time I did something about that.
I am sure you will wonder about what happens now…the process moves along quite smoothly…a member of the Priests‘ Personnel Board will meet with our Parish Council in early February to discuss with this leadership group what characteristics they would look for and if there are any issues that the Board should be aware of as they seek a candidate to refer to Bishop Clark… there will also be a member of the Human Resource office of the Diocese who will schedule a meeting with our parish staff to hear any concerns and what strengths they would look for in the new pastoral leader…by mid February, a letter that outlines the various parish openings in leadership throughout the diocese will go to all Priests and Pastoral Administrators of the diocese…they will be invited to consider applying for any openings to the Personnel Board…their letter of interest will be required by the end of February…I know that Holy Trinity in Webster will also be included in the listing of openings included in that letter…there may be others, but St. Louis and Holy Trinity will be listed for sure…the Personnel Board will meet by mid March and make a recommendation to Bishop Clark who makes the appointment and has the final decision…so we should know by April who the new pastoral leader will be. I have used the term ‘pastoral leader’ because the opening is published to all priests but also to pastoral administrators… Bishop Clark has previously stated that his intention is to have a priest pastor in parishes, but he has the right to appoint a lay person or deacon to the position of pastoral leader.”
Given the bishop’s recent history when it comes to appointing leaders to the diocese’s largest parishes, I would not expect a particularly orthodox priest to be named the next pastor of St. Louis church. One reader believes the new pastor could be Fr. Bob Ring. St. Louis is one of a number of parishes that will need a new leader by June. Some others include: Holy Trinity (Webster), Blessed Sacrament/St. Mary downtown/St. Boniface (Rochester), St. Vincent DePaul/St. Colomba/St. Mary of the Assumption (SW Monroe County), Holy Family (Auburn), and St. Michael/St. John the Evangelist/St. Patrick (Lyons, Clyde, Savannah). There are also a few pastors in the diocese, mostly in Greece/Charlotte, who are around age 70 that may retire this year. Some priests will have served the maximum two terms this June. These include: Fr. Charles Latus (St. Rita, Webster) who is around 70, and Fr. Peter Enyan-Boadu (Nativity, Brockport).
Stay tuned for updates on the 2011 pastoral appointments.
Some posts pertaining to Fr. Murphy: here, here, here.
Tags: Bishop Clark, News and Media
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His health comes first now. Miserable disease.
Let’s see If Fr. Ring submits an application to St. Louis. There is a slight “glut” of priests who could be a pastor right now.
There may be others at or very near retirement age, so maybe there will be priest placement for this round of openings.
If Kevin had taken care of his own health he be in better shape now.
Same could be said for a lot of us.
I hope he has a happy and healthy retirement.
I will miss Father Murphy and wish him the very best. His homilies were very uplifting and he had a very positive impact on the St. Louis Parish.
I don’t think a Pastoral Administrator would go over too well in Pittsford.
Holy Family in Auburn also has an opening.
Thanks, added it.
I can’t imagine calling a Priest by his first name unless he were my son! When you have a condition like father has, “taking care of yourself” can be time consuming and very stressful. Maybe for the good of others and HIMSELF, is why he chose the path he took.
Father Murphy I wish you well.