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After nearly a decade at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville - during which he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a Jesuit and the 125th anniversary of the shrine - director Rev. Peter Murray, SJ, is leaving to work in the Buffalo area.

He is optimistic about his future, even as local Catholics said they were sad to lose him.

"I have been asked by my provincial to take up work at St. Michael's Church in downtown Buffalo," Father Murray told The Evangelist. "I am sad to be leaving but feel that it is in God's plan that I move on at this time."

He will leave the shrine in March and take a brief sabbatical before beginning his new mission in May as pastoral associate.

"The Buffalo assignment looks promising and even exciting, and I will be rejoining old friends with whom I worked apostolically at earlier times in my life," said Father Murray.

As director of the shrine, Father Murray served as superior of the community of Jesuit priests there, managed the cemetery for the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, coordinated liturgical obligations and ministered to staff and visitors.

During the priest's tenure, he worked with operations director Tom Ralph to make upgrades, including structural and landscape improvements, enhanced liturgies, expanded museums and new programming to boost visitors' spirituality.

Rev. John Rosson, pastor of St. Mary's/Our Lady of the Lake parish in Cooperstown, noted that "he made [the shrine] a diocesan meeting place, a crossroads, a place of pilgrimage, a place to gather. He brought life to the whole mountain along the Thruway."

Father Murray, a native of Albany, ministered as a hospital chaplain and parish priest before coming to Auriesville. While at the shrine, he said he enjoyed "getting to know families and feeling part of the neighborhood."

"He is very important to me and my family, especially my kids," said Don Wagoner, maintenance supervisor at the shrine. "He taught them so much about the shrine. As much as a priest, he is also a friend."

Parishes from Schenectady to Frankfort reported that Father Murray also reached out to them. "He helped with Lent and Advent services for about six years," said Rev. Anthony Barratt, pastor of Annunciation parish in Ilion and Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Frankfort. "He enjoyed pastoral work."

"Peter has served us in Otsego County," Father Rosson confirmed. "He came down every year for Confirmation and [for] penance services in Advent. He came down 'off the hill' and got involved."

Father Murray also assisted with Fulton County's Residents Encounter Christ (REC) program, a Catholic ministry to the incarcerated.

"He acknowledged that what we are doing is wonderful for the people in prison," said Charlie Burre, liaison for REC at Hale Creek Correctional Facility in Johnstown and a parishioner of St. Edward's Church in Clifton Park.

Mr. Burre noted that Father Murray celebrated Mass and "was always willing to help with our Friday evening reconciliation services. He was able to converse in Spanish, which is always helpful."

Father Murray also served the priests of the Albany Diocese as part of a priests' support group and as a committee member for continuing education for priests.

His successor is Rev. George Belgarde, SJ, who comes to the shrine from the St. Re-gis Mohawk Reservation in Hogans-burg, N.Y. Father Murray hopes that background will strengthen the connection of Na-tive Amer-icans to Auriesville - the birthplace of Blessed Kateri Tek-akwitha, a Mohawk on the path to sainthood, and the site of the martyrdoms of 17th-century Jesuit missionaries.

In parting, Father Murray encouraged area Catholics to visit the shrine.

"Pilgrimage is an adventure of the spirit," he said. "It is a time to find grace and insight in a setting away from home. It demands some sacrifice - fasting, giving up comfort. That is the price for the goal of gaining grace and enlightenment and growing closer to God."

As he embarked on his own "adventure of spirit," he re-marked, "Your prayers will help!"

(Learn more about the shrine at www.martyrshrine.org or call 853-3033.)

(02/10/11) [[In-content Ad]]

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