Jesuit comes home again After years in places from New Jersey to India, an Albany native has returned to his Diocese

An Albany native, Father Murray came to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs in May, after what he jokingly called a "checkered career" in retreat work, hospital ministry and even India.

The tall, gangly Jesuit recalled growing up in St. Vincent's parish in Albany, attending the now-closed Vincentian Institute and visiting the shrine with his family.

Memories

He also leads tours of the shrine and celebrates some of the 18 or 19 Masses held there each week -- a challenge for priests who must preach at each Mass.

"I think I partly got my vocation from these holy grounds. The day I came here with a seventh-grade class trip, I was very impressed," he said. "There were these Jesuit martyrs! I wrote a poem about it."

Drawn to Jesuits

"I read St. Ignatius of Loyola's life and was very drawn to that," he said. "It seemed like a thunderbolt kind of thing."

The Jesuits require a long period of study before ordination, so Father Murray wasn't ordained until 1972. In the meantime, he spent three years teaching English and reading at McQuaid High School in Rochester -- and even one summer working as a reporter for The Evangelist.

"I remember writing a long article on the priesthood, and I wasn't yet a priest!" he laughed.

Priesthood

In those days, he also had the energy to devote free time to Cursillo retreats and volunteer to celebrate extra Masses in parishes.

In 1975, Father Murray spent six months studying in India. Being there "really turned my life around. I began to get a desire to work with the poor -- the `faith and justice thing.' I got a whole new way of looking at the world."

With the poor

"It really was working with the poor, because there were a lot of poor people in the hospitals I was in," he remarked, naming Goldwater and Coler Hospitals on Roosevelt Island (which have since merged), as well as St. Peter's Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

"You became a source of consolation [to patients] in many ways," he said. "These were long-term care hospitals; the patients had lost homes, a husband or wife, a son."

Advocate

"It became almost like a prison," the priest observed.

He also tried to help Catholic patients come to Mass; he remembered nurses snapping at him that they were too short-staffed to take time to dress a patient who wanted to attend.

'Checkered career'

"I've had sort of a checkered career, but that was mostly due to me," he admitted. "I was always looking for the greener pasture."

Today, green is definitely the color of Father Murray's ministry -- the green hills and wooded ravines of Auriesville. He was surprised when he was asked to be part of a three-priest team to run the shrine but accepted the assignment. That has meant looking at his ministry in a new light.

"In hospital work, I could always feel I was in work with a focused goal: working with people who couldn't help themselves and needed a priest to stand by them in their suffering," he explained. "Here, it's different. I had to take a step back."

The priest said his work is now focused on "giving people a sense of the history of the Church here at the shrine, the greatness of the martyrs that blessed this ground with their blood, and the tradition of Blessed Kateri [Tekakwitha]."

Faith journey

One thing that excited the priest was the spark of interest in the shrine created by the Pope's recent visit to Toronto. Father Murray said 10,000 to 15,000 youth visited the shrine in connection with the Pope's visit, including young people from Italy, Guam, the Philippines, Spain and Australia.

"At one time, there were six or seven Masses on the lawns, with outdoor altars set up," he said.

What's next?

He mentioned more focus on the beauty of nature as a conduit to prayer and ruminated on the possibility of using Zen-style meditation on retreats, or conducting retreats where people would simply attend a group meeting each week and pray at home in between.

Whatever happens, he said, "I'm very happy in my priesthood. It's nice to be back here in the Albany Diocese. It's a good place to work."

(The National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville is the birthplace of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and the site where Ss. Isaac Jogues, John Lalande and Rene Goupil were martyred. The shrine features relics of the saints, a museum, the ravine where the saints were murdered, and daily Mass and Benediction. It is open until Oct. 27. For information, call 853-3033 or visit www.martyrshrine.org.)

(08-29-02)

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