THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF KALAMAZOO

BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY

Third Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo

July 5, 1932 – June 5, 2020

Memorial Mass Honoring HIS EXCELLENCY BISHOP JAMES A. MURRAY August 2, 2020 • St. Augustine Cathedral • 2 p.m.

During the Great Depression in the mid-sized Michigan town of Jackson, James and Clare Murray welcomed their third son, James (Jim) on July 5, 1932. His early years were spent playing baseball and running around with his two older brothers, Bill and Jack. He attended St. Mary Catholic Elemen-tary school and was taught by the Sisters of Charity. Jim was naturally left-handed and was fond of retelling the story of the Sisters calling his mom to school concerned about this. She told them, “We know Jim’s a little off, but we like him that way.” And so he re-mained left-handed and was known through-out his life for his beautiful penmanship. As evidenced by his St. Mary’s High School yearbook (which he served as editor), Jim ex-celled both academically and also participated in many extracurricular activities including baseball, boxing, the Glee Club, chairman of the Prom Committee and, not surprisingly, was elected Senior Class President at St. Mary High School. During those days he recounted that he had ideas of becoming a priest but also entertained thoughts of being a doctor or a lawyer.

BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY 1932 — 2020

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MEMORIAL MASS — PAGE 9

by Victoria Cessna

The calling to the Priesthood won out, and Jim studied at Sacred Heart Seminary where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and at St. John Seminary, Plymouth earning a Bachelor of Theology degree. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lansing by Bishop Joseph H. Albers on June 7, 1958 at St. Mary Cathedral, Lansing. He celebrated his first Mass in his hometown of Jack-son at St. Mary Parish and was as-sisted by long-time friend Fr. John Young who would later serve with him in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Coincidentally, then Fr. Murray’s first pastoral assignment was to St. Joseph Parish, St. Joseph, Mich., which would become a part of the Diocese of Kala-mazoo upon its founding in 1971. Father Murray served the people of St. Joseph from 1958 to 1961. He then became assistant pastor of St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing from June 1961 – September 1962. Upon his return from a two-year sabbatical at Catholic Uni-versity of America, where he earned his Li-

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centiate of Canon Law, he served as assistant pastor at two other parishes in Lansing: St. Therese, (from June 1964- August 1968 and St. Gerard from 1968-1973) before returning to St. Mary Cathedral in September 1973 as Rector. He also served as Chancellor for the

Diocese of Lansing from 1968-1997 serv-ing four bishops: Bishop Joseph Al-

bers, Bishop Alexander Zaleski, Bishop Kenneth Povish and Bishop Carl Mengeling. In addition he served as Chaplain of the Lansing Police Department from 1972-1997.

He was beloved as the Chancellor,

recounts his friend Fr. James O’Leary, which was a difficult feat. “The fact of the

matter was the chancellors were almost al-ways disliked. We were happy about his ap-pointment because he was fair, wise and without ambitions for promotion. I do believe that almost all the priests remember him fondly. For one in that position, that seems al-most impossible.”

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In 1993 Fr. Murray was named by Pope John Paul II as “Honorary Prelate” (and granted the title monsignor). He had the occasion to meet Pope John Paul on a few occasions and was deeply inspired. Despite his many administrative responsibili-ties, Msgr. Murray was famous for his dislike of meetings. He proudly formed the “no meeting council” which had one meeting, he explained, and that was to disband the coun-cil. He would also joke that he thought people in hell were forced to participate in “small group sessions.” In late 1997, Msgr. Murray, approaching his late 60’s, was looking forward to retirement where he envisioned days spent sailing on his boat “Innocence”, fishing and going on travel-ing adventures with his dear friends, Msgr. Robert Lunsford and Sister Joan Meerschart, and indulging his love of reading. However, God had other plans. Msgr. Murray was ap-pointed the third bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo by Pope John Paul II and was in-stalled on January 27, 1998 at St. Augustine Cathedral by Cardinal Adam Maida, Arch-bishop of Detroit. His sailing and fishing days would have to wait, however as Bishop Mur-ray recounted years later, “My entire seminary training taught there was only one answer when your Church asked you to do some-thing, and that answer was ‘yes’”. Bishop Murray chose as his episcopal motto, “Rejoice in the Lord Always” [Phil. 4:4] and he exemplified this by his warm and generous nature and also his expert teaching through

“Rejoice in the Lord Always” — Phil. 4:4

his brilliant homilies. His motto also was aptly chosen as the title of his book, “Rejoice in the Lord Always,” (2001) a collection of his homi-lies delivered while he was Rector of St. Mary Cathedral, Lansing. Throughout his 11 years as Bishop he was known for his strong support of the Catholic schools as well as the ministry outreach to the growing Hispanic/Latino resi-dent and migrant farmworker community and in 2006 released the “Diocesan Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Latino Ministry.” He approved the creation and implementation of the dioce-san Trauma Recovery Program offered to all

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those who suffer from childhood trauma. Bishop Murray also contributed greatly to the work of the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC), including his work as Advisor and author of MCC’s first assisted suicide educa-tion program (1993). His greatest joy was celebrating the sacra-ments. During his time as Bishop of Kalama-zoo he presided over 15 ordinations to the priesthood; ordained 28 men to the perma-nent diaconate; confirmed 14,394 young Catholics; honored more than 1,100 married couples with the “Golden Anniversary” dioce-san Mass; dedicated 11 new churches and welcomed more than 3,100 new Catholics into the community through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) held each year during Easter Vigil Mass. In March of 2009, Bishop Murray was over-joyed when 18 months after turning in his of-ficial letter of resignation to the Pope (required upon his 75th birthday) he received the news that Bishop Paul J. Bradley had been named his successor. Now finally able to retire at age 77, Bishop Murray quickly discovered that having the luxury of free time wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He didn’t sail off into the sunset but in-stead chose to stay in the Diocese as a trusted Bishop Emeritus to be around the people he described as “diverse, generous, reverent and faithful.” Throughout the past 11 years Bishop Murray enjoyed volunteering his time to hear confes-sions at Newman’s Bookshoppe on Friday

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afternoons and regaling diocesan staff with his engaging stories when he’d stop by the of-fice to pick up his mail. As Bishop Emeritus he would be called upon to fill-in on occa-sion. Bishop Bradley offered his gratitude, “for his wonderful priestly example of provid-ing pastoral assistance wherever and when-ever he could, and for being such an exemplary priest and bishop of Jesus Christ.” He enjoyed time spent with family, especially his nephew Tim Murray, and getaways to his favorite spot, his cottage on Chippewa Lake. To his devoted diocesan staff Bishop Murray was known for his no-nonsense approach and dislike for the spotlight. He was conveniently always out of town for his Ordination to the Priesthood Anniversary (June 7) as well as his birthday (July 5th). However, in 2018, on the occasion of his 60th Priestly Anniversary, under the guise of an evening out with friends Laurie Tichvon, son Colin and Msgr. Martin, he was surprised at his resi-dence at the Fountains with a party attended by current

and former diocesan staff members. At the sight of those waiting for him, he simply said, with his signature Irish twinkle in his eye, “You scoundrels.” As he neared the end of his life and experi-

enced a natural slowing down, Bishop Murray was fond of saying, “I’m ready, I don’t know what God’s wait-ing for.” However, in true faithful servanthood, he ac-cepted God’s timing when he was called home on the morn-ing of June 5, 2020, just two days shy of the 62nd Anniversary of his Priestly Ordination.

“May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm

upon your face, and rains fall soft

upon your fields. And until we

meet again, May God hold you

in the palm of His hand.”

WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT.

— Matt. 25:23

BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY

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Memorial Mass for BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY

The Most Reverend Paul J. Bradley

Principle celebrant ENTRANCE HYMN: (stand): Love Divine, All Loves Excelling HYFRYDOL

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Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

FIRST READING: Zechari ah 9:9-10 (proclaimed in Spanish)

Reader: La Palabra de Dios. People: Te alabamos Señor.

 Susie Hernandez, reader

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Hermanos: Ustedes no viven conforme al desorden egoísta del hom-bre, sino conforme al Espíritu, puesto que el Espíritu de Dios habita verdaderamente en ustedes. Quien no tiene el Espíritu de Cristo, no es de Cristo. Si el Espíritu del Padre, que resucitó a Jesús de entre los muertos habita en ustedes, entonces el Padre, que resucitó a Jesús de entre los muertos, también les dará vida a sus cuerpos mortales, por obra de su Espíritu, que habita en ustedes. Por lo tanto, hermanos, no estamos sujetos al desorden egoísta del hombre, para hacer de ese desorden nuestra regla de conducta. Pues si ustedes viven de ese modo, ciertamente serán destruidos. Por el contrario, si con la ayuda del Espíritu destruyen sus malas acciones, entonces vivirán.

SECOND READING: Romans 8:9, 11-13

Reader: The Word of the Lord. People: Thanks be to God.

 Laurie Tichvon, reader

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FUNERAL MASS BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY

Hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects to the beloved third bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo. On June 10, 2020 Bishop Murray’s body was re-ceived at St. Augustine Cathedral. He remained in state under the protection of the Knights of Colomubus honor guard. Bishop Paul J. Bradley, his succes-sor, was the Presider for the June 11, 2020 Mass of Christian Burial which was celebrated with visiting bishops and clergy attending as well as close family and friends. During his homily, Msgr. Thomas Martin, Judicial Vicar for the Dio-cese and Pastor, St. Martin of Tours and St. Edward Parishes, said, “Bishop Murray was a man of great integrity, great principle and great, great kindness and love.“ Bishop Murray was laid to rest at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Kalamazoo. May he rest in peace.

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© THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF KALAMAZOO 215 N. WESTNEDGE AVE. • KALAMAZOO, MI 49007

www.diokzoo.org

Our Good Shepherd BISHOP EMERITUS JAMES A. MURRAY