Beloved pastor who endured paralysis dies at 77

Redemptorist Father John Murray, a visionary former pastor of St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore and St. Mary in Annapolis whose courage in the face of long-term paralysis inspired many, died Dec. 30. He was 77.

For most of the last 15 years, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native had used a wheelchair after falling during a morning stroll on the boardwalk in Long Beach, N.J., in 2010. The accident broke his neck and left him paralyzed from the chest down.

About 15 months after the devastating injury and following extensive physical therapy, Father Murray astonished doctors and friends by regaining the ability to walk with the help of a walker. He and his physician described the recovery as a “miracle,” according to a 2011 article in the Catholic Review. Over time, however, his condition declined, and he eventually returned to a wheelchair, spending his later years at the John Neumann Residence at Stella Maris in Timonium.

From the earliest days after his injury, Father Murray spoke candidly about suffering and faith. In a 2010 interview with the Catholic Review from his hospital bed, he reflected on the familiar priestly exhortation to accept the cross.

“This is a cross that God permitted to happen and I won’t fight it or resist it and I won’t even complain about it,” the priest said. “You embrace the cross because it’s the way to the kingdom. I really believe that.”

Redemptorist Father Eric Hoog, who had known Father Murray since the two met as eighth graders at a vocations gathering in New York in 1961 and who was a seminary classmate, said severe physical limitations never diminished his friend’s sense of mission.

From his wheelchair at Stella Maris, Father Murray taught online classes, led Zoom sessions, counseled countless people privately by phone and internet, and patiently accompanied those struggling to remain connected to the Church, Father Hoog said in his homily at Father Murray’s Jan. 7 funeral Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn.

Father Murray didn’t live the life of a Redemptorist without hope, said Father Hoog, who is stationed at St. Mary in Annapolis.

“It wasn’t a silly, flowery hope,” Father Hoog said. “It was a strong hope that grounded him in what he was called to do.”

That deeply rooted virtue made Father Murray especially compelling to those who felt distant from faith or disillusioned with the Church, Father Hoog said. He had an ability to honor tradition while fully engaging the present moment.

“John didn’t stay frozen,” Father Hoog said. “He was able to take the old and blend the new, and do so with a firmness and a vigor that really sometimes was astonishing.”

Father Murray was regarded as a “decisive” pastor in Baltimore and Annapolis, according to Deacon Leroy Moore, who served with Father Murray at St. Mary. The deacon noted that at St. Wenceslaus, where Father Murray was pastor from 1981 to 1987, his friend helped launch a homeless shelter called Wenceslaus House. He would similarly work to establish a homeless shelter in Annapolis called The Light House, which is still active today.

“He was always concerned about the homeless and the poor,” Deacon Moore told the Catholic Review. “He got three or four other churches involved and he initiated some fundraising to purchase a building on West Street for the shelter.”

At St. Mary, where Father Murray served from 1987 to 1993, Father Murray oversaw one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. According to a parish history, he led a group of parishioners on a 10-day visit to Lviv, Ukraine, to help a Redemptorist-run parish clean and paint its church in 1991. He also established a much-needed parking lot on the crowded parish campus and purchased the property on which the St. John Neumann mission church would eventually be built to relieve overcrowding at St. Mary.  

Father Murray attracted national attention when he rediscovered long-forgotten relics of St. Justin in a parish safe in Annapolis. After receiving direction from the Vatican, the pastor had the 15 ancient bones buried in a 1989 ceremony at the Redemptorist Cemetery in the Carroll Gardens at St. Mary.

In addition to his pastoral work, Father Murray was regarded as a dynamic preacher who gave parish missions all along the East Coast. He was a long-time columnist for the Catholic Review and a strong supporter of the Catholic press who served on the Catholic Review’s former board of directors.

Daniel Medinger, former editor/associate publisher of the Catholic Review, said Father Murray actively promoted the publication in his parish. His support was “very meaningful to get other priests to support the newspaper,” he said.

“He had so many demands on his time, but he was an active board member and a private adviser to me when I was the editor,” Medinger said. “He was fun and an excellent conversationalist who never lost his Brooklyn accent.”

Father Murray was ordained to the priesthood by New York Cardinal Terence Cook in 1973. He was proud of his Irish heritage and often marched in St. Patrick’s Day parades with his father.  Just seven months after his accident, Father Murray was the homilist at the St. Patrick’s Day Mass at St. Patrick in Fells Point. It was only the second time he had preached outside Stella Maris since his injury.

Father Murray was also a former retreat house director in New Jersey and coordinator of Redemptorist Missions.

Father Hoog recalled that in recent years, whenever he asked Father Murray how he was doing, his friend had the same response. 

“My bags are packed,” Father Murray would tell him. 

 Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org 

Also see:

Former Annapolis and Baltimore pastor paralyzed in freak accident (2010)

Miracle man? Paralyzed priest, former Annapolis pastor, begins walking (2011)

Saint in the Graveyard: How did the bones of St. Justin wind up in Annapolis? (2023)

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