Suplician Father John E. McMurry dies at 93

A memorial Mass was offered April 1 for Sulpician Father John E. McMurry, who died March 25, just six days after his 93^rd birthday.

The Nashville, Tenn., native served as a priest for 68 years, including at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park and the St. Mary’s Spiritual Center on Paca Street in Baltimore.

As director of St. Mary’s Spiritual Center and a graduate of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, he developed the skills for spiritual guidance and focused on becoming a practitioner of the Ira Progoff Intensive Journal. He traveled widely to conduct workshops on keeping a spiritual journal. 

He retired to St. Charles Villa (now Villa Olier) in Catonsville in 2007. 

After attending Nashville parochial schools, Father McMurry earned a degree from St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa, before entering theological studies at Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained in Rome on Dec. 16, 1956, and completed his S.T.L. degree at the Gregorian University in 1957.

He served as an associate pastor at several parishes in Nashville 1957-1969 before joining the Society of St. Sulpice. He did his doctoral studies in theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif., and completed his doctorate in 1977. 

Elsewhere, he served at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park, Calif.; St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, Wash.; and Theological College in Washington D.C. 

Father McMurry donated his body to medical research.

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