Frank J. Murray (priest)
Rev. Frank J. Murray (born March 12, 1949[1] is an American Catholic priest and former Democratic state representative from Maine.[2][1]
Early life
Murray was born and grew up on Maple Street in Bangor, Maine to Robert Emmett and Laura Murray.[1][3][2] Both of his grandfathers were named Frank J.[1] He has a younger brother, Robert Emmett, Jr., and an older sister, Cynthia, who married Severin Beliveau.[1] His great uncle was Edward P. Murray.[1]
Murray attended St. John's School and then John Bapst Memorial High School.[1] He is of French, English, and Irish descent.[1] His father was active in Democratic politics.[1]
Career
Maine House
Murray attended the University of Maine at Orono where he received a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[2][1][3] During his junior and senior years in 1969 and 1970, when he was 20 years old, he ran for a sear in the Maine House of Representatives[nb 1].[2][1] When elected, Murray was the youngest member of the House.[1] Murray put off graduation for a semester to go to work at the state capital, and finished his degree in between sessions of the legislature.[1]
He was then reelected for a second term in the Maine House.[2][1] In the House, Murray served on the education and reapportionment committees.[1] Murray then ran for a seat in the Maine Senate in 1974 but was defeated by 163 votes.[2][1] The following January he ran for Secretary of State, which is elected by the members of the House and Senate, but lost by a single vote.[1]
Other political activities
In 1972 he ran Elmer Violette, a close friend's, congressional campaign.[1] He served as a delegate to a number of Maine Democratic Party conventions and the 1972 Democratic National Convention.[1] Murray also served on the Maine Human Rights Commission.[1]
Ministry
He entered the seminary in 1977 at Theological College at The Catholic University of America and received a Master's of Divinity in 1981.[2][1][3] He was ordained by Bishop Edward C. O'Leary on June 6, 1981 at St. John Church in Bangor.[3][1][2] During his time at Catholic University, President Jimmy Carter came to Bangor and stayed at the Murray family home.[1] When Carter learned that Murray was a student at Catholic University, he invited Murray to fly back to Washington on Air Force One.[1]
His first assignment as a priest, which lasted for six years, was a chaplain at the Maine Medical Center.[2][3] While remaining at the hospital, he did campus ministry at the University of Southern Maine and did pastoral work at Sacred Heart Parish in Portland beginning in 1983.[3] Murray became the campus minister at the University of Maine in July 1987, a post he held for seven years, while also serving as pastor of Our Lady of Wisdom in Orono.[2][3]
Following this, in 1989 he served in a number of parishes, including at St. Mary Parish in Bangor for nine years.[2][3] He then moved to Sacred Heart parish, St. Louis parish, and St. Philip Parish, all in Auburn in 2003 where he stayed for six years.[2][3] Murray was named administrator of the newly formed All Saints Parish in Brunswick in July 2009 and, in May 2010, he was named pastor.[2][3] As of 2019, he is pastor of St. Paul the Apostle parish in Bangor, a six church parish.[2]
Murray won the Lifetime Service Award in 2019, Theological College's centennial year.[2] He has also served as the director of vocations and the director of seminarians for the Diocese of Portland.[3]
Notes
- By the time he was sworn in, Murray was 21 years old, the constitutional minimum age.[1]
References
- L'Hommedieu, Andrea (November 3, 2000). "Murray, Frank oral history interview". Bates College, SCARAB, Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- K.M.B. "From Politics to Priesthood". Catholic U. The Catholic University of America (Spring 2019).
- Guthro, Dave (October 29, 2018). "Rev. Frank Murray of Bangor receives 2018 Theological College Alumnus Lifetime Service Award". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved May 29, 2019.