Murphy, Robert J.

Fr. Robert J. Murphy, SJ, pastor and former novice master, died on May 1, 2010, at the age of 87 in Clarkston, Michigan. Fr. Murphy was born to Joseph G. and Ella (Moran) Murphy on April 15, 1923, in Chicago. Fr. Murphy entered the Jesuits in 1941, just after graduating from Saint Ignatius College Prep (then called St. Ignatius High School) in Chicago. “Bob Murphy was a year ahead of me at St. Ignatius,” says Jack Cavenagh, 1942 alumnus of the school. “He was a unique individual who combined a talent for leadership and managerial ability with a modest and engagingly humorous demeanor. I will never forget him.”

After completing a course of study in Philosophy at the former West Baden College in 1948, Fr. Murphy taught for three years at University of Detroit High School. He then returned to West Baden to complete his study of Theology before his ordination on June 14, 1954. Fr. Murphy next served as the secretary for the Provincial for the Chicago Province of the Jesuits until 1958. That year he began his ten-year service as master of novices at the former novitiate in Milford, Ohio.

“Fr. Murphy was Novice Master to many of us who joined the Society at Milford, Ohio,” says Bill Maloney of Asheville, North Carolina. “It was a time of change in the Church and in the Society. He was there for us and taught us many things about what it means to be a Jesuit. Let us remember him in our prayers.”

From 1968-1971, Fr. Murphy served as the director of the Barrington Retreat House in Barrington, Illinois. After this he went on to serve as Pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Chicago until 1978. From 1978-1980, Fr. Murphy served as the province coordinator of Christian Life Communities at Loyola University.

After this he returned to serve as associate pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Chicago until 1982, and then at Christ the King Church in Lexington, Kentucky, from 1982-2002, when he went to Colombiere to pray for the Church and the Society. “Father Murphy was a very gentle and kind human being,” says Angela Cluck. “He will be sorely missed by all of us here in Lexington Kentucky.”