The Most Rev. William Francis Murphy, bishop emeritus of Rockville Centre, and longtime trustee of Catholic Near East Welfare Association, died today at the age of 85.
Born in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, he pursued his studies for the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Boston at St. John’s Seminary, and later earned a doctorate in sacred theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest at the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City in 1964. After ten years of teaching and pastoral work in his home diocese, Father Murphy returned to Rome where he became a member of the Pontifical Commission Justitia et Pax. In 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed him undersecretary, a post he held for seven years.
“Bishop Murphy fully embraced and loved the mission of CNEWA,” said CNEWA President Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari, remembering how even when bedridden, his fondness for CNEWA and its mission to the marginalized and vulnerable “brought a deep smile to his face.”
That love for CNEWA as a vehicle for healing and hope, and his many years of service to it as a member of its international board of trustees, prompted Msgr. Vaccari and the CNEWA family to present to him its Faith & Culture Award in Rome on 19 April 2023 upon the occasion of the reopening of CNEWA’s Rome office.
“For his many years in service to the people of God as bishop, pastor, teacher and ambassador of peace in the Americas and throughout the world, CNEWA is privileged and honored to give its Faith & Culture Award to Bishop William F. Murphy,” said Msgr. Vaccari at the conferral of the award. “Always, as his episcopal motto, ‘No Other Name’ declares, Bishop Murphy has placed Jesus in the center of his life, mission and work.”
CNEWA’s director of communications and marketing, Michael J. La Civita, recalled accompanying Bishop Murphy on a pastoral visit to Lebanon in April 2018, led by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, then CNEWA’s chair.
“I remember teasing him how it was not my habit to read bishops’ columns, but how I awaited and relished his when it appeared each week in the pages of the Long Island Catholic, especially when he wrote about global events and the men and women behind them.
“How his merry eyes twinkled, and then how he shot right back at me, ‘from now on, make it a habit.’
“Bishop Murphy’s insights were often prophetic and always well considered. And while his is a voice that will be sorely missed, it was his gentle ability to connect with people, one on one, in a deeply human and personal manner that will be remembered by so many.”
“Please keep Bishop Murphy in your prayers,” Msgr. Vaccari asked in an email to the CNEWA family soon after learning of his death. “How he loved the church and her work among the marginalized in the lands of CNEWA.”
+ Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. +