Concept

Michael Joseph Murphy

Summary
Michael Joseph Murphy (1 July 1915 – 3 April 2007) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Erie, Pennsylvania, from 1982 to 1990. Michael Murphy was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of William and Mary Bridget (née Patton) Murphy. His father was a first-generation Irish American whereas his mother hailed directly from Ireland, where her parents lived on Achill Island, County Mayo. He attended St. Rose and St. James Grade Schools, and graduated from Cathedral Latin High School in 1933. After attending Niagara University for two years, he began his studies for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Cleveland in 1935. Murphy once recalled, "I can't think of ever having had another vocational aspiration than the priesthood. And from the earliest years of grade school, my mother used to recall that as a youngster I would, coming back from church, offer a Mass of my own using a bath towel or something as a chasuble and that sort of routine." He was later sent to further his studies in Rome at the Pontifical North American College and Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. His studies were interrupted in 1940 by the outbreak of World War II, leading him to return to the United States and enter the Theological College of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He there earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1942. On 28 February 1942, Murphy was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cleveland by Bishop James McFadden at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Following his ordination, he returned to the Catholic University of America to complete his graduate studies. He was appointed to the faculty of St. Mary's Seminary as professor of moral and pastoral theology in 1943, becoming dean of students in 1944 and vice-rector in 1948. He served as rector of St. Mary's from 1963 to 1976. On 20 April 1976, Murphy was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland and Titular Bishop of Arindela by Pope Paul VI.
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