In Memoriam
Rev. Msgr. Philip J. Murnion

---

Born March 1, 1938
Ordained June 1, 1963
Entered Eternal Life August 19, 2003

Monsignor Philip J. Murnion died, August 19, 2003, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York, after a long struggle with cancer. A priest of the Archdiocese of New York, he is the founder and director of the National Pastoral Life Center. He founded the Center in 1983 with the encouragement of the National Conference of Bishops, to serve the pastoral leadership of the church, especially pastors and parish ministers, diocesan personnel, and the bishops. As part of the Center, Msgr. Murnion served as editor-in-chief of the Center’s quarterly, CHURCH magazine; -- read Msgr. Murnion's Reflections -- (PDF file, 2.24 MB) as senior consultant to The Roundtable, which is the Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors in the United States; and as director of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, which was founded in 1996 by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin to foster dialogue in the church. He served as a consultant to the Committee on Lay Ecclesial Ministry of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
        As a priest-sociologist, Msgr. Murnion conducted two path-breaking studies of a new development within the U.S. Catholic church—the utilization of laypeople as parish ministers. Both studies were conducted for committees within the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The first, New Parish Ministers, was published in 1992; the follow-up study, Parishes and Parish Ministers, was published in 1999. Earlier, from 1978 to 1982, he directed The Parish Project of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and in that time created and served as original director of the much quoted Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life.
        Catholics and Nuclear War, the book of essays he edited in 1983 (including contributers such as Peter Steinfels, Lester Thurow, Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, Charles Curran, and Sandra Schneiders) was published as a companion volume to the U.S. Catholic bishops’ landmark pastoral letter of that same year, The Challenge of Peace.
        In 2003, he received two major awards: the President’s Award of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils, for his leadership, and the Roundtable’s Harry A. Fagan Award for his work promoting social justice.
        Msgr. Murnion wrote numerous articles and lectured widely on parish and social ministry, future staffing of parishes, and on the life and role of parish priests. He served the archdiocese in parishes (St. Thomas the Apostle in Harlem, St. Patrick in Staten Island, St. Gregory the Great in Manhattan), as a high school teacher, as the founding director of the archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Research, and as a member and chair of the archdiocesan Senate/Council of Priests.
        He served as adjunct faculty at Fordham University and Boston College. In the 1970s he served as board member and chair of the Catholic Committee for Urban Ministry, located at the University of Notre Dame.
        He is survived by his siblings: Rose Mary Gerdes of Middletown, New Jersey; John Murnion of New York City, and Dr. William E. Murnion of Bellvale, New York.

• Homily at the funeral Mass by Rev. Robert Imbelli
  
  
• Eulogies at the Vesper Service by Sr. Catherine M. Patten, RSHM
  
  
• Eulogies at the Vesper Service by John P. Murnion
  
  
• Letter to the bishops by Msgr. Philip J. Murnion