During our Friday Liturgies, we are accustomed to seeing guest deacons or priests come and help with our mass; however, last week we saw a special guest return.
Deacon Robert Murphy joined the community once again for mass on April 13 for a Prayer Service. A Jesuit who will become a priest this June, he is no stranger to this campus as he taught here for three years from 2008 to 2011.
A multi-talented man, he served as a Spanish and theology teacher as well as the campus minister during his time at Jesuit. His talents do not stop there for he is also a physical therapist and has assisted in running youth retreat groups. From 2003 to 2005, Deacon Murphy served as a Novice Jesuit in Louisiana where our very own Father Billy Huete served as his Novice Director.
Having known Deacon Murphy for quite some time, Father Huete described Murphy as a “friend, coach and priest.” Obviously, Father Huete refers to him as a friend because of how close they have grown in the many years they have known one another. He describes him as a coach, because while he was here, he served as a lower level soccer coach and he speaks like a coach. Finally he described him as a Priest, because of the qualities he has that a lot of priests have such as how he is “a good listener and is kind to people.”
He also had nothing but compliments to give Deacon Murphy on his homily last Friday, saying that “I thought it was great.” For those who missed the homily, he used How I Met Your Mother, a popular TV show that recently ended, as an analogy to show how God waits until the time is right to let certain things happen to us. A priestly quality was shown during that homily as he was able to connect with his audience, mainly comprised of teenage boys, and he explained his point clearly through references that the audience would understand.
Deacon Murphy will become a Priest this upcoming June, and shortly after that, he will be sent off to a parish to do Priestly work; however, Father Huete believes that his main goal is to eventually return to high school work. After the late sixties, there was a decline in the number of people wanting to become Jesuits, which can be seen in Mr. Jonathan Harmon SJ’s year when there were only two that continued on in their formation. This is because of a declining amount of people willing to try it out, but also because the Jesuits are becoming a little more choosy with who they let continue their formation. “We really want to test people before they enter,” explained Huete. “I think we know that it’s not everyone’s vocation and that we have a vision of what we want a modern day Jesuit to be like and if we don’t think that you can achieve that, we might not accept you.” This means that the people that they accept are all people who they believe are great men who have the capability to live like a modern day Jesuit. Deacon Murphy was accepted, and therefore he is believed to have all the qualities that the Jesuits look for in a modern day Jesuit.
Deacon Murphy is a promising young Jesuit who will likely do great things moving forward, and it was a true pleasure to see him return to the place where he taught. As a community, we all wish him well.
