George Vance Murry, S.J. (December 28, 1948June 5, 2020) was an American prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and member of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. He served as bishop of the

Diocese of Youngstown The Diocese of Youngstown ( la, Dioecesis Youngstonensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church, consisting of six counties in Northeast Ohio: Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Stark, Portage, and Ashtabu ...

from 2007 to 2020. Murry previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and ...

from 1995 to 1998 and as bishop of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands from 1998 to 2007 He submitted his resignation in May 2020 after suffering a relapse of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, but died before it was accepted.

Biography

Early life

Murry was born in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, on December 28, 1948, to Viola Murry and George Vance Murry II. He originally belonged to the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

but converted to Catholicism when he was a child while attending a parochial school in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He later graduated from

Camden Catholic High School Camden Catholic High School (CCHS) is a four-year comprehensive private coeducational Roman Catholic high school, located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area in Cherry Hill, Camden County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school operates ...

in Camden, New Jersey. Murry attended St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, St. Thomas Seminary in

Bloomfield, Connecticut Bloomfield is a suburb of Hartford in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town's population was 21,535 at the 2020 census. Bloomfield is best known as the headquarters of healthcare services company Cigna. History Originally land ...

, and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, obtaining a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...

degree in 1972. In that same year, he was admitted as a member of the Society of Jesus. After completing his period of

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in 1974, Murry obtained a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

degree from the

Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley The Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University is a Jesuit seminary within Santa Clara University and one of the member colleges of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. Prior to its merger with Santa Clara Univers ...

in Berkeley, California, and a Masters and Doctorate in American Cultural History from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in Washington, D.C.

Priesthood

On June 9, 1979, Murry was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop

William Donald Borders William Donald Borders (October 9, 1913 – April 19, 2010) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the 13th Archbishop of Baltimore from 1974 to 1989, having previously served as the first Bishop of Orlando from 1968 to ...

in the Jesuit province of Maryland. Murry became an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

of American studies at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1986, and taught at that institution for four years. He also served as president of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C. from 1989 until 1994, when he was appointed associate vice president for academic affairs at the

University of Detroit Mercy The University of Detroit Mercy is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 ...

Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed Murry as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the North Africa region, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the northwestern coast of Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNES ...

on January 24, 1995. He was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on March 20, 1995. Cardinal

Joseph Bernardin Joseph Louis Bernardin (April 2, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from ...

served as the principal consecrator, assisted by Auxiliary Bishops Alfred Abramowicz and Timothy Lyne.

Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Saint Thomas

Murry was appointed as

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of the Diocese of Saint Thomas by Pope John Paul II on May 5, 1998. As such, he had the right of succession when the current bishop resigned. Murry became bishop on June 30, 1999, after the resignation of Bishop Elliot Thomas.

Bishop of Youngstown

On January 30, 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

appointed Murry as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown. Later in 2007, he was elected secretary of the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

(USCCB). Murry was re-elected to a three-year term as secretary in 2008. Murry served as chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Policy. He was appointed chair of the

National Catholic Educational Association The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) is a private, professional educational membership association of over 150,000 educators in Catholic schools, universities, and religious education programs. It is the largest such organization ...

in 2015, serving until the end of 2017. In September 2015,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed Murry to the Synod of Bishops that met in October 2015 to discuss family life. At that meeting, he said he supported the view that church could change its practice toward the divorced and remarried without altering doctrine. Murry said he supported greater participation from

theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

, cultural historians, and other experts, and that the Synod needed to find a way to hear the voices of the people who were the subject of its discussions. He also supported the creation of commission to consider allowing women to serve as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

s. He said: "It would be a wise idea to look into it, to learn more about it and then to present a proposal to the Pope to say there either are theological problems, or not. And if not, let’s move forward." Murry served on several. boards of directors and trustees: * University of Detroit * St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia * Mount St. Mary's College *

Loyola Academy Loyola Academy is a private, Catholic, co-educational college preparatory high school run by the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, and in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago ...

in Detroit *

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

in Fairfield, Connecticut In April 2018, Murry was diagnosed with

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may includ ...

. He received

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

treatment at the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...

in Cleveland, Ohio. On September 4, 2018, he returned to work part-time at the diocese. After being in remission, Murry suffered a

relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

in April 2020.

Retirement and legacy

Murry submitted his resignation as bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown to Pope Francis on May 26, 2020, four years before the mandatory retirement age of 75. George Murry died on June 5, 2020, a few days after being admitted to

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

in New York City for treatment.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown Official Site

National Black Catholic Congress
bio of George Murry , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Murry, George 1948 births 2020 deaths People from Camden, New Jersey Camden Catholic High School alumni Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits University of Detroit Mercy faculty African-American Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Roman Catholic bishops of Saint Thomas Roman Catholic bishops of Youngstown 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Jesuit bishops Religious leaders from Illinois Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Saint Joseph's University alumni Catholics from New Jersey Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from acute myeloid leukemia 21st-century African-American people American Roman Catholic bishops by contiguous area of the United States African-American Catholic consecrated religious