Flock’s Happy New Leader
Since the Rev. Thomas Patrick Murray arrived in Montauk on June 25 as the new parish priest at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, he has made quite a few new friends. He credits the Monsignor, a chubby yellow Labrador retriever, for that. “Everyone greets the Monsignor,” he said from his new office at the parish center.
Before coming to the hamlet, he was the parish priest for 12 years at St. Agnes in Greenport. His parishioners there became like family, and it was hard for him to leave. But, he said, the Lord had plans for him to move on. He was given a list of other parishes that he could choose from, and while mulling different areas on Long Island he received a call from Bishop William Murphy, who offered him the Montauk parish.
“It wasn’t even on the list but I was delighted,” Father Murray said.
While in Greenport, even his mother became a member of the community and visited at least 10 days a month. She was so well liked that when she arrived for a visit he would put a little solar-powered bobblehead of Queen Elizabeth with a waving hand in a window so parishioners would know she was in town. They flocked to see her.
She died on July 16, and Father Murray tears up while speaking of her. He thinks she waited to die until he was settled comfortably in his new parish. From his mother’s home, he has brought various items to decorate his new office and keep her near. Her funeral was attended by hundreds, he said. As he was conducting the Mass, he imagined her whispering in his ear, “Too bad there’s not a collection.”
Montauk has welcomed him with open arms, he said, and that’s in no small part due to his humorous and outgoing personality.
Father Tom, as he likes to be called, became a priest in 1981 after attending college and seminary school. He knew from the time he was in grammar school that he would join the priesthood. “I heard the calling,” he said.
But when his father died, and he continued to serve at other funerals right afterward, he said he needed a break, so he went to work at the Ritz-Carlton in Palm Beach, Fla. But the Lord didn’t allow him too much time away. “I remember the Lord told me, Okay, it’s time to come back,” he said.
He enjoys a good relationship with Bishop Murphy, who called to offer his condolences after his mother died and then followed up with phone calls to check in on him. “He’s a joy to my life. Even though he’s in Rockville Centre he’s always been encouraging to me, with emails and phone calls. He cares for his priests.”
Father Murray was raised in Hicksville, so he knows the Island well. Montauk, he has found, is like Mayberry, the fictional small town from “The Andy Griffith Show.”
His family is equally happy that he has been posted in the hamlet. “I get calls now from my nieces and nephews asking if there’s any room at the inn,” he said and laughed. With three bedrooms in the rectory, he also hosts other priests on vacations.
On Sunday, he will participate in International Day in the parish center, a potluck event in which parishioners bring food items from their native countries. He plans to go shopping at B.J.’s in Riverhead for corned beef to make corned beef sandwiches. “With a name like Thomas Patrick Murray what else could I make?”