Jeremiah McGinley Dies in New Jersey

Jocelyn Thomas Friar News

RINGWOOD, N.J. — Jeremiah McGinley, OFM, 89, a professed Franciscan friar for 67 years and a priest for 63, died on Aug. 30 at Holy Name Friary.

A wake will be held on Sept. 4 from 4 to 7 p.m. at St. Anthony Church, 65 Bartholdi Ave., Butler, N.J., with a wake service at 6:30 p.m. Provincial Minister Kevin Mullen, OFM, will celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anthony Church at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 5. Burial will take place at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Butler.

Early Years
Jeremiah was born on Oct. 12, 1928 in Buffalo, N.Y., to Vincent and Marie (nee McFarland) and baptized there on Nov. 4, 1928. He attended P.S. 72 Elementary School and Canisius High School in Buffalo. Following graduation in 1946, he attended St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., where he earned a degree in philosophy in 1950.

He was received into the Order of Friars Minor on Aug. 12, 1950 by Thomas Plassmann, OFM, in Paterson, N.J., and professed his first vows a year later. On Aug. 13, 1954, Jeremiah professed his final vows as a Franciscan at Christ the King Seminary in Allegany. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 9, 1955 at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, D.C.

Ministry
His first assignment was as an assistant at St. Stephen of Hungary Parish on East 82nd Street in New York City, where he served from 1955 to 1959. In 1959, he was assigned to serve on the Province’s mission band, the ministry through which friars travel to various parishes giving retreats and preaching missions. He was based for a year at St. Elizabeth’s Parish in Denver, and from 1959 until 1985, he lived at St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J.

Jeremiah was assigned in 1985 to St. Anne’s Parish in Fair Lawn, N.J., where he served for 20 years until the Province withdrew from the parish. In 2005, he moved to Sacred Heart Friary in East Rutherford, N.J. While there, he worked at St. Anthony’s Guild and helped at local parishes, including St. Anne’s, where he often participated in St. Patrick’s Day festivities. In 2008, he moved back to St. Anthony Friary in Butler and retired there four years later.

He is survived by several cousins: Ann Brown of Williamsville, N.Y., Mildred Davis of Buffalo, Elizabeth Fox of Evansville, Ind., Barbara Makarewicz, and Carol Sundberg.

Memorial donations may be sent to Franciscan Friars – Holy Name Province, 144 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001-3202.

— Jocelyn Thomas is director of communications for Holy Name Province.

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