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May 7, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
THANK YOU BISHOP MCGRATH
‘PJ’ McGrath – from Youth in Ireland to Coadjutor Bishop of San Jose
(Reprinted from The Valley Catholic, Oc-
tober 20, 1998)
By Roberta Ward
Former Editor of The Valley Catholic
The Diocese of San Jose’s new Coad-
jutor Bishop Patrick J. McGrath (known
widely as “PJ”) can identify with the
thousands of immigrants in Santa
Clara County where at least a quarter
of the population has been born abroad.
Patrick Joseph McGrath was born and
raised in Dublin, Ireland, attended
elementary and high school there,
receiving his education from the Holy
Faith Sisters and the Marist Fathers, the
latter at St. Peter Chanel College.
He cherishes his Catholic educa-
tion. “I always enjoyed it because I
really enjoyed my teachers. They were
great educators and great builders of
character. They were role models to me
and my classmates. I still have a special
love for the Holy Faith Sisters and the
Marist Fathers.”
Religion played a pivotal role in
Irish life, especially in the 1950s when
the young “PJ” was growing up.
“There were devotions, novenas and
special feasts,” he said, “and you went
to church a lot. In the evening, it was
the thing to do. You know, television
was very new and we didn’t have it
in our house when I was very young.”
When did he decide to become a
priest?
“Well now, you know, I didn’t just
wake up in the middle of the night
and feel that I had a vocation. It sort of
evolved,” he said.
“In high school we had these service
projects that the students did. I enjoyed
that. A group of us did up homes for
some poor elderly people - fixing and
patching and the like- and I liked that.
The people seemed to really appreci-
ate what we did and they didn’t have
the money to be able to get it done
themselves.
“I began to think that this sort of
service - helping people in general was
a fulfilling way to spend one’s life.”
At the age of 19, in 1964, he entered
St. John Seminary in Waterford where
Thank
you
Bishop
McGrath
Holy Family Parish
At ordination 1970 -- In Ireland (l-r) brother
Sean McGrath, “PJ”, mother Eileen, brother
Thomas McGrath, at Saint John Seminary.
he spent the next six years as a candi-
date for priesthood.
“When I went into the seminary
I knew it was a day-by-day commit-
ment,” he said. “I enjoyed those years
but it really was a question of taking
one day at a time, and besides, I knew
I could leave.”
The youngest of three children, all
boys, “PJ” recalls some wise and kind
advice his late father gave him when
he entered the seminary.
“He told me I could leave and come
home if I wanted to. I really appreciated
him saying that, you know, because, in
Ireland, once you started
seminary, if you left, there was a sort
of stigma attached.”
Bishop McGrath recalls a loving
family and comfortable childhood as
he was growing up. His father, Pat-
rick Joseph McGrath, Sr., who died
while “PJ” was in the seminary, was a
detective. His mother, the late Eileen
Gaule McGrath, of French ancestry,
was a homemaker who was also very
involved in community activities as
well as in the church.
“My father was a very shy man,” he
said, “very quiet and thoughtful. My
mother was a very vivacious woman.
She had a very welcoming and warm
personality, always involved in chari-
ties and interested in helping people.
She enjoyed life. She was a very ‘up’
type of person.”
Continued on page 47