CASC Lumen Magazine_Spr 2021

Murphy Institute

St. John Paul II with Murphy, Robert Strusinski and the St. Thomas Liturgical Choir in the Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City, Christmas 1987. The choir was the first American choir to be selected to sing at the Papal Holy Mass of the Christmas Vigil.

The project of digitizing, which took nearly a year to complete, was particularly meaningful for Greg as he recalls, “I remember being deeply moved by what I was looking at, essentially his handwritten legacy.” In addition to copies of the archive gifted to friends and family of Murphy, Greg recognized the Murphy Institute, a collaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Catholic Studies and the School of Law, as an obvious home for the collection. “The institute transcribing these works and developing them into an accessible, online archive is a powerful amplification of the labor of love I initially gave the project ... the significance of this collection

to our family increases with each passing year,” Greg says. “The fact that much of it is in his own hand is especially poignant to me as it makes his words very personal. Those of us who knew him can imagine his face and hear his voice when we see these documents. The words they contain are so obviously Father Terry – insightful and profound, but in a very

approachable way – just like he was in person.” The archive also features comments made by Murphy on celebratory occasions, such as commencements and anniversaries. Notably, Murphy addressed family, friends and colleagues on the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood with the timeless exhortation, “Good

Images left to right: Murphy’s great niece Vivian Murphy ’21; his private chapel at his residence on Summit Avenue, about to celebrate his last Easter mass, April 20, 2003; Murphy and Vivian December 2001; Murphy critiquing the play of his nephew, Gregory Murphy ’85, ’89 MBA after an October 1984 football game.

Page 26 stthomas.edu/catholicstudies

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