BELOVED “FATHER JOHN” DEAD.
Rev. John McGuire was Rector of St. Mary’s Church for 33 Years.
The New York Times, May 3, 1912
The Rev. John McGuire, for the last thirty-three years rector of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Long Island City, died yesterday. “Father John,” as he was affectionately known to thousands of Catholics in this and the Brooklyn Diocese, was born in County Longford, Ireland, on May 29, 1842. He was educated in St. Mel’s College, Longford, Ireland, and then entered All Hallows Seminary in Dublin. He was ordained a priest in that city by Bishop Whalen of Bombay, India, then visiting Ireland.
After his ordination Father McGuire came to this country and was assigned by Bishop Loughlin as a curate to assist the rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, in Twenty-third street, Brooklyn. He began his duties on August 15, 1868. After eleven years of service there he was appointed the rectorship of St. Mary’s.
The church was then a small wooden building, and Father McGuire began work for the erection of a new church, which was dedicated in December, 1891. Two years later the church was destroyed by fire, and Father McGuire began work on another. In 1893 Father McGuire took his first vacation and visited Ireland.
Father McGuire built up a parochial school, which is now considered the best in Brooklyn. He also established The Young Men’s Lyceum, and he contributed largely to the success of St. John’s Hospital in Long Island City.
“Father John” was more than 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds. His death was indirectly the result of an accident four years ago, when he was seriously injured by a fall while ascending the steps of his home, and from which he never fully recovered. He leaves a number of relatives, among whom are the Rev. Thomas Baxter of St. Michael’s, the Rev. John Baxter of the Church of the Sacred Heart, the Rev. John Reynolds of the Church of the Holy Family, and the Rev. Hugh Lynch of St. Stephen’s.