Oct. 21, 2021 – Fr. Robert A. McGuire, SJ, son of James and Mary Burns McGuire, was born on March 13, 1928, in Jackson Heights, N.Y. He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan (1941-1945) and immediately entered the Society of Jesus at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In 1949, Fr. McGuire went to West Baden College, Indiana, to study philosophy; and in 1952 he was assigned, for his regency, to teach at Fordham Prep in the Bronx.
In 1955, Fr. McGuire went to Woodstock College in Maryland for his theology studies and was ordained by Francis Cardinal Spellman in the Fordham University Church on June 21, 1958. He completed his theological studies in 1959 and was once again assigned to teach at Fordham Prep, for one year, before moving on to Tertianship at Auriesville, N.Y. (1960-1961).
After tertianship Fr. McGuire spent a year (1961-1962) at the Gonzaga Retreat House in Monroe, N.Y., giving youth retreats. In 1962, he went to Regis High School as student counselor for the next 13 years. In 1975, he went to The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley for a further study of theology.
For the next three years (1976-1979) Fr. McGuire lived in Harriman, N.Y., assisting the Charismatic Community at Harriman College. Then he began his ministry to the Charismatic Community at St. Pius X Church in Plainview, N.Y. For the next 24 years Fr. McGuire served as Coordinator of the Charismatic Community, Chaplain at the Parish House of Prayer, director of Spiritual Exercises and Director of the Pius X Spirit Life Center.
From 2003 to 2005, Fr. McGuire lived at the Loyola Jesuit Community on the Fordham University Campus and then moved to the Jesuit Martyr’s Shrine in Auriesville, N.Y., as an assistant at the shrine, working for the Apostleship of Prayer and directing retreats (2005-2012). Fr. McGuire was enthusiastically engaged in and dedicated to the cause for the canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
In 2012, the year Kateri was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. McGuire moved to Murray-Weigel Hall, the Jesuit Infirmary, where he prayed for the Society of Jesus and for the Church until his death from COVID-19 on the feast of the North American Martyrs, Oct. 19, 2021.
May he now rest from his many labors in the arms of the Lord whom he so faithfully served.