William Murphy (Bishop of Rockville Centre) - Early Life and Priesthood

Early Life and Priesthood

Prepared at Boston Latin School for Harvard College, he attended Saint John’s Seminary receiving his BA in 1961. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston at Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City on December 16, 1964. He was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University receiving S.T.L. degree in 1965 and an S.T.D., in 1974. He was called to the Roman Curia to serve as Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1980–1987, having worked as an official in Justice and Peace from 1974. At the same time he served as lecturer in theology, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas from 1976 until 1980, while also serving as a lecturer in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1972 to 1974. He was named Chaplain of His Holiness in 1979.

He returned to the archdiocese Boston where he served as Secretary of Community Relations for the Archdiocese of Boston and concurrently director of the Office of Social Justice and director of the Pope John XXIII Seminary, Weston, MA all from 1987 to 1993. In 1987 he was named a Prelate of Honuor. At the same time he served as a lecturer in Social Ethics at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, MA. He served as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston from 1993-2001. In this role, he was the principal assistant to Bernard Cardinal Law, responsible for clergy.