January 27, 2023
Watch the recording of Fr. Charlie’s funeral Mass, held Saturday, February 4, 2023 at the Paulist Center in Boston.
With sadness, we announce that our brother, Rev. Charles Martin, C.S.P., entered eternal life this morning, January 27, 2023.
He died in Boston after a short illness. He was 87.
He had been a member of the Paulist community for 64 years and a priest for almost 58 years. He served in parishes, campus ministries and formation ministry.
Fr. Charlie also led retreats for priests and helped many priests who were working toward sobriety.
Charles Martin was born January 10, 1936, in Newport, RI, one of three children of John Joseph Martin and Marguerite Yates Martin.
His family later moved to Weymouth, MA.
He graduated from Weymouth High School in 1954 and then attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for three years.
He joined the Paulist novitiate on September 6, 1958, at age 22.
He made his First Promises on September 8, 1959, and his Final Promises on September 8, 1962.
During these years, he earned degrees at St. Paul’s College, our seminary in Washington, D.C., which was then a degree-granting institution. He later earned a second masters degree at the University of Northern Colorado.
On May 8, 1965, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York.
Fr. Charlie was an assistant priest at St. Lawrence University Parish in Minneapolis, MN, from September, 1965, to August, 1967, and then served on our missions band in Detroit.
In April, 1968, Fr. Charlie moved to St. Patrick’s Church in Memphis, TN. He provided pastoral care to the neighborhood in the wake of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Use the arrows or swipe to view more photos.
In September, 1970, Fr. Charlie moved into campus ministry or the “Newman Apostolate.”
He served at the University of California at Santa Barbara (St. Mark’s University Parish) from 1970 to 1973; the University of Northern Colorado (St. Peter’s Church) in Greeley, CO, from 1973 to 1982; and was director of the University Catholic Center at UCLA in Los Angeles from 1983 to 1985.
In 1982 and 1983, he also had a stint at the Paulist Leadership and Renewal Project in Boston.
Fr. Charlie was associate pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in Los Angeles from 1985 to 1990.
He then served as superior of Paulists based at the Paulist Center in Boston through 1995. During this time, he worked with the Archdiocese of Boston’s Priest Recovery Program.
In 1996, Fr. Charlie returned to Minneapolis, MN, where he served for three years at the Newman Center and St. Lawrence University Parish.
Fr. Charlie then moved into formation ministry at St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C., serving as Associate Director of Formation from 2000 to 2002, Director of Formation from 2002 to 2004, and again as Associate Director from 2005 to 2006.
From 2006 to 2011, he was coordinator of the Paulist retirement residence in Vero Beach, FL.
He entered senior ministry in Boston in September, 2011.
Fr. Charlie was narrator of the 2017 documentary film “Isaac Hecker and the Journey of Catholic America” about the life and times of our founder, Servant of God Isaac Hecker.
In addition to his parents, Fr. Charlie was preceded in death by his brother, John, and his sister, Ellen.
Fr. Charlie is survived by his brother Paulist Fathers; his sister-in-law, Carol Martin; his nephews, Christopher Martin, John Martin and Daniel Keller; his nieces, Laurie Ward and Karen Keller; and other family members.
The wake for Fr. Charlie will be held Friday, February 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Robert J. Lawlor Funeral Home, 1803 Centre St., West Roxbury, MA 02132.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at The Paulist Center, Boston, MA on Saturday, February 4, at 11 a.m. The Mass will be celebrated by our president, Paulist Fr. René Constanza, with Paulist Fr. Rick Walsh as homilist.
Burial will take place Monday, February 6, at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in West Roxbury, MA.
Our prayer for our brother, Charlie:
May the angels lead you into paradise,
may the martyrs come to welcome you,
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem.