With sadness, we announce that our brother, Paulist Fr. Kenneth Harlan McGuire, entered eternal life this morning, October 16, 2020, at his home in Palm Springs, CA.

He was 89. His death was not related to COVID-19.

Fr. Ken was a member of the Paulist community for 59 years and a priest for 52 years.

He was born on November 25, 1930, in Grassy Creek, KY, the son of Ben and Myrtle McGuire. He was raised on a farm in Ohio, where his father was a sharecropper.

He graduated from high school in 1949. From 1951 to 1955, he served in the U.S. Air Force. In 1953, while serving in the Air Force, he became a Catholic.

He met the Paulist Fathers in 1956 at the Newman Center at the Ohio State University, from which he received a bachelors degree and a masters degree in agronomy.

In 1958, he successfully lobbied for the national convention of Newman Clubs to meet at Ohio State, filling the dormitories with Catholic college women and men, and some 100 priests from around the country.

He joined our novitiate on September 6, 1961, made his first promise on September 8, 1962, and made his final promise on September 8, 1965. He was ordained a priest on April 27, 1968.

Fr. Ken served for one year as associate pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Layton, UT, before returning to Ohio State for graduate studies. He received his Ph.D. in 1976 in anthropology.

From 1974 to 1978, he was director of the University Catholic Center at UCLA. He then spent four years in Washington, D.C., as director of the Paulist Institute for Religious Research.

From 1982 to 1990, he served as pastor of St. Mark’s University Parish, serving the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In 1993, he began an 18-year tenure at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles as director of the Cultural Orientation Program for International Ministers.

In 1999 and 2000, he served as administrator of St. Sebastian Church in Los Angeles, CA.

From 1994 to 2011, Fr. Ken was director of St. Mary’s of the Lake, our summer retreat at Lake George, NY. In 2011, he penned the book “Holy Ground for Generations: A History of the Paulists at Lake George.”

In addition to his Paulist brothers, Fr. Ken is survived by his sister, Beryl Mitchell of Mason, OH, and his nephew, Barry Mitchell.

Our prayer for our brother, Ken:

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.

Arrangements for Fr. Ken: