(1921 – 2024)
April 26, 2024
With great sadness, we announce that our brother, Rev. James B. Lloyd, C.S.P., entered eternal life this morning, Friday, April 26, 2024.
Fr. Lloyd was 103 years old. He died at the Mary Manning Walsh Home in New York City, where he had been cared for since early April.
Fr. Lloyd was a missionary, an educator, a counselor, a confessor, a television host, and more.
“I simply love being a priest,” he said.
He had been a member of the Paulist community for 82 years and a priest for almost 76 years.
Fr. Lloyd was the eldest current Paulist Father and the longest-lived Paulist in the history of the missionary society. He was the first Paulist to celebrate a 100th birthday and the first Paulist to celebrate 70th and 75th ordination anniversaries.
James Bernard Lloyd was born on April 3, 1921, in New York City, the son of vaudevillians Morris (Rosenbloom) Lloyd and Helen McArdle Lloyd.
“My early exposure to the vaudeville stage prepared me well for a future as a communicator of God’s Word,” he later wrote.
When the family was not traveling on the theatrical circuit, they lived on Manhattan’s West Side in the vicinity of San Juan Hill and Columbus Circle.
His life-long association with the Paulist Fathers began in the same neighborhood with his baptism at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, where he received all of his sacraments.
He received his grammar school education at the former St. Paul the Apostle School and his high school education at the former Power Memorial Academy.
After two years of discernment, he entered the Paulist novitiate in 1942.
“I became a Paulist and never looked back. The years of excitement, meaning, friendship, and God have been all-consuming,” Fr. Lloyd wrote.
He made his First Promises on September 8, 1943, his Final Promises on September 8, 1946; and was ordained a deacon on October 1, 1947. While he was in the seminary, he earned an undergraduate degree from The Catholic University of America.
He was ordained a priest on May 1, 1948, at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle.
From 1948 to 1955, Fr. Lloyd was a missionary in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he preached missions and retreats.
In 1955, he returned to New York City where he led the Paulist Fathers’ Catholic Information Center near Columbus Circle through 1965.
From 1958 to 1973, Fr. Lloyd hosted “Inquiry,” a Sunday morning television program on WNBC (Channel 4), NBC’s affiliate in New York City. The program featured Fr. Lloyd’s interviews with a variety of authors, public officials, and celebrities, including St. Teresa of Calcutta, Malcolm Muggeridge, Jackie Gleason, William F. Buckley, and Florence Henderson.
“The show was produced to illustrate the relevance of God to every human endeavor,” he wrote.
From 1965 to 1968, he led St. Peter’s Seminary, the former Paulist junior seminary in Baltimore, MD.
In 1968, Fr. Lloyd returned to the Paulist Motherhouse in New York City, where he would be based for the rest of his life.
Also in 1968, he earned a master’s degree in counseling from Iona College (now Iona University) in New Rochelle, NY. In the early 1970s, he earned a Ph.D. in psychology from New York University’s School of Education (now NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development).
From 1974 to 1994, he served at Iona College, where he was a professor and director of the college’s graduate division of pastoral counseling.
He also taught courses for many years at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, NY, and was a chaplain for the retired detectives of the New York City Police Department.
In the early 1970s, Fr. Lloyd also had a two-year stint in the Archdiocese of New York Communications Office. For many years, he “whispered narration” of the Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral that was broadcast on WPIX (Channel 11).
Fr. Lloyd entered senior ministry in 1994 but he remained very active for the rest of his life, writing books and articles, blogging, hearing confessions, and providing pro bono counseling services. One of his books was titled “Reflections of a Dinosaur Priest.”
In 1994, at the invitation of Cardinal John O’Connor, Fr. Lloyd became a facilitator for Courage International, an apostolate for men and women who experience same-sex attractions and pursue chastity. For some 30 years, he hosted a weekly Courage meeting at the Paulist Motherhouse.
In 2001, Fr. Lloyd became a confessor and spiritual director for the Sisters of Life.
In addition to his parents, Fr. Lloyd was preceded in death by his sister, Maurica “Marie” Lloyd Byrne. He is survived by his brother Paulists; his nephews and nieces; and many friends.
In recent years, interviewers often asked Fr. Lloyd what advice he would give to priests and others.
“Don’t take yourself too seriously,” he would reply. “Don’t think too much of yourself. Make a great deal of God.”
Our prayer for our brother, James:
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.
A time of visitation and a vigil service for Rev. James B. Lloyd, C.S.P., will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Church of St. Paul Apostle, Columbus Avenue at West 60th Street, in New York City. (May 1 would have been the 76th anniversary of Fr. Lloyd’s priestly ordination.)
A Mass of Christian Burial for Fr. Lloyd will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Church of St. Paul The Apostle.
The principal celebrant will be the Very Rev. René Constanza, C.S.P., president of the Paulist Fathers. The homily will be shared by Rev. John Collins, C.S.P.
The Mass will be broadcast live on the parish’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Fr. Lloyd will be buried following the Mass of Christian Burial next to his parents in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY. The time of burial is pending.
