Fifty years ago today, on April 27, 1968, Paulist Fr. Ken McGuire was ordained a priest by Archbishop John Maguire of the Archdiocese of New York during a Mass at our mother church, the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.

He joins Paulist Fr. Bernard Campbell and Paulist Fr. James Haley in celebrating a golden ordination anniversary today.

A native of Ohio who grew up in Kentucky, Fr. Ken spent four years in the U.S. Air Force.  He met the Paulist Fathers while studying at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.

He entered the Paulist novitiate in 1961 and made his first promises to the community on September 2, 1962.

Fr. Ken served for 18 years at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles as director of the Cultural Orientation Program for International Ministers.

He also served as director of the University Catholic Center at UCLA; director of the Paulist Institute of Religious Research; director of campus ministry and pastor of St. Mark’s University Parish at the University of California at Santa Barbara; and associate pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Layton, UT.

From 1994 to 2011, Fr. Ken was director of St. Mary’s of the Lake, the Paulist summer retreat at Lake George, NY.

(Read an article about Fr. Ken’s tenure at the lake.)

He lives today in Palm Springs, CA.

See photos from Fr. Ken’s life and ministry at Pinterest.

All are invited to an anniversary Mass for Fr. Ken on Sunday, August 5, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s of the Lake in Lake George, NY.