{"id":232306,"date":"2026-06-30T23:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/232306\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:26:07","slug":"st-dorothy-parish-in-drexel-hill-pennsylvania-says-goodbye-to-father-murphy-after-38-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/232306\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, says goodbye to Father Murphy after 38 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday was the last day on the job after more than three decades for one beloved Catholic priest in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rev. Michael Murphy has been a special part of people’s lives at St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill for a long time.<\/p>\n

After delaying retirement, Murphy says it’s time.<\/p>\n

“I always wanted to be with people,” Murphy said, reflecting on what kept him going over the years. “I’m a people person \u2026 I always loved doing baptisms, weddings, funerals. I mean, I just love being with people in their times of need.”<\/p>\n

Priesthood can mean lots of change and moving around, but Murphy has been at St. Dorothy for 38 years. He’s been the pastor for 23 of those years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After months of goodbyes, his faithful parishioners came one last time for his final Mass in the church at Township Line and Burmont roads Tuesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Father<\/p>\n

Courtesy<\/p>\n

They applauded him and formed a long line for hugs, tears and farewells. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“I consider it a great privilege and a blessing in my life to have known him all these years,” parishioner Maryann Cassidy said.<\/p>\n

Parishioners said Murphy has been a source of comfort and support. Murphy has presided over thousands of baptisms, communions, weddings and funerals.<\/p>\n

“He deserves retirement, I can’t think of anybody more that deserves retirement, and I know he’ll bless the next community he’s a part of,” Deacon Mark Fohner said.<\/p>\n

Murphy was rarely seen without his golden retriever, Blaze. The two of them were like rock stars at the parish grade school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I just enjoyed being present with the kids in school, I loved going over to the school with Blaze,” Murphy said.<\/p>\n

While he often says the church is the jewel of Delaware County, his appreciation for the people of the parish shines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I love them, and I tried my best,” he said. “I’m leaving my heart here, so much of my heart. But I know God’s going to take care of me in the future. It’s just, saying goodbye. I’m never good at goodbyes.”<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday was the last day on the job after more than three decades for one beloved Catholic priest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10926,212,1265,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-232306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-catholic-church","tag-delaware-county","tag-drexel-hill","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}