Sister Mary Catherine Murphy, RSHM, a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary for 57 years, died Aug. 9 at Marymount Convent, Tarrytown, NY. She was 82.

She entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM) at Marymount in 1950 and took the religious name of Sister Paraclitus.

Sister Mary Catherine served at Marymount School and Marymount College, Tarrytown, from 1951 to 1966. She was Superior of the RSHM community in Sag Harbor, L.I., 1966-68 and Regional Superior of the RSHM communities at St. Anne’s in Garden City; St. Pius X, Rosedale; and St. Catharine of Alexandria, Borough Park, from 1968 to 1969.

She served as Provincial Secretary of the Eastern American Province from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, she spent a year in a Renewal Program at Mt. St. Joseph College in Ohio.

From 1983 until 2005, she lived at St. Catharine of Alexandria Convent, Borough Park, while ministering as a member of the pastoral care team at Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn. In 2005, she retired to Marymount Convent in Tarrytown where she served as an active volunteer until her death.

She is survived by a twin sister, Sister Susan (Pius) Murphy and another sister, Madeline Murphy of Bronxville.

Father John B. Murray, CM, a longtime member of the St. John’s University community, died Aug. 4 in Philadelphia. He was 91.

Following his ordination in 1937, Father Murray joined the faculty of Niagara University. In 1952, he began his stay at St. John’s University, Jamaica. He founded the Department of Psychology and served as its chair for 18 years.

Known as a strong scholar and researcher, he was the author of nine books, and more than 70 articles. A licensed psychologist, he was a consultant to such publications as the Journal of General Psychology and Psychological Reports.

St. John’s conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate of Pedagogy, the Gold Medal, and the Andrew J. Bartilucci Award. In June, the University’s board of trustees named the new on-campus residence, currently under construction for Vincentians, the Rev. John B. Murray House.
A memorial Mass will be scheduled on the Queens campus.

Teresa Pavese, a native of Brooklyn, died July 21 in Arizona where she had lived in retirement for the past 22 years.

A former teacher of early education, Title 1 reading, and adult education of English as a second language for 33 years, she was a graduate of Baruch College and earned her master’s of education from Brooklyn College.

She is survived by her children, Teresa Pavese, MD; Marie Pavese, MD; and Richard Pavese, MD; and her brother, John Aiello, MD.

Retired Bishop Gerard L. Frey, who once headed the dioceses of Savannah, Ga., and Lafayette, La., died Aug. 16 at his home near Lafayette.

Born May 10, 1914, in New Orleans, Bishop Frey lived after his 1989 retirement at a family compound of five homes in Bay St. Louis, Miss., which was wiped out by a 40-foot wave during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Father Jerome Frey, the bishop’s brother who lived and worked in Lafayette, drove to Bay St. Louis to rescue the bishop and another brother, Msgr. Andrew Frey, a retired priest of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, La. Their ride back to Lafayette, normally lasting two or three hours, took 10 hours.

After the hurricane, family members found portions of the chapel, the tabernacle, a chalice and Bishop Frey’s crosier at the site of the former compound.

Bishop Frey lived for the past two years at Consolata Nursing Home in New Iberia, near Lafayette.

He was ordained to the priesthood April 2, 1938, following studies at St. Joseph Preparatory Seminary and Notre Dame Seminary, both in New Orleans.

He was named a bishop in 1967 by Pope Paul VI and appointed to the Diocese of Savannah, which he headed until 1972.

He was known for his public efforts in opposing racism.

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