Father Francis H. McGauley, S.J.

A funeral Mass for Father Francis H. McGauley, S.J., who served in India for 31 years and led retreats at several Jesuit retreat houses, will be offered July 18 at St. Ignatius, Baltimore. Father McGauley died July 15 at Manresa Hall Jesuit Community in Merion Station, Pa., after a short illness. He was 86.

A Jesuit for 65 years and a priest for 53 years, Father McGauley first went to India in 1951 as a Jesuit Scholastic. After studying Hindi, he taught mathematics, physics and catechism at Loyola School in Jamshedpur. He was ordained to the priesthood at De Nobili College in India on March 24, 1955 by Bishop Andrew D’Souza. Father McGauley continued ministering in India until 1980. He served as a teacher, a pastor and director of retreats, in addition to other duties.

When Father McGauley returned to the United States in 1980, he began his ministry directing retreats. He was retreat director at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., from 1980 to 1981, as well as assistant to the pastor of St. Aloysius Church. He served as director of the Spiritual Exercises at Manresa-on-Severn in Annapolis from 1981 to 1986, Superior and Director of Loyola Retreat House in Faulkner, Md., from 1986 to 1992.

In 1992, he moved to Merion Station, Pa., where he was director of the Province Infirmary and provincial assistant for health care at Loyola Center at St. Joseph’s University – now known as Manresa Hall – until 1999.

After a sabbatical year, Father McGauley served for five years as director of St. Francis Xavier House of Prayer at St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore. Father William Watters, S.J., who was pastor there at the time, credited Father McGauley with developing the ministry. “From small beginnings, he energetically dedicated himself to the work of turning a vision and dream into a reality. What a treasure he built and has passed on to the next generation of Jesuits and our lay partners.”

In 2005, Father McGauley resided at St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Church in Woodstock, working there as a pastoral minister until 2008 when due to failing health he moved to Manresa Hall in Merion Station, Pa.

For several years, he had participated in a Catholic Men’s Fellowship at the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier, Hunt Valley.

A viewing will be held at St. Ignatius, 740 N. Calvert Street, from 2-7:30 p.m. on July 18. The Mass of Christian Burial will follow. Burial will be at 11:30 a.m. on July 19, at the Jesuit Cemetery in Wernersville, Pa.

Father McGauley is survived by a brother, David O. McGauley, of Towson, a sister, Carolyn Ann McGauley Coady of Salisbury, and a number of nieces and nephews.