Home     Description     Outline     Bibliography     Resume

 

 

Brief bio of Friar Maury Smith, O.F.M.,

 

 

Maury Smith is a Jewish-Irish name.  Maury is from the Jewish Moise which is Moses.  Smith is from the Gallic MacGowan.  “In the year 1465 in the reign of Edward IV, a statue was passed requiring every Irishman dwelling with the English pale, the comprising the counties of Dublin, Louth, and Kildare, in Ireland, to take an English surname.  In obedience to this law many Irish MacGowans translated their name to the English Smith.” (from Elsdon C. Smith. The Book of Smith. NY: Paragon Books, 1979.)

 

Fr. Maury grew up in the old "Pinch" area, where his ancestors had settled. He attended Christine School and Humes High School. He was active in the Speech and Drama Club at Humes. Lucille Ewing, well-known in Memphis for her work with the Children's Theatre, asked him to be on the Recreation Department's radio program for children. He won the "Reckie" award for best performer several times. He was also active in the Memphis Children's Theatre. He attended Christian Brothers College (now University)

     Maury at 65^th Birthday with gifts    before entering the Franciscan seminary. He was ordained as a

                                                      Franciscan. priest in 1966.

 

In his ministry over the past 41 years Fr. Maury served as a director of Alverna Retreat 

Center in Indianapolis, was instrumental in developing contemporary programs for spiritual development, participated in ecumenical endeavors, and taught in a graduate program in theology. He received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Among other professional credentials, he is a diplomate in the American Association of Pastoraal Counselors.

 

He was asked to be director of spiritual renewal program of all the English-speaking Franciscans  (O.F.M.) by the twenty-two provincial superiors of the this conference.  In this position, he established the Office of Franciscan Spiritual Renewal as a center for spiritual ggrowth programs for friars.

 

Fr. Maury taught at St. Bonaventure's University in Olean, New York, for fourteen summers.  His courses dealt with Franciscan spirituality and community, prayer, and spiritual direction.  Among his publications are a book on value clarification.  He collaborated on a series of books for religious education.   He also was editor and contributor to Retreat Resources, published by Paulist Press.

 

Fr. Maury was called by his Franciscan superiors to be novice director for the Sacred Heart Province of Franciscans. As novice director, Fr. Maury worked with young men who wished to become friars, to introduce them to Franciscan life.

 

He asked to enter the ministry of training of lay ministers and theological field education at the Oblate School of Theology, in San Antonio, Texas. He taught courses in spirituality and in the summer courses offered courses in spiritual direction and Franciscan spirituality.

 

Father Maury was named the pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Memphis in January of 1991.  He is the first native Memphian to be named pastor at this church which was as mentioned above in the center of six blocks between St. Peter’s and St. Brigid’s where is great grandparents and grandparents attended. On learning of his appointment, Fr. Maury commented, "I accept this new post with a deep trust in God. St. Mary's is an intentional Christian community; people choose to be members there. This community has a tradition of praying together, of community pot-luck meals, and of mission outreach to the poor and needy. I plan to work closely with the people to continue and develop these traditions".

St. Mary's, like other downtown churches, hopes to serve the new people expected to be attracted to the downtown area by the Pyramid, mall development, new job openings and housing; in addition to the people it already serves. Since the early 1960's, St. Mary's has offered the celebration of daily mass at 5:30 P.M. for the convenience of those who work in the area. St. Mary's is widely known for its soup kitchen for the needy. About 70 people are served hot soup and a sandwich daily, six. days a week. The Secular Franciscan Orders, a group of about 60 Memphians who pledge to live the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi, meets each month at St. Mary's.

 

His current ministry (1999-      ) is as The Southeast Deanery Resource Coordinator in the archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas..  As DRC he facilitates ministry at the deanery level and is liaison between the deanery and archdiocesan services.  He began this new kind of ministry with a professional interview of all the priests of the deanery          December 2003

with the focus on the ministries they were willing to share at the

deanery level.  From these interviews a list of ministry concerns were developed which was later prioritized.  Some examples of the ministries at the deanery level are: Unitas (a marriage preparation program), liturgical training of Eucharistic ministers and lectors, deanery youth programs, secretary’s continuing education, an annual  Leadership gathering of all the lay leaders of the SE Deanery, etc. He is also sacramental minister to Brooks AFB in San Antonio.

 

“I am delighted and excited to be returning to the Franciscan Institute and

look forward to interacting with the graduate students” says Fr. Maury.

 

 

 

    You may refer to Maury’s resume for more detail.

 

Home     Description     Outline     Bibliography     Resume