ENGLEWOOD, Fla. - The Rev. John J. Meagher, S.S.E, 72, died on Oct. 22, 2011.

Father Meagher, son of John and Mary Ellen (Horrigan) Meagher, was born on May 9, 1939, in Peabody, Mass.

He was a professed member of the Society of Saint Edmund for 52 years and an Edmundite priest for over 45 years. Fr. Meagher received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from St. Michael's College in 1962 and a Master of Science in counseling from St. Michael's College in 1972. Following his ordination in 1966, Fr. Meagher began his priestly work as chaplain for students at State Shore Regional Catholic High School and LaSalle Catholic Comprehensive High School in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, until 1973. From 1973 to 1977 he served as faculty member and first full-time Chaplain at St. Joseph the Provider College in Rutland, and from 1977 to 1982 he was Scholastics and Graduate Students Director at St. Basil's College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fr. Meagher's next assignment would be Novice Director and Ongoing Formation Director at St. Edmund's Novitiate in Mystic, Conn., until 1986 when he joined the faculty of the Religious Studies Department at St. Michael's College and taught until 1991. Fr. Meagher was pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Groton, Conn., from 1991 until 2001 and then served as pastor of Church of the Nativity Parish in Swanton and St. Louis Parish in Highgate Springs until 2007. Fr. Meagher retired in 2008, residing in Englewood, Fla.

Besides his brothers in religion, Father Meagher is survived by his first cousins, Mary Jo Dussault, Judy Meagher, Patricia Morris, Rose Horrigan and Michael Horrigan.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Selma, Ala., at 8:30 a.m.

Interment will follow at Fairlawn Memory Gardens Cemetery in Selma.

There will also be a memorial service in Englewood, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.


Published in The Burlington Free Press on October 25, 2011