The Eucharist inspired him to become Catholic and drew him to the priesthood, and it remains central to the life of Father Joseph Tyson Murphy as a newly ordained priest and in his work as the interim director of the Office of Worship of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Father Joseph, a member of the Oratorian Community of St. Philip Neri at St. Thomas Apostle Church in Washington, D.C., was ordained to the priesthood there by Cardinal Wilton Gregory on Oct. 8.
In an interview, the new priest – who prefers to be called Father Joseph because of his connection to that religious community – traced the roots of his vocation. The 31-year-old native of Modesto, California, noted that he grew up in a nominally Christian household, and he was a high school student when a family invited him to go with them to Mass at St. Joseph Church in Modesto. That was the first time he had gone to a Catholic Mass, and he was struck by the joyful spirit of the people there. Then his life was changed as he watched the priest during the consecration of the Eucharist.
“The Mass just started unfolding, and it took me captive,” he said. “Father said those words, ‘This is my Body,’ and I knew when he elevated the host, at that point, He (Jesus) was there, and I knew I had no other choice at that time but to become Catholic.”
Later while attending a junior college in Modesto, the future priest became Catholic at the Easter Vigil in 2011 at St. Joseph Church, where he received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Communion, which he said left him with a spirit of “indescribable joy.”
Then he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in theology and later a master’s degree in theology and Christian ministry, while discerning a possible vocation initially with the Franciscans.
“The whispers became louder and louder the closer I drew to the Blessed Sacrament,” he said.
While at Franciscan University, Father Joseph said he developed “a profoundly personal relationship to God the Father through St. Joseph.” Explaining his devotion to that saint, he said, “Engraved upon his heart are the names of our Lord and Our Lady. The closer one comes to him, the closer one comes to them.”
His years at that university also helped him deepen his relationship to the Holy Spirit through Mary. “Her total willingness to give herself to God and to empty herself for God and thus be filled with the Holy Spirit is an example I desire to imitate every day,” he said.
Another key step in his vocational path happened when he came to Washington to study at The Catholic University of America.
“I was looking for a parish that had reverent liturgy, holy priests and a good community, which I found at St. Thomas Apostle,” he said.
He continued his discernment for the priesthood through the Oratorian Community of St. Philip Neri at St. Thomas Apostle, which includes the pastor there, Father Richard Mullins, and that community’s moderator, Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth. They were among 16 priests who concelebrated Father Joseph’s ordination Mass, along with Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland; Bishop Michael Campbell, the bishop emeritus of Lancaster, England; and Washington Auxiliary Bishops Mario Dorsonville and Roy E. Campbell, Jr.
The Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri is a community of Roman Catholic priests and lay brothers who live a common life bound together not by formal vows but by the bond of charity. That way of life was founded by St. Philip Neri, a 16th century Italian priest, and one of its most famous adherents was St. John Henry Newman, a noted 19th century Anglican scholar and priest who converted to Catholicism and became a Catholic priest and later a cardinal. He was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2019.
Portraits of both St. John Henry Newman and St. Philip Neri were displayed near the front of the sanctuary at Father Joseph’s ordination, and he said their lives of faith inspire him.
“I think the most important thing about both of them is they had a zealous heart inflamed with the love of God, and that fire consumed them, so that they lived all for Him,” he said.
At Catholic University, Father Joseph earned a baccalaureate in sacred theology in 2021, and he said his time there helped facilitate his growing relationship with the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and it built upon the foundation of faith laid by his years at the Franciscan University and by his devotion to St. Joseph.
In his homily at the ordination Mass, Cardinal Gregory said being a priest means modeling one’s life on the cross and living a life of self-surrender to the demands of the Gospel and the needs of the Church. “Your happiness and joy will be found in surrendering yourself as did the Lord Jesus to the Father’s will,” the cardinal said as he sat in a chair before the altar, facing Brother Joseph moments before he ordained him to the priesthood.
Cardinal Gregory encouraged him to rely on prayer and to “be a man of simplicity and joy” who can help the people whom he serves know that God loves and cares for them.
Concluding his homily, the cardinal said, “Being a good priest is a lifelong endeavor. I pray that from this first day of your priesthood and through all your remaining days, you will discover the wonder of service in the Lord’s own image and surrender to the love of God...”
As Brother Joseph lay prostrate before the altar, the litany of saints sung by the Schola Cantorum of St. Thomas Apostle included the names of St. Philip Neri and St. John Henry Newman.
Moments later, Cardinal Gregory did the laying on of hands upon Father Joseph’s head, an outward sign of ordination, and the new priest was vested with a stole and chasuble by Msgr. Wadsworth and Father Mullins.
At the end of Mass, Father Joseph faced the congregation and gave his first blessing to them as he chanted, “May almighty God bless you, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The ordination Mass was livestreamed, and his mother DeNeice Murphy, who couldn’t attend in person for health reasons, was able to watch it along with other parishioners back home at St. Joseph Church in Modesto, California. His mother became Catholic a few years after he did. His father, David Murphy, died in 2001. Father Joseph has three siblings, two brothers and a sister.
Remembering a conversation he had with his mother after she had watched his ordination, Father Joseph said, “I’ve never heard more joy in her voice.”
In July 2021, the future priest began serving as a liturgical assistant in the Archdiocese of Washington’s Office of Worship, and this past summer, he became that office’s interim director. Part of that job involves planning Masses for the cardinal and bishops and assisting them at those liturgies.
“The best part of my job is two-fold,” Father Joseph said. “First, I have an integral part in helping the people of God worship their Savior, and that is a great gift.”
He added, “Because the cardinal and bishops go everywhere in the diocese, and we are blessed to have a very diverse population, I get to experience the fullness and breadth of the Body of Christ in and through the people of God, assisting the bishops.”
Father Joseph was ordained as a priest of the archdiocese, and when the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Washington gains canonical recognition from the Holy See, he hopes to become a priest of the oratory.
At his first Mass at St. Thomas Apostle Church on Oct. 9 on the day after his ordination, Father Joseph was admittedly emotional as he said the words of consecration and held the Eucharist that inspired him to become Catholic and ultimately to become a priest.
“It’s overwhelming and humbling,” he said of his new life, adding that his goals as a priest are “to follow Jesus wherever He leads me” and to help other people do the same.
