Msgr. McGraw offered ‘great sage advice’ they’ll never forget
Msg. John T McGraw
Ex-chancellor also remembered as Vatican II participant who was fluent in Italian, Latin
By Tom Maguire
Associate editor
Vatican II produced changes and Msgr. John T. McGraw, who was a part of the Council, did too — he produced a change in himself when became a pastor.
He was a “strict no-nonsense chancery official … in charge of making Vatican II happen in the diocese,” recalled a great friend, Msgr. Neil E. Quartier. But then, said Msgr. Quartier, “I experienced the evolution of John McGraw” who became the rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse.
“I experienced his caring and loving for the people; he evolved to be a wonderful pastor,” both at the Cathedral and St. Joseph’s in LaFayette, said Msgr. Quartier, the current rector of the Cathedral.
Msgr. McGraw died July 31, 2023, at the age of 92. He was to be cremated and the funeral service will be celebrated on Oct. 25, 2023.
Msgr. McGraw was a native of Holy Cross Church in DeWitt and a graduate of Cathedral Academy in Syracuse. He studied at St. Andrew’s and St. Bernard’s seminaries and at the North American College in Rome, Italy. He also earned a degree in canon law from the School of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America.
He was ordained Dec. 16, 1956, by Bishop Martin O’Connor, rector of the North American College in Rome. Msgr. McGraw’s pastoral assignments included rector of the Cathedral; pastor of St. Joseph’s in LaFayette and chaplain to Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse.
Msgr. McGraw served as secretary to Bishop David Cunningham, whom he accompanied to Vatican II in the 1960s, and as assistant chancellor and chancellor of the diocese. He also served on the diocesan tribunal. He retired in 2001 and continued to assist in various parishes on the weekends.
The most rewarding part
For his 60th Jubilee in 2016, Msgr. McGraw told the Sun that the most rewarding part of his ministry was his work at Hutchings, “because it dealt with so many of the forgotten but wonderful, beautiful people in our society.”
Msgr. McGraw was fluent in Latin and Italian. His job at Vatican II, whose changes included turning the altars around and offering the Masses in English, was to assist Bishop Cunningham and to, along with other priests, go back in the evening and translate everything that was said during the day from Latin to English for the American bishops. “It would be on their desk the next morning … a very sharp man,” said retired Msgr. J. Robert Yeazel, who took Msgr. McGraw’s place in the 1970s as secretary to the bishop.
“I’ll never forget the advice he gave me,” Msgr. Yeazel said of Msgr. McGraw, who told him that a lot of people would be calling the chancery complaining about something: pastor, church, somebody in the church. “He said, ‘No matter what happens, always be kind. Always be kind.’” The second tip: “‘If you’re ever tempted to lose your patience with anyone who’s yelling, screaming, upset, whatever,’” he said, ‘remember that God blessed you with a wonderful family, wonderful education, great opportunities, and many of these people have never had it. So when they’re yelling at you, say a prayer for them.’ I thought that was great sage advice.”
Msgr. McGraw sat down with Msgr. Yeazel many times and gave him the answers to the very technical canon-law questions that priests would be calling in with. “So I made out index cards and I had everything right there like I really knew what I was doing,” Msgr. Yeazel said. “And it all came from him. It all came from him.”
Recently, Msgr. McGraw had lived at The Nottingham where Msgr. Yeazel and Msgr. George F. Sheehan had lunch and dinner with him pretty much every day. Msgr. Sheehan noted that Msgr. McGraw’s service as Bishop David Cunningham’s secretary was a “position where there are those who call up and say thank you and … those that call up and tell you no thank you.”
In those days Msgr. Sheehan was working at Bishop Ludden Jr./Sr. High School. “I remember he was kind always to the people,” he said. “And when you called he was always helpful in his office.”
No tiptoeing for him
As for Msgr. McGraw’s ability to write, read and speak Latin, Msgr. Sheehan said most priests “tiptoed around Latin” but Msgr. McGraw “plunged” into it.
Another buddy, Msgr. Charles F. Fahey, learned how to downhill ski thanks to his teacher, Msgr. McGraw. They were in the group of chancery priests who used to live at 672 W. Onondaga St. Asked if Msgr. McGraw was a particularly brilliant skier, Msgr. Fahey said, “We got up and down the hill.” And what else did he learn from his friend? “How to be a nice person.”
Msgr. McGraw’s other ministries included about 7½ years at St. Ann’s in Manlius offering friendship and mentoring to Father Clifford H. Auth, who viewed the monsignor as “cut from the same fabric” as the late Msgr. Eugene M. Yennock.
“They embraced their priesthood,” recalled Father Auth, the pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption in Baldwinsville, “and they were always kind and gentlemanly and like the Cardinal Newman approach — the definition of a gentleman.”
He said Msgr. McGraw “was a brilliant confessor. … His preaching was always spot-on theologically. It always looked for ways to include people that might be on the margins.” As a preacher, Msgr. McGraw felt no need to change his inflection or to use grandiose words. “He just delivered a message of God’s love for God’s people, and the sacraments are instruments of God’s love in our lives.”
It was through pastoring, Father Auth said, that Msgrs. McGraw and Yennock “allowed people to see their ministry of service,” and the cornerstone of their ministries was humility.
Msgr. McGraw told Father Auth: “‘Cliff, we can never compare ourselves to others, whether it’s priests or whoever, because when we compare ourselves either we step away from that thinking that we are better than the person, or we step away thinking that we haven’t achieved what they’ve achieved. But both of those feelings are corrosive to the soul. So, live the life that God has given you, embrace the vocation that God has given you, trust the Holy Spirit, but make humility that cornerstone, ’cause if it’s not, nothing will unfold in a positive way in priesthood if we’re not humble.’”
