Father Francis T. McGourn, MM

Born: January 16, 1938
Ordained: June 13, 1964
Died: March 20, 2026

Father Francis T. McGourn died on March 20, 2026 at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Father McGourn was 88 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 61 years.

Francis Thomas McGourn was born on January 16, 1938, son of John Joseph and Rose Agnes Tiernan McGourn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from St. Athanasius Parochial School and attended Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for three years. He studied at Maryknoll Junior Seminary (Venard), Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania for one year and then attended Maryknoll College, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Glen Ellyn in 1959, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Maryknoll Seminary, Maryknoll, New York in 1963, and a Master’s degree in Religious Education from Maryknoll Seminary, New York in 1964. Father McGourn was ordained a priest at Maryknoll, New York on June 13, 1964.

After ordination, Father McGourn was assigned to further studies, and in 1966 he received a Master of Arts degree in Spanish from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. In 1969, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Spanish and Linguistics from Stanford University, and in July of that year he was assigned to teach Spanish at Maryknoll College, Glen Ellyn, where he remained until the college closed in 1971.

In July 1971, Father McGourn was assigned to Maryknoll’s Mission Region in Peru, where he served as director of Radio Onda Azul until 1973. In 1974, he founded and became director of the Institute for Aymara Studies, which engaged in research on the language, culture and religious practices of the Aymara indigenous people. He also served as pastor of the parish at Chucuito, Puno, Peru. He was appointed Assistant to the Regional Superior in 1978 and was elected Delegate to the 1978 General Chapter.

In June 1979, Father McGourn was assigned to the U.S. Region and appointed Coordinator of the Center for Mission Studies. Six months later, he was appointed Director of the Education Department for a term of three years. In April 1982, he was reappointed Coordinator of the Center for Mission Studies and served in that capacity until June 1986.

In August 1986, Father McGourn was assigned to the Bolivia Region and appointed Director of the Instituto de Idiomas, Maryknoll’s language school in Cochabamba. He revised the program’s language‑teaching methodology and considered his service there one of the high points of his missionary career. In 1995, while continuing in that role, he co‑founded the Department of Missiology at the Universidad Católica Boliviana in Cochabamba together with Maryknoll Father John Gorski. During this period, he also served as Professor of Linguistics and Semiotics and as Spiritual Director at the National Major Seminary (San José). Father McGourn was elected Assistant Regional Superior for Bolivia in 1989 and again in 1992. In September 1997, he was appointed Regional Superior of Bolivia to complete the term of Father Thomas McBride, and the following year he was elected to a full three‑year term in that position.

Father McGourn was appointed Assistant to the Regional Superior in Latin America and District Coordinator of the Southern District of the Latin America Region in May 2001. He was chosen as delegate from Bolivia to the Eleventh General Chapter in 2002. At this Chapter he was elected to serve as Vicar General for the next six years. His primary duty as Vicar General was the care of Society personnel which he did with compassion, honesty and sensitivity. His time on the General Council enabled him to travel to most of the Society’s missions worldwide, and to see Maryknollers at work in their varied mission projects. He was deeply impressed by their work and dedication and appreciated this opportunity.

After completing his term on the General Council, Father McGourn was assigned to the Retirement Community in December 2008 and continued his teaching relationship with the Cochabamba Language School. He returned to the United States in July 2009 and was assigned Co-Director of the Maryknoll Society House in New York City in January 2010, where he continued to serve until his passing. He was assigned to the U.S. Region with Senior Missioner status in June 2017.

While residing and working at the Maryknoll Society House in New York City, Father McGourn volunteered part-time in the parish of St. Brigid-St. Emeric in the East Village area of Manhattan, a largely Latino parish, that allowed him to remain engaged in a pastoral ministry within a Spanish-speaking environment. He noted that his ministry there was “enriching and rewarding, as working with economically and culturally marginated people has always been for me.”

Wake services were held on March 26, 2026 in the Holy Spirit Chapel and the Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Society Center. Mass of Christian Burial followed at 11:00 a.m. and was concelebrated in the Queen of Apostles Chapel. Father John Waldrep was the Celebrant and homilist. Father John Sivalon read the biography and Father Thomas Egan read the Oath. According to Father McGourn’s wishes, he was cremated following the funeral Mass and his ashes were placed in the Maryknoll Society Columbarium.