Father Jeremiah R. Burr, MM

Born: June 28, 1940
Ordained: June 10, 1967
Died: December 18, 2024

Father Jeremiah R. Burr died on December 18, 2024 in the Skilled Nursing Unit at Maryknoll, New York. He was 84 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 57 years.

Jeremiah Roger Burr was born in Butte, Montana on June 28, 1940, son of Vivian Aaron and Kathleen Sullivan Burr. He attended St. Helena’s Parochial School and graduated from Cathedral High School in Helena, Montana in 1958. He entered Maryknoll College, Glen Ellyn, Illinois on September 4, 1958, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1962. He then attained his Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Religious Education degrees and was ordained a priest at Maryknoll Seminary in New York on June 10, 1967.

After ordination, Father Burr was assigned to the Maryknoll Mission Region in the Philippines. Following language and cultural studies in Davao City, Mindanao, he was assigned to Baganga Parish, where he became Pastor in 1971. In 1972, he was elected First Alternate Consultor to the Regional Superior. He was appointed Rector of Christ the King Cathedral in Tagum in 1974, and in 1979, he was named Pastor of Santo Tomás Parish.

From 1981 to 1982, Father Burr served as Vicar General of the Tagum Diocese. He was appointed First Assistant to the Regional Superior of the Philippine Region in October 1983 and was elected Chapter Delegate from the Philippine Region to the Eighth General Chapter. He attended the General Chapter at Maryknoll, New York from October to December of 1984. Upon his return to the Philippines in 1985, he became a parish priest of Tagbina, Surigao del Sur, in Tandag Diocese. He served as the Regional Superior of the Philippine Mission Region from October 1986 to 1992, and attended the Ninth General Chapter at Maryknoll, New York in October of 1990.

Father Burr served on the faculty of St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary in Davao City during the 1992 to 1993 academic year. In 1994 he was appointed parish priest of Lianga Parish in the Tandag Diocese, a position he held until 1996 when, at the Tenth General Chapter, he was elected to the General Council as the Vicar General.

After his six year term on the General Council, Father Burr returned to the Philippines in 2003 and was assigned to Bayabas and served at San Ignacio de Loyola Parish. Father Burr later served as a parochial assistant at Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in Davao City. He was appointed as the Philippines Local Group Superior from May 2007 to 2013, and the Assistant Regional Superior for the Asia Region from May 2010 to 2013.

Father Burr reflected that it was a source of satisfaction and joy for him to work under the Archbishop of Davao, his former assistant when a newly ordained priest in Tagum Cathedral, and the Auxiliary Bishop of Davao, a seminarian from the same parish when Father Burr was the pastor. He continued to serve in the Philippines until 2019, when he returned to Maryknoll, New York to reside at the Society Center. He was assigned to the Senior Missioner Community in September 2019.

Father Burr is survived by his brothers; Daniel Burr, John (Sherry) Burr, Mike (Cindy) Burr, and his sister; Audrey Burr (Alan McCoy).

Wake services were held on December 23, 2024 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 Sivalon was the Celebrant and homilist. Father Alfonso Kim read the biography and Father James Kroeger read the Oath. Burial followed in Maryknoll Society Cemetery with Father Lance Nadeau presiding at the graveside prayers.