Father Michael A. Gould, MM

Born: August 13, 1927
Ordained: June 12, 1954
Died: January 25, 2025

Father Michael Gould died on January 25, 2025 in the Skilled Nursing Unit at Maryknoll, New York. He was 97 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 70 years.

Michael Augustine Gould was born on August 13, 1927 in Merna, Illinois, one of ten children of Eugene and Angela Kinsella Gould. He attended Merna Elementary School and graduated from Holy Trinity High School in Bloomington, Illinois in June 1945 and entered Maryknoll Apostolic College, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania on September 26, 1945. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining, New York in June 1949 and was ordained a Maryknoll priest in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Motherhouse on June 12, 1954.

Following ordination, Father Gould was assigned to the Maryknoll Mission in Peru, but before finishing the language course in Cochabamba, he was transferred to the Maryknoll Mission Region in Bolivia where he served for over sixty years. His first assignment was Assistant Pastor in a parish in Cotoca, Santa Cruz. In 1956, he was assigned as Assistant Pastor to a parish in Montero, where he served a large rural area of the parish, including a newly established colony of Japanese immigrants. Upon returning from furlough in 1961, he was assigned to work among the Aymara people in the Altiplano of Bolivia while also serving as the Radio-Director of the San Gabriel Radio station.

In 1965, Father Gould was appointed Pastor of the mission in the Okinawa II colony, located in the Eastern lowlands of Bolivia, an area experiencing rapid development due to new roads and the arrival of internal migrants and Japanese settlers. Many of the latter departed for other lands, but some 200 families remained and many new Bolivian villages were founded. Father Gould took an active role in the educational, economic, health and spiritual lives of the people. He helped organize agricultural cooperatives, credit unions, and helped the parishioners build 30 churches in the mission stations, plus a small hospital, dispensaries and schools in various communities. He was greatly assisted by Bro. Joe Ziegler, MM for fifteen years, along with two groups of Sisters: the Mary Help of Christians, who ran a large school, and the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary from Japan/Korea. For fifty years, these Sisters visited Okinawan families, taught in schools, established mothers’ clubs in Bolivian communities, and trained catechists. For twenty-four years Father Gould flew a Piper Cub airplane to attend the extensive area; the parishioners helped set up thirteen landing strips within the parish.

Father Gould retired from the rural parish in 2011 and entered the Retirement Community (now Senior Missioner Community). He spent two years in the city of Santa Cruz, living at the home of his former parishioner, the Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Cruz, and helped out at local parishes and at the Cathedral until his return to the United States in 2017. Father Gould assisted in parish work in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas until 2019. At that time, he moved into the Maryknoll Residence in Los Altos, California. In May of 2024, Father Gould returned to reside at the Society Center in Maryknoll, New York. It was here that, in June 2024, he celebrated his 70th Jubilee as a Maryknoll priest among many family and friends.

Father Gould is survived by his brothers, David (Phyllis) Gould and Tim (Ann) Gould; his sisters, Angela (Jim) Bergin, and Sr. Charlotte Gould, O.P.; and his many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his twin brothers, Mark Gould and Paul Gould, and his sisters, Margaret Anne Cusick, Mary Elizabeth Maher, and Rita F. Schulze.

Wake services were held on February 4, 2025 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 McAuley, MM was the Celebrant. Father Gould’s nephew, Father Patrick Bergin, was the homilist. Brother Mark Gruenke, MM read the biography and Father Stephen Judd, MM read the Oath. Burial followed in the Maryknoll Society Cemetery with Father Timothy Kilkelly, MM presiding at the graveside prayers.