Father James Graham, CM

1911-2005

 The following reflection on the life and work of Father James Graham, CM, was contributed by Father Ray Van Dorpe, CM.

James Patrick Graham, Jr., was born in 1911 to James and Eva Graham in Kansas City, Kansas.

While he was still young, the family moved across the river to Kansas City, Missouri and took up residence near St. Vincent de Paul Parish in that same city. There, young James learned about the Vincentians and eventually grew to admire them. He entered the Congregation of the Mission in 1929 and was ordained a priest in 1937.  

Fr. Graham’s early assignments were all in the seminary formation apostolate. These assignments took him to St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, St. John’s Seminary in his native Kansas City, St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, St. Francis Seminary in Bethany, Oklahoma, Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary in Los Angeles and Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis. Early on in these years, he also completed a Master’s Degree in History from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

In 1977, his apostolic life took a different turn. Fr. Graham’s first non-seminary assignment was an appointment with the Vincentian Foreign Mission Society. In the coming years, he would labor in many different fields, including parochial ministry in southeast Missouri, as well as two stints giving retreats and parish missions. For a few years, he even served as archivist at St. Mary’s in Perryville and went out to the mission parish in Crosstown on Sundays. During this time, his skills as a gardener and cook became matters of legend with the confreres of the house.

It was his two terms with the Vincentian Foreign Mission Society where Fr. Graham made a lasting mark and for which he will probably be most remembered. Although he was never assigned to the missions himself, he loved the ministry of spreading the Gospel in countries poorer than our own, and found great satisfaction raising money to support overseas missionaries.

In the final years of his life, Fr. Graham was still the “official” director of the V.F.M.S., although he had to relinquish the work to others. He died peacefully at the venerable age of 94. May the Lord grant him eternal rest!