BRISTOL — Rev. Francis Joseph Grady, Columban Father, age 82, died peacefully on September 1, 2020 at St. Elizabeth’s Manor in Bristol, after an extended illness.
Born in Lynn, Mass., on January 12, 1938, Father Grady was the only child of the late Frank A. and Margaret E. (Ring) Grady. He attended St. John the Evangelist Grammar School and graduated from St. John’s Prep in Danvers, Mass., in 1955. He began his higher education at Boston College before entering the Seminary at St. Columban’s in Milton, Mass. Father Grady was ordained a priest at the Columban’s Major Seminary Chapel by Archbishop Richard Cushing on December 21, 1963. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and completed his Theological studies in 1964. He then began his journey of service as a witness to God’s love.
After assignments at the Columban Houses in Chicago and San Francisco, he was appointed to Korea in 1968. There he worked in two Mokpo parishes and spent time assisting in a nearby leprosarium; missionary work that he found to be most fulfilling. Along with parish duties and matriculating in language school, Father Grady served as an auxiliary Air Force Chaplain at the Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, Korea. One of his most memorable days was seeing the Pueblo crew who had been released from North Korea repatriated. He was present at their send-off at Kimpo Airport on Christmas Eve 1968.
Father Grady returned to the United States continuing his studies at St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame. In 1973, he was appointed the Director of the Korean Catholic Center in Chicago where he served for five years. He then began many years in health care ministry, first at Columbus-Cuneo-Cabrini Medical Center and later doing chaplaincy training at Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village, IL. Father Grady retired in September of 2010 to the Columban Fathers Retirement Community in Bristol, but his heart always remained at St. Bernadine’s with his beloved parish family.
A memorial Mass was celebrated on Sept. 16 at the Columban Fathers Chapel in Bristol. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept. 26 at St. John the Evangelist Church, Swampscott, Mass., with internment in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Lynn, Mass.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Elizabeth Manor Patient Activities Fund, 1 Dawn Hill Rd., Bristol, RI 02809, “In Memory of Father Frank Grady.”
