Crosier Father Richard McGuire, who served at St. Andrew the Apostle parish in Chandler since 2005, died Sept. 30, at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix.
Fr. McGuire, 70, arrived in Arizona in 2004 and first served at St. Paul Parish in Phoenix. At St. Andrew, he served as parochial vicar.
“Fr. Rick had a pastoral nature of positive patience,” said Mark Spaulding, a St. Andrew parishioner who called him “very instrumental” in his conversion to the Catholic faith from a non-denominational background.
“Over a series of weeks, I had numerous conversations where I sat down with Fr. Rick and asked him the questions I had about the Catholic Church,” he said. “What struck me was his complete calmness and general patience with my questions. And he always had sort of a wry smile in answering questions and talking with me. He made me feel comfortable and very confident in what he was telling me.”
Parishioner Alex Nolasco started to get to know Fr. McGuire on a bus ride to a right-to-life march in Phoenix. He ended up providing Nolasco and his wife Maria with guidance in their marriage, giving nuanced views rather than yes-and-no answers.
“He gave us a way to look at situations or viewpoints in a different way but not forcing himself on us.”
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Fr. Richard McGuire, OSC
Born: May 20, 1945, in St. Paul, Minnesota
Professed Vows: Aug. 28, 1966, in Hastings, Nebraska
Ordained: May 12, 1973, in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Service in the Diocese of Phoenix
Parochial Vicar at St. Paul Parish, 2004-05
Parochial Vicar at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Chandler, 2005-15
Died: Sept. 30, 2015
[/quote_box_right]Nolasco said he had returned to the Church after being absent for years and that Fr. McGuire encouraged him, telling him, “I may not agree with everything in the world and maybe sometimes not even in the Church, but I am Catholic all the way through.”
“When he said that,” Nolasco said, “It opened me up to a new perspective of the Catholic Church. It was amazing how he was able to do that for me.”
Fr. McGuire was down to earth, sometimes preferring to be called simply “Rick,” Nolasco said. Which is what happened one Easter, when the Nolascos invited him to their house and “Rick” showed up wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
Spaulding said, “He was not a demonstrative person. He was low-key, but he always had this positive energy of quiet enthusiasm.”
Fr. McGuire was born on May 20, 1945, the youngest of six children, to John and Edith May (Bower) McGuire, in St. Paul Minnesota. He was ordained a priest for the Crosier Community on May 12, 1973 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
He is survived by a sister, Helen (Arvid) “Joan” Stone of Key Largo, Florida and several nieces and nephews and numerous grand-nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Frank “Mickey” and Crosier Brother Martin “John” McGuire, and sisters Mary Kay Quimby and Marjorie “Midge” McGuire.
