In Memoriam: Fr. Eddie Gray, C.Ss.R.
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December 28, 2022Eddie Gray, C.Ss.R., was a Missionary of Hope who represented the best of a Vice-Province. Fr. Gray was stationed in almost all the most famous missions in the former Vice-Province of Richmond.
He touched many of these important pastoral centers with his flare for humor, simplicity, a livable (Alphonsian) spirituality, and his deep humility before the mercy and love of God.
Fr. Eddie was a priest for the common person and perhaps that is why he flourished among some of the most rural and marginalized communities in the South. His ministry spanned the decades of much change in our country. From the days of rural evangelization to the challenges and promises of the Civil Rights’ Movement, to the Northern Immigration from the North to the South and the Formation and Education needed after Vatican II, Fr. Eddie worked at his posts with kindness, charity, and always a smile and humor.
Visit any place where he served, and you will hear the same remarks about his ministry and personality. A parishioner at our parish here in North Carolina texted these words to me after hearing of Fr. Eddie’s passing:
“Joe and I have fond memories of Fr. Gray; he always gave away what he received, his contagious smile, his socks held up with rubber bands, a shared favorite NFL team (the Patriots) and mostly, as you said, his tremendous humility. Fr. Gray was a person, when you met him, you think, ‘that’s the kind of person I want to try and be.’”
Fr. Eddie was so humble that he enjoyed us calling his time as Vice Provincial the “Reign of Terror.” It was anything but. Most of us who knew him have wonderful and sweet memories of our kind confrere. He was a community man, a faithful priest, a hard worker, a levelheaded superior and pastor; and a Redemptorist to the end.
I happen to know that his favorite movie was “Caddyshack,” and I often joked with him about that fact. He loved happy hours with confreres like Fr. James Geiger, (It’s Five O’clock Somewhere!) and the joys of community life.
In my last days with him before I left New Smyrna Beach, I had the blessing of sharing prayer, happy hours, golf, and many smiles with him, Archbishop Ed Gilbert, and the Villa community. It was some of the happiest moments in my Redemptorist life and a time I will always cherish.
Fr. Eddie Gray was at the heart of it all and I will never forget him. I include a photo I took of them at one of our favorite golf venues because it captures our competitive encounters, the fun of enjoying God’s simple pleasures, the blessings of gospel friendship, and the treasure that is life as a Redemptorist.
As Fr. Al Sieradski used to say, “All this and heaven too.” Rest in peace, Fr. Eddie!
