The Rev. James Murphy’s 22 years of service as pastor at St. Conrad Catholic Church in Butler Township could not be celebrated when he retired during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but his flock will finally have a chance to show their love and gratitude on Saturday, May 20.

The dinner at the church social hall, which is sold out, will celebrate all of Murphy’s 50-plus years as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Those unable to attend the dinner can attend a 5 p.m. Mass at St. Conrad, where Murphy will serve as celebrant in his former pulpit.

Murphy, who was ordained in 1970, arrived at St. Conrad on Sept. 30, 1996. For more than a year, his main task was to organize what was then the new St. Fidelis Parish.

“That took a little adjustment for everyone,” he said.

As the congregation was getting bigger, Murphy noticed the former Bauman Hall’s small basketball court in the CCD building was insufficient, especially for the church’s popular Friday night fish fries during Lent.

“We could see that was going to be too small, because we were growing,” Murphy said.

Four years later, a large social hall/gymnasium was built on the west side of the sanctuary.

At the same time, offices to accommodate a larger staff were built on the north side of the church building.

The former Bauman Hall was remodeled, with existing CCD classrooms updated, and the former gym transformed into new classrooms.

A parishioner, who Murphy did not name, volunteered to pay for a new church entrance, and Murphy found stained-glass windows for the project for sale in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood.

When Murphy and the parishioner arrived in Pittsburgh, they discovered the windows for sale were much too expensive.

But the men were told by the windows’ sellers that a church in the Mount Oliver neighborhood was closing and might have stained-glass windows.

The men decided to take a ride to Mount Oliver to check it out.

“There were all these stained-glass windows,” Murphy recalled. “They said ‘You can have them for free. All you have to do is pay to have them taken out and replace them with plywood or another window.’”

The pair eventually brought more than 20 windows to the St. Conrad campus.

One set of windows told the story of the Bible from beginning to end, while another told the history of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Murphy had a special window made so St. Conrad would be included in the diocesan story in stained glass.

The architect working on the church additions was told he would have to plan the project around the windows.

“He said ‘I never built a building around windows,” and I said ‘Well, you are now,’” Murphy recalled.

Regarding St. Conrad’s growth at a time when many churches were dwindling in attendance and membership, Murphy said St. Conrad had a great choir, the Mass times were convenient, lots of parking is available, and, most importantly, the members were friendly and welcoming.

Murphy said the faithful came from their homes across Route 422, near the Clearview Mall and the area of Butler County Community College to worship at St. Conrad.

He said congregants might have enjoyed the church’s liturgy, which Murphy carefully prepared each week.

“I tried to tell a story that would be in touch with the times and have the same theme as the readings,” he said. “Then the third step was, how do I apply this to my daily life?”

Mike Kaufman, a Catholic deacon in the All Saints Parish, which includes St. Conrad, said he can vouch for the effectiveness of Murphy’s homilies.

“He was a great homilist,” Kaufman said. “Scripture can be difficult, at times, to understand, and Father Murphy was very good at taking those Scripture readings and applying it to our daily lives as we walked it.”

He said Murphy never used a template, instead creating the homilies for weekly Mass freehand.

“You could tell the Holy Spirit probably changed it in real time,” Kaufman said. “He was just that dynamic with his message and connecting with people.”

Kaufman said he will serve as emcee at Murphy’s retirement dinner.

After a welcome, Murphy will offer a prayer, attendees will enjoy a buffet dinner paid for through the generosity of two parishioners, and four speakers will be featured.

“We’re just happy to pull this all together because we were not able to give him a proper farewell when he left St. Conrad’s,” Kaufman said. “We’re happy to do that for him after all he’s done for us.”

Sister John Ann Mulhern, principal at Butler Catholic School, called Murphy “a very people-oriented person, but a no-nonsense guy.”

She said he supported the school in many ways, including attending her monthly meetings.

Mulhern said Murphy also came to weekly Mass at the school, as well.

“I wish him a long life of happiness, good memories and making new memories,” she said. “And lots of golf. May he have many holes in one.”