In a letter to the Daughters of Charity and signed by both Frs. Gay and Griffin, they said, “We have come to this unwelcome conclusion only after much discussion and prayerful reflection. It is based solely on Fr. Patrick’s health situation. He has been attentive to a heart condition which has raised greater concern in the last six months. His doctors are recommending a program of care and lifestyle which make carrying out the responsibilities of Director General difficult and incomplete.”

The letter acknowledged the difficulty the decision to step down presented for Fr. Griffin, noting, “Patrick and I have spoken about our love for the Company and our desire to serve them and our beloved poor in the best way. Both of us recognize that this goal is not possible in Patrick’s role as the Director General because of his doctors’ advices. Acceptance of the sometimes mysterious will of God, as reflected in the circumstances of our life, brings us to this point.”

Fr. Gay expressed gratitude for the years of service Fr. Griffin has provided as Director-General of the Daughters of Charity since his appointment in 2010. He expressed hope that his future ministry will continue to be rewarding. “I am sure that I speak for all of us when I thank him for his service and offer him our continued prayerful support. Thankfully, Fr. Patrick will be able to carry out another ministry with different responsibilities in his Province and for the Congregation.”

Fr. Patrick Griffin, a native of Brooklyn, NY, is a member of the Eastern Province, USA and was ordained in 1979. He studied at the Catholic University of America, where he earned a doctorate in Sacred Scripture. He has spent his 35 years in priesthood as an educator, working as a seminary professor and formator and in higher education as an administrator and teacher. He has also organized ongoing education programs for diocesan clergy and given retreats for the Daughters of Charity. Before being named the Director General and moving to Paris, Fr. Griffin served as Executive Vice President for Mission at St. John’s University in Queens, NY.

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Father Patrick, the new Director General, will attend his first General Council Meeting in the Central House of the Company at 140 Rue du Bac, Paris, France in November. By Christmas, he will have finished his current work at St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y. As the Director General he will be living in Maison Mere, at 95 Rue du Sevres, Paris.

“According to the Constitutions and Statutes of the Daughters of Charity, the Superior General has the competence to appoint the Director General as his permanent representative and collaborator, with ordinary vicarial powers, to the Company of Daughters of Charity. His mission is to promote the spiritual and apostolic life of the Sisters and to help the Superioress General and her Council in animation of the Company, as specified in the Constitutions and Statutes.” – we learn from Fr. Griffin’s patent letter of October 18, 2010.

Rev. Patrick J. Griffin, C.M. was born on December 12, 1952 in Brooklyn, NY. He was received to the Congregation of the Mission in the Eastern Province of the U.S.A. on June 21, 1972 in St. Vincent Seminary, Philadelphia, and ordained priest on May, 26, 1979 in Mary Immaculate Seminary, Northampton, PA. He is a graduate of Niagara University, where he earned a B.S. in Physics. In 1984 h e received the M.Div. in Theology and a Th.M. in Theology from Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, PA and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from The Catholic University of America.

In addition to serving on the faculty at  St. John’s University as Executive Vice President for the Office of University Mission, he has taught at Niagara University, Mary Immaculate Seminary, and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, Long Island, NY, where he currently holds the rank of Professor. From 1993-1999 he was Econome General for the Congregation of the Mission in Rome. On return to his native Province, in 2000 he was elected a member of the Provincial Council for the Eastern Province and has been holding the post until present.

In his letter to the Nominee, the Superior General assured him of his prayers and support as well as of Fr. Alvarez’s assistance in becoming oriented in the new responsibility. “In this jubilee year that we have just completed, I entrust your mandate particularly to Saint Vincent and Saint Louise so that they pray for you and obtain for you light, wisdom, and the strength of the Holy Spirit to help you in your new service”, Father General writes and concludes, “that Mary, whom we invoke in this month of the Holy Rosary, accompany and guide you. «As the Virgin Mary is invoked and taken as patron of things of importance, it is impossible that they do not go well for the glory of Jesus, her Son» (SV XIV,126).”

Read the Circular Letter of the Superior General on the occasion of appointment of Fr. Patrick Griffin CM