Robert F. Griffin, CSC (October 7, 1925 – October 20, 1999) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

for the

Congregation of Holy Cross The Congregation of Holy Cross (), abbreviated CSC, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in 1837 by Basil Moreau, in Le Mans, France. Moreau also founded the Marianites of Holy Cross for women, n ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Early life, family and education

Robert "Griff" Griffin was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, to a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

family. He attended

Deering High School Deering High School (DHS) is a public high school located on Stevens Avenue in Portland, Maine, United States. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district. It is one of the three public high schools located in Portland, the other ...

. He graduated from the

in 1949. A convert to Catholicism, he entered the novitiate upon graduation and was ordained a priest for the Eastern Province of the

in 1954. He received a master's degree in English from Notre Dame in 1957 and did graduate work at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Career

After Boston, Griffin joined the faculty of

Stonehill College Stonehill College is a private Catholic college in Easton, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of Holy Cross and is located on the original estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr., with 29 buildings that compl ...

Easton, Massachusetts Easton is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Boston area. Easton is governed by an elected Select Board. Town meeting, Open Town Meeti ...

. He returned to Notre Dame to serve as assistant rector of Keenan Hall in 1967 and became rector of Keenan in 1969. He was appointed in 1974 to the newly created post of University chaplain, serving until health problems forced his retirement. During his time at Notre Dame, "Griff" became famous for presiding at a popular "Urchin Mass" for children and their parents on campus. He hosted a Saturday morning children's radio program ''The Children's Hour'' on the college's student-run radio station, WSND-FM. In 1973 he was elected Notre Dame's Senior Class Fellow, an honor which had until then been reserved for nationally prominent people. He spent summers ministering to the homeless of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Griffin was known widely for his weekly column "Everyday Spirituality" in ''

Our Sunday Visitor Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana, which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, ...

'' or his column "Letters to a Lonely God" in the Notre Dame student newspaper ''The Observer''. His essays appear in three collections: ''In The Kingdom of the Lonely God'', ''I Never Said I Didn't Love You'', and ''The Continuing Conversation''.

References

External links

Honoring the 'angels' of Notre Dame

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Robert F. 1925 births 1999 deaths Congregation of Holy Cross Deering High School alumni Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters alumni Writers from Portland, Maine Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations Boston University alumni Catholics from Indiana