Fr. William McGoldrick demonstrates his virtuosity on the harmonica after daily Mass at the St. John Senior Community, where he resides. | Photo by Robert Delany
Detroit — Fr. William McGoldrick was “just a wonderful, entertaining person,” says Deacon William Jamieson of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Woods.
He became known as “the harmonica priest” for his virtuosity with the instrument, but that wasn’t the only thing that drew people to him.
“He was just a great priest, a friendly priest with a great capacity for names, and just a delight to be around,” Deacon Jamieson continues.
Fr. McGoldrick helped out at Our Lady Star of the Sea in his retirement years, and due to his failing health this past Christmas Eve was the first in more than a decade that he was unable to play “Silent Night” on his harmonica at midnight Mass.
Fr. McGoldrick died last Saturday, Jan. 8, just a few weeks shy of his 92nd birthday.
“He certainly gave our Lord a lot of service,” Deacon Jamieson adds, “I loved him and will certainly miss him. He saw the face of Jesus in a lot of people, and he was the face of Jesus to them, too.”
Fr. John Blaska, a senior priest of the archdiocese, says, “Fr. Bill knew well the art of compassion. He was very affable and very approachable, and made friends very easily. He always put people at ease.”
Fr. McGoldrick “had a special sensitivity for the inner currents and the feelings of people — he often sensed their needs and anxieties, and gave them the courage to carry on,” Fr. Blaska continues.
And he adds that, but for a chance change in plans, Fr. McGoldrick might never have been born.
“His mother and his aunt were scheduled to travel on the Titanic, which sunk in the Atlantic Ocean,” Fr. Blaska says. “However they cancelled their voyage because his aunt was ill. And so, we were fortunate to have this fine priest for us in Detroit.”
Donald Veryser is among those Our Lady Star of the Sea parishioners who became good friends with Fr. McGoldrick. He visited him before Christmas at ShorePointe Village, an assisted living facility in St. Clair Shores where he had recently moved.
“He was still very coherent and in good spirits, and was enjoying his new location, actually. But he just seemed to be getting more and more tired,” Veryser says.
“I helped him open some of his Christmas cards, and people were still corresponding with him who had known him when he served in the Irish Hills in the 1940s,” Veryser continues, adding that Fr. McGoldrick also kept in touch with many former parishioners from his days as pastor of St. Edmund Parish, Warren.
“It was always a pleasure to go see him or to have him as a guest for dinner. He’d always have a good Irish tale to tell you or a good Irish toast,” Veryser adds.
Those who knew Fr. McGoldrick in his younger years remember him not only for his harmonica and piano playing, but as a vigorous athlete. He became an avid handball player during his seminary years, and kept it up into his 70s. He was a member of the Michigan and U.S. Handball Associations, and one year was the Detroit Athletic Club’s seniors doubles handball champion
For a few years in his mid-80s, Fr. McGoldrick took his harmonica-playing to a new level, when he would give special public performances from time to time at the Blue Pointe Restaurant on Detroit’s east side to benefit various charities.
Scheduled for Monday nights, when the restaurant would normally be closed, people would pack the eatery to hear Fr. McGoldrick tell jokes and play and sing mostly Irish favorites, accompanied by other performers, including Irish dancers.
Fr. McGoldrick also recorded a compact disc, the proceeds from which benefited a youth program at Our Lady Star of the Sea.
William J. McGoldrick was born Feb. 1, 1919 in Detroit to William B. and Annie Catherine (Morgan) McGoldrick. He attended St. Cecilia Grade School and Sacred Heart Seminary High School, both in Detroit, and went on to Sacred Heart Seminary College, graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
He furthered his priestly formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Norwood, Ohio, and was ordained by Cardinal Edward Mooney on May 29, 1943. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from the Athenaeum of Ohio.
Fr. McGoldrick served as an assistant pastor at St. Mary Parish, Manchester, and at its missions of St. Joseph in the Irish Hills, St. Dominic in Clinton and St. Elizabeth in Tecumseh (1944-49).
He was assistant pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Highland Park (1949-54), and of St. Paul on the Lake Parish, Grosse Pointe Farms (1954-58).
Fr. McGoldrick was appointed chaplain to the Adrian Dominican Sisters and the sisters-sponsored Siena Heights College (now University) and St. Joseph’s Academy, as well as the State Training School for Girls in Adrian (1958-61).
In 1961, he became the founding pastor of St. Edmund Parish in Warren, and during his time there was responsible for overseeing the building of not only the initial temporary church, but also the rectory, the permanent church and a parish office building.
Memberships included the Warren Kiwanis Club and Detroit Athletic Club. He had served as chaplain to Warren Council 7340 Knights of Columbus, as secretary of the Warren Area Ministerial Association, board member of the Warren Family YMCA, vice-vicar of the Warren-Center Line Vicariate, and served two terms on the archdiocesan Priests Senate.
He was granted senior priest status in 1988.
Fr. McGoldrick is survived by three nieces and two nephews.
A funeral Mass was to be celebrated Wednesday, Jan. 12, at St. Edmund Church, Warren. Burial was to be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield.
