Meet Fr. James Lloyd, 103
I was walking down New York City’s Ninth Avenue, on the east side of the avenue …
I hadn’t the foggiest idea what I would do with my life. Engineering? Medicine, to please my father? Teaching? Nothing seemed to grab me. I had some ROTC training at the City College of New York. Should I go into the military? Theater, like my parents? I felt no pull toward anything. The worst thing was that I didn’t know if I wanted anything. Nothing seemed to matter …
I had had great academic success in my educational experience — honor student all the way, awards and recognition. But it didn’t matter. I was hanging out at Broker’s, the soda fountain watering hole on Columbus and 59th…
but something seemed to happen to me that day …
So wrote Father James Lloyd in Catholic Digest in an essay describing his decision to become a priest. Two days ago he celebrated his 103rd birthday. He still hears confessions and offers pro bono counseling.
Father James, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology, was ordained a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, known as the Paulist Fathers (C.S.P.) in 1948. The Paulist Fathers are the first community of priests to be founded in the U.S. (1858).
He’s had many assignments over his lengthy career including time as a missionary in South Africa, twenty years as a college professor at Iona, and fifteen years hosting the television show “Inquiry” on WNBC, where he interviewed such interesting personalities as Mother Theresa, Jackie Gleason, William F. Buckley and Florence Henderson.
Born in Manhattan, Father James lives at the motherhouse in New York not far from his birthplace.
All this and much more can be found at the Paulist Fathers’ website here. Take a look - it’s a wonderful vocation story.