Decades of ministry: Br. Emmet brings light to the forgotten
Author: Eli Pacheco
Date Published: November 07, 2025
When one stumbles on the path of faith, lessons endure, etched with the grit of experience and the grace that follows. In adversity, wisdom becomes a living truth.
Such has been the journey for Br. Emmet Murphy, OFM, 91, in 72 years as a friar, from co-founding St. Francis Inn Ministries in Philadelphia to addiction and recovery to enlightened assistance in many of the Franciscans’ most ardent areas of need.
“I’m the oldest in the house,” said Br. Emmet, who helps bring food to Mexican migrants and assists with church services near where he is assigned at St. Anthony Friary, a fraternity of mostly retired friars in Butler, New Jersey. “We help in any way we can.”
Br. Emmet is the former chaplain for the NYPD Anchor Club, which supports widows and children of deceased police officers. He participates in Alcoholics Anonymous while continuing his ministries. He is drawn to serving people on the margins, from the streets of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood to North Carolina's death row and the U.S.-Mexico border.
“It can feel like nobody loves you or understands (when you’re on the margins),” he said. “It can feel like crazy distress.”
Br. Emmet Murphy, OFM, worked in the launch of a new mission in Philadelphia. He partnered with Br. Roderic Petrie, OFM, and later Br. Robert Struzynski, OFM, to work in the Kensington Avenue community. (Photo courtesy of Br. Octavio Duran, OFM)
Founding the Inn
While working in sales in Boston, Br. Emmet was inspired by the friars at St. Anthony Shrine to join the Franciscan Brothers Training Program in Rye Beach, New Hampshire, followed by a novitiate year in Paterson, New Jersey.
After a four-year stint at scenic St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, New York, Br. Emmet’s next assignment was in the din of New York City, a clamorous spot next to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, where his bout of alcoholism began.
His dedication to Franciscan discipline and prayer faded, resulting in a leave that ended when, as Br. Emmet references in Scripture, “crooked paths were made straight” with the help of those around him.
He returned to Franciscan life just as a new mission was forming in Philadelphia. After overcoming personal struggles, Br. Emmet joined the late Br. Roderic Petrie, OFM, and later Br. Robert Struzynski, OFM, to serve the tumultuous Kensington Avenue community.
“Word got out fast around town, reaching folks who were struggling – some dealing with money problems, some working the streets and others caught up in drugs,” Br. Emmet said. It was 1979, the year one of the most transformative Franciscan ministries began.
The founding trio purchased an abandoned tavern on a street corner by the bustling L Train for $9,000. On Dec. 16, St. Francis Inn Ministries opened and served 29 people, with Br. Emmet as master chef (“I found myself opening a lot of cans of soup,” he said.)
The Inn has provided thousands of daily meals – and so much more – since. His experiences in the ministry also guided Br. Emmet toward ordination. While working at the Inn, Br. Emmet began his studies for the priesthood, earning a degree in philosophy from St. Francis College in Brooklyn and a Master of Divinity from Pope John XXIII Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts.
Br. Emmet Murphy’s photo hangs in St. Francis Inn, which he founded with two other friars. He also completed his studies for ordination while ministering there and earned 114 life experience credits. (Photo courtesy of St. Francis Inn)
Ordained at 53
Br. Emmet, an unconventional seminarian in his 50s, received college credits for his ongoing work on Kensington Avenue.
“One morning, I was mistaken for the teacher when I entered class, and everyone sat down,” he recalls. “But I was awarded 114 life experience credits for cleaning the floor at the soup kitchen.”
Br. Emmet was ordained at 53 and served as a prison chaplain in Raleigh, North Carolina, accompanying both death-row and general inmates through various challenges.
“I enjoyed taking care of the guys,” Br. Emmet said. “That could have been me in one of those red jumpsuits.”
In his late 80s, Br. Emmet joined friars in Elfrida, Arizona, to accompany brothers in their ministry to migrants at the border between Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Mexico. It left an indelible mark on his Franciscan heart, and he became an advocate for migrants for life.
“I developed a kindred feeling for them in my fractured Spanish,” Br. Emmet, the son of immigrants, said of newcomers to America. “They were always grateful.”
Various ministry opportunities bring Br. Emmet Murphy, OFM, to the same conclusion about the people he meets. “We walk along with (those we minister to) in life,” he said. “Not ahead or behind, but with them.” (Photo courtesy of Br. Octavio Duran, OFM)
‘This is needed desperately’
Br. Emmet's advocacy stems from his journey and reflects the mission he believes is central to the more than 800-year-old Order of Friars Minor.
“We didn’t appear out of the skies,” he said. “We walk along with (those we minister to) in life. Not ahead or behind. With them. This is needed desperately. I’m up a tree about what’s going on (in society). I’m grateful for the people have helped me in so many ways.”
Throughout his life, Br. Emmet preached parish missions and led Twelve Step Retreats. It was a continuation of service from what he did in Philadelphia, in prison ministry and during his early sidewalk apostolate after Mass in New York City.
He describes his life as a journey of ministry in the Franciscan tradition, which he hopes his brothers will maintain, particularly during this jubilee year.
“We must follow the example of Francis, who reached out to the poor,” he said. “It’s a great impetus to get off my duff and get moving, to bring hope to people, to show that we accept them. God knows enough have rejected them.”