On Friday, Sept. 22, I sat down with Father Thomas Scirghi in a parlor at the Jesuit residence, Spellman Hall. Originally from Brooklyn, Scirghi grew up as the oldest of four children. He attended St. Vincent Ferrer for grammar school. “I grew up in this Catholic world,” Scirghi explained. “We were at the local parish pretty much seven days a week.” On Sundays, Scirghi said they attended the children’s Mass at 9 a.m. From Monday to Friday, they were in grammar school. Then, on Saturdays, they would have Little League Baseball in the morning. Instead of picking up McDonald’s on the way home, his family would go to church, pick up prayer and go to confession in the afternoons.
“This was a vibrant community for me,” Scirghi said. “The priests in the parish were well-respected, and they were cool! They were smart and played baseball, too!” Looking back on his life, Scirghi admitted there was always a “seed” of his vocation waiting to be planted. “Priesthood seemed like a viable option for me. It was something I looked up to as a boy.”
In 1965, his family uprooted to “suburbia” in Huntington, N.Y. From sixth grade on, Scirghi attended a local public school in Dix Hills. Scirghi attended their local high school at 14 a few years later, then continued his education at Stony Brook University in 1972. He studied philosophy, intending to go to law school with the possible intent of running for office. “I was always interested in politics,” Scirghi explained. “I joined the Young Democrats in Huntington, and I felt an affinity for that kind of work.”
The priesthood, however, still called for him as he studied. “I went to college during the Vietnam War. Living in America at that time was chaotic. Institutions and authority were questioned,” Scirghi mentioned. At the forefront of his mind, Scirghi questioned the church’s standpoint and what they had to say concerning the war. During this time, many religious figures who were vocal influenced Scirghi. An example Scirghi mentioned was Congressman Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest, lawyer and human rights activist.
“For a college boy, this stuff was cool,” Scirghi stated. “We had these priests who were in the world, and I thought this was good.” Once again, the priesthood always stood out.
For those who have taken “Journey of Faith” with Scirghi, you know what a “crisis moment” is. For those who haven’t, a crisis moment is a turning point in a person’s life, and will vary from person to person. Unfortunately, it can be traumatic for some, which was the case for Scirghi. In 1973, his younger brother, John, died in a car accident. “We were very close, only 18 months apart,” Scirghi explained. “For me, my crisis moment was his wake.” When Scirghi looked into his brother’s casket, he had a thought about life. Everything he had learned about his faith came down to this moment: “When I looked down at my brother, the thought arose that there must be more to life than this.”
This was the confirmation Scirghi needed to begin his journey into priesthood with a solid foundation surrounding him.
“I had a lot of encouragement from my family. My mother and father supported me. Even my girlfriend at the time said I would make a good priest, which I didn’t want to hear from my own girlfriend,” Scirghi said with a laugh. After realizing this was his path, Scirghi transferred from Stony Brook to Le Moyne College in 1975. Scirghi attended a retreat at a monastery but soon realized the monastic life wasn’t for him. Each day, the Jesuit priesthood became more appealing. “I didn’t think I could live at the monastery forever. However, it did seem to point me in this direction of the Jesuits,” Scirghi said.
After one year at Le Moyne, Scirghi decided to apply to the Jesuits and was quickly accepted. While applying, he had a relatively uncanny experience as he dropped his application in the mail. “It was a Saturday morning, and I remember walking to the mailbox at noon. When I dropped my letter in, the college bells rang for noon, and I thought that was very funny. It was a symbolic confirmation I was making the right decision,” Scirghi said. During his senior year, Scirghi was in the Novitiate, across the street from the campus of Le Moyne in 1976.
Fast forward a few years, Father Scirghi was ordained in 1986 at Fordham and received his doctorate in 1996 from Boston University. He has taught a multitude of students, including students at The Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif. From 2001-09, Scirghi taught men and women there who wanted to work in the ministry for the church. While he was teaching, there was a period where Scirghi felt overwhelmed. “I felt swamped. One day, I went for a walk and received what I took as a message from Jesus Christ. I heard, ‘As long as you do it for me, I will give you the time,’” Scirghi said.
At the end of our interview, I asked Scirghi if he had any advice for those who want to give their lives to God. He replied, “Realize it’s not an easy life. It is demanding, but if you find that it is all for the greater glory of God, then you will succeed.”
