REVEREND GREGORY G. MCPHEE, M.M.

Father Gregory G. McPhee died on February 24, 2026. Father McPhee was 55 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 5 years.

Gregory Gerard McPhee was born on May 4, 1970, in Tallahassee, Florida, the eldest of four children of Gerard and Carol McPhee. His family moved to upstate New York when he was two, eventually settling in Syracuse. Greg graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Manlius, New York, and went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Politics and Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1993. He attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley and received his Juris Doctorate in 1998. He earned an MA in Liberal Arts in the Great Books Program from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1999.

Greg worked as a criminal defense lawyer in Syracuse, before deciding to give up his practice to teach paralegals at Bryant and Stratton College. During this time, he was involved in community service work, including volunteering with the homeless, building houses with Habitat for Humanity, and bringing communion to the homebound. It was during this time that he discerned his calling to the missionary priesthood and joined the Maryknoll Society as a seminarian in 2012.

Greg completed his Overseas Training Program in Tanzania from 2016 to 2018, an experience which he credited with solidifying his vocation and further deepening his spiritual life. He said, “The people taught me because they were Christ-like in their compassion and acceptance of me… Everyone there seems to believe in God, and they live that out in their generosity to others.”

Father McPhee was ordained to the priesthood on August 22, 2020, in the Queen of Apostles Chapel, Maryknoll, New York.  He was assigned to the Latin America Region and worked in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  During his early years in mission, he was engaged in various ministries, including parish ministry at two chapels affiliated with La Salette Parish, prison ministry, and pastoral counseling. He also collaborated with a congregation of local Sisters to export and sell alpaca wool.

In 2023, Father McPhee began working with a team of Religious Sisters, psychologists, and a lay missioner to develop a Christian base community in Los Molinos, a village on the outskirts of Cochabamba.  Besides celebrating Masses and doing sacramental work, the team made home visits to local families, conducted Bible study and led Scripture discussions.

While continuing his ministry to the Los Molinos community, Father McPhee also assisted at Santísima Trinidad Parish in Tipnis, and at a chapel in Quintanilla.  He continued his work in pastoral counseling, and was involved in a project to establish a center in Tiquipaya that offered counseling to families and after-school tutoring. He was appointed Second Assistant to the Latin America Regional Superior in October 2025.

Father McPhee is survived by his father, Gerard (Amy) McPhee of Manlius, New York, his mother, Carol (Howard) McPhee of Weddington, North Carolina, his sister, Katherine (Shane) McPhee of Bridgeport, New York, his brothers, Brian McPhee of Los Angeles, California and Jeffrey McPhee of Cazenovia, New York, his two nieces, Lila and Zoe, and nephew, Miles and his stepsister, Leslie Mack.

A prayer service was held on March 11, 2026 in the Holy Spirit Chapel led by Father John McAuley.  A Memorial Mass followed at 11:00 a.m. in the Queen of Apostles Chapel.  Father Dae Kim was the Celebrant and Father Juan Zuñiga was the homilist. Father Joseph Veneroso read the biography and Father John McAuley read the Oath.  A Mass of Christian Burial was held on March 18, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, New York. Father McPhee’s ashes will be interred in the Maryknoll Society Cemetery at a later date.

Each Maryknoll priest is requested to offer Mass for the repose of the soul of Father McPhee; all Maryknollers are requested to remember him in their private and public prayers.