AUGUSTA — Fr. Frank Murray has been named the temporary administrator of St. Michael Parish (St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Augusta; St. Augustine Church, Augusta; St. Michael School, Augusta; St. Joseph Church, Gardiner; Sacred Heart Church, Hallowell; St. Denis Church, Whitefield; St. Francis Xavier Church, Winthrop), effective immediately.

Fr. John Skehan, the former pastor of St. Michael Parish, died unexpectedly Aug. 31.

Murray is a native of Bangor who earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from the University of Maine at Orono and completed his clerical studies at Theological College at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning a master of divinity degree. Murray was ordained to the priesthood in 1981 at St. John Church in Bangor.

He has served at parishes in Auburn, Portland, Orono, Bangor, Norway, Mechanic Falls and Brunswick. Murray also served in hospital ministry, campus ministry and as diocesan director of vocations and seminarians.

Prior to beginning his clerical studies, he was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in Augusta for two terms and also taught and coached at John Bapst High School in Bangor, according to a news release from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

A new endowment to honor the memory of Skehan, while providing tuition assistance to students attending St. Michael School in Augusta, has been established through the Catholic Foundation of Maine. The fund is open to donations and bequests of any amount at any time.

Gifts of real property insurance, funds from retirement accounts, cash, stock and investments are all welcome. Gifts to the endowment are not assessed, nor are annual distributions. To view a brochure about the new endowment, visit smsmaine.org.

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