Francis A. McGillicuddy, husband of Elaine Goulet McGillicuddy, died of cancer at his home on Saturday, January 3, 2010.
Francis was born in New Brunswick, Canada on September 6, 1927, the son of William J. and Margaret (Collins) McGillicuddy.
A 1945 graduate of Woodstock High School, New Brunswick, Canada he did undergraduate studies at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, and pursued Philosophy and Theology studies at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, MA. He was then ordained a Catholic priest in 1958 by Richard Cardinal Cushing in Boston.
Francis served as Associate Pastor at St. Joseph's Church in Portland, St. Mary's in Westbrook, and Sacred Heart Church in Waterville, Maine. He was also chaplain and administrator at a diocesan camp for girls, -- Camp Pesquasawasis in Danville, Maine from 1959 to 1970.
After two years as Chaplain at Maine Medical Center, he resigned from the clergy and married Elaine Goulet, a former nun, at Holy Cross Church, South Portland, in 1972. He was employed as a social worker supervisor for older tenants at Portland Housing Authority for 23 years.
Francis was known as a person of great integrity who had the courage to speak out about issues of war and peace. His peace work began during the Vietnam War. As a priest he sponsored a young man who won conscientious objector status from the Federal Court in Portland, marking the first time in Maine a Catholic could get CO status.
A member of Pax Christi/USA and founding member of Pax Christi/Maine since 1980, he was an advocate of the Peace Tax Fund and a participant in numerous peace vigils. Francis also joined other progressive Catholic organizations: Call to Action, Voice of the Faithful, a Church reform group to support victims of sexual abuse, and CORPUS, a faith community affirming an inclusive priesthood rooted in a reformed and renewed Church
A practitioner of yoga, Francis joined Elaine in 1989 founding and operating Portland Yoga Studio until 2005, and took yoga workshops in the US, Mexico, Jamaica and France. For 11 years (1996- 2007) he and Elaine taught yoga weekly at the Cumberland County Jail.
He also chanted in Aramaic the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes which he and Elaine, a leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, presented at several national annual CORPUS Conferences.
Within the last three years, Francis with Elaine has transformed their 8,000 sq ft lot into a demonstration site for permaculture -- creating an ecological system in suburbia. He has been an active member of Portland Maine Permaculture Meetup.
Francis is survived by his wife, Elaine Goulet McGillicuddy of Portland, his brother Louis McGillicuddy of Cape Elizabeth, Cornelius and his wife Joanne McGillicuddy of Oakville, Ontario Canada, his sister Mary Dever of Saint John New Brunswick and his sister Josephine and her husband Louis Curry of Houlton, Maine and many nieces and nephews.