Rev. Richard P. McHugh, SJ,was born in Scranton, Pa. on March 11, 1930. He graduated from Scranton Prep and entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa. in 1947. He received most of his higher education in India at DeNobili College, Sacred Heart College and St. Mary’s College. He was ordained to the priesthood in Jamshedpur, India on March 24, 1960.
Fr. McHugh had a fond love for the Jesuits’ mission work in India, and following his ordination, he served as Parochial Vicar and later as Pastor at St. Xavier’s Church in Chaibasa. He was also an assistant headmaster and a teacher of religion and English at St. Xavier’s High School. In 1973, Fr. McHugh sought further education in Spirituality from DeNobili College in Pune, India, and served for four years as a Spiritual Father for theologians there. This prepared him for a fifteen-year assignment as the Assistant Director of Sadhana (daily spiritual practice) at St. Stanislaus Villa in Lonavla, outside of Pune.
In 1993, Fr. McHugh returned to the States and served as a Pastoral Minister for a year at St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Church in Woodstock, Md. before earning his Ph.D. in Psychology from The Union Institute of Cincinnati. He then spent several years at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C. as Parochial Vicar. In 1998, he returned to St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Church, and over the next 17 years spent much of his time teaching and ministering in India and Ireland.
Fr. McHugh moved to the Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore in 2015, praying for the Church and the Society of Jesus. He died on June 27, 2018 at the age of 88.