Rev. James Edward

McLinden, SSJ

Rev. James Edward Mclinden, SSJ

May 25, 1941 - November 10, 2026

Josephite Father James Edward Mclinden was the first of eleven children born to John and Kathleen Manley Mclinden on May 25, 1941, in Brooklyn, NY. Baptized in St. Charles Borromeo Church there, he attended St. Jerome School and Erasmus Hall High School also in Brooklyn. He entered the Josephite Seminary of Epiphany College in 1959.

Continuing through the novitiate year, he studied at St. Joseph Seminary and Oblate College in Washington and was ordained a Josephite priest in his Brooklyn parish church of St. Jerome on June 5, 1971.

Father's first parochial ministry was to Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Washington for six years as an assistant where he was also involved in CCD study and census data. In October of 1976, he was assigned as pastor of St. Veronica parish in Baltimore for a nine-year term and the position of Area 1 Director. He was reelected Area Director from 1995 - 1999.

During the time he was in residence at St. Joseph Seminary as director and coordinator of vocations, directing the Pastoral Center and the Josephite Harvest. Father also helped supervise the Josephite recruiting of African vocations.

Father was sent to St. Luke parish in Washington in 1997 as administrator and later pastor until made spiritual director of the seminary and director of the Pastoral Center. In 2002 he began a twelve-year pastorate at St. Francis Xavier parish in Baltimore.

Illness sent him to recuperate at St. Joseph Manor where he retired in June of 2014. In August of 2018, he moved to Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, MD, where he continued to look back on the fifty-five years of his priesthood.

Fr. McLinden will lie in repose in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church 1600 Morris Road SE Washington, DC on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, from 10AM until 11AM. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11AM and the interment will take place following the Mass at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.