March 11, 2026

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

“(Msgr. C. John ‘CJ’ McAvoy) was a very pastoral man,” said Bishop Douglas J. Lucia, bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse. “I was always impressed by how he was very much one who wanted to encourage the laity to get involved. And he was involved; he didn’t sit on the sidelines. He was very active as a parish priest. He was down to earth, and very much about serving the people. That was his whole priesthood.”

Msgr. McAvoy died Thursday, March 5 at St. Joseph’s Home in Ogdensburg. He was 88.

Bishop Lucia said he served as parochial vicar in Plattsburgh for three years when Msgr. McAvoy was pastor there.

“I remember sitting at the breakfast table with him one day, and I told him I was born in 1963,” Bishop Lucia recalled. “He told me he was ordained in 1963. He used to say I knew how to make him feel depressed. I always knew how long he was a priest, and he always knew my age.”

It was during Bishop Lucia’s time as a parochial vicar in Plattsburgh that Msgr. McAvoy was named a Prelate of Honor with the title monsignor.

“He was so embarrassed about receiving that title,” Bishop Lucia said. “His idea was that he was just doing what he was called to do – service. He served at St. John’s in Plattsburgh, but he also served and was very involved in Plattsburgh. He was involved in Rotary, and he was very civic and community minded.”

Bishop Lucia said Msgr. McAvoy, originally from Madrid, “never forgot his roots.”

“He spoke lovingly of his parents and all that he learned on the farm, the family homestead,” he said. “And he lived that out. He was always close to his family and really wanted his parish to be that – a family.”

Jim Dowdle, a childhood neighbor of the McAvoy family, said it was that family connection that he also recalled fondly.

“He was a kind man,” Dowdle said. “A very, very hardworking man to my recollection.”

Dowdle said he grew up on a farm a short distance from the McAvoy farm.

“The McAvoys were neighbors,” he said. “We were all dairy farmers. He was the youngest of the family. I remember (Msgr. McAvoy) working on the farm – doing chores and haying. It was hard work.”

Dowdle said he fondly recalled the time around when his neighbor was ordained to the priesthood.

“After he was ordained, he had his first Mass in Madrid,” Dowdle said. “I was only 5 or 6 years old. I remember going to the McAvoy home for a celebration after, and his chalice was on the table. That stuck with me. He was a very faithful man. He was a caring man – just a nice man.”

Funeral Mass celebrated for Msgr. McAvoy

March 18, 2026

Msgr. Clarence John “CJ” McAvoy, 88, passed away on Thursday March 5, 2026, at St. Joseph’s Home in Ogdensburg.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, at St. John the Baptist Church in Madrid. Bishop Terry R. LaValley, bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, celebrated the Mass, and Father James Kane of the Diocese of Albany served as the homilist.

A spring burial will take place in St. John the Baptist Cemetery at the convenience of the family.

Born on September 1, 1937, in Ogdensburg to Clarence and Elizabeth (Brady) McAvoy. John was baptized on September 26, 1937, at St. John the Baptist Church. He entered Wadhams Hall Seminary in 1955 and then went on to Christ the King Seminary at St. Bonaventure University in 1958, graduating in 1963 He was ordained on March 30, 1963, at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Ogdensburg, by Bishop James Navagh.

Father McAvoy’s began his priesthood serving as parochial vicar at the St. Mary’s Cathedral. In the early 1970s, he served at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Potsdam, and St. John the Baptist Church, Madrid. He first became pastor at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake in 1973.  During this time, he also served as chaplain of the Knights of Columbus Northern Conference of New York State and served on the Diocese of Ogdensburg’s Senate of Priests, Liturgy Committee of the Department of Worship, and as Dean of the Adirondack Deanery.

Father McAvoy was named pastor of St. John the Baptist in Plattsburgh in 1986. During this time, he served as auxiliary chaplain at the Plattsburgh Air Force Base and Dean of the Clinton Deanery. He was given the honor of Monsignor on March 8, 1997. In 1999, he was appointed to serve in the parishes of Malone until 2003. After serving at the Church of All Saints in Mineville and St. Patrick’s Parish in Port Henry until 2007, he retired. Not one to sit still, he served as chaplain at Elderwood of Uihlein at Lake Placid.

Msgr. McAvoy was an avid motorcycle rider and enjoyed the time spent riding with others throughout the years. 
Surviving Msgr. McAvoy are his sister in-law, Mary Joanne McAvoy of Dedham, Massachusetts, along with several nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, Msgr. McAvoy was predeceased by his brothers, Lauris, Frances, Neil, Ronnie; and a baby sister, Marion McAvoy.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Farrar Home, 46 Constable St, Malone, NY 12953, where he received excellent care and friendship, or to St. Joseph’s Home, 950 Linden St, Ogdensburg, NY 13669, where he also received excellent care and made new friends.

Condolences, memories, memorial trees and pictures may be shared with the family by visiting, www.PhillipsMemorial.com.