(This article has been updated at the end with information on the new location and time for Msgr. Hill's Funeral Mass, now planned for noon on Oct. 7 at Holy Cross Church in Garrett Park, Maryland.)
Msgr. Robert Cary Hill – a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington for 55 years who was known for his warm, friendly manner and remembered as a “priest of culture” – died at the age of 80 at his home in Metairie, Louisiana on Aug. 7, where he was living in retirement.
Over the years, he led four parishes in Southern Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County and served in two key archdiocesan administrative posts.
A native of New Orleans, he studied at St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict, Louisiana and at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland before being ordained to the priesthood in 1966 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.
After his ordination, then-Father Hill served as a parochial vicar at St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville and then at St. Mary of the Mills Parish in Laurel, where he also taught religion part-time at St. Vincent Pallotti High School. While at the Laurel parish, he earned a master of arts degree in theology at The Catholic University of America. In 1974, he was appointed to George Washington University’s Newman Center, serving as a chaplain to the Catholic students and staff there.
In 1983, Father Hill was appointed as the pastor of Our Lady’s Church in Medley’s Neck, Maryland, and also served as a chaplain at St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown.
In an interview, Msgr. Hill said that many priests regard their first parish where they served as pastor as their favorite. He said he enjoyed serving at all his parishes, but he had special memories of serving as a new pastor at Our Lady’s Church at Medley’s Neck, in rural St. Mary’s County. “If you got caught on the side of the road (in snow), some farmer was there with a tractor and pulled you out,” he said. “The parking lot was always cleared, and I never knew who did it. I just referred to it as (being done by) the angels of Our Lady’s Church.”
After serving as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in La Plata from 1990 to 1996, Father Hill was appointed as the archdiocese’s Secretary for Parish Life and Worship, a role he held until 2000, when he began serving as Secretary for Clergy and as Secretary for Ministerial Leadership.
In 2004, Pope St. John Paul II named the priest as a monsignor. From 2002 t0 2005, Msgr. Hill served as pastor of St. Stephen Martyr Parish in Washington, and then from 2005 until his retirement to his native New Orleans area in 2015, he was pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Garrett Park.
“He was very warm, always friendly with the parishioners,” said Deacon Bob Hubbard, a longtime parishioner and deacon at Holy Cross Parish. “…I always considered him a Southern gentleman.”
Father Vincent De Rosa, the pastor of St. Mary Mother of God Parish in Washington, remembered Msgr. Hill as a friend and mentor.
In an email tribute, Father De Rosa wrote, “I met Msgr. Robert Cary Hill as a student at George Washington University. Life in campus ministry led me to pray and serve at St. Stephen Martyr Parish where he was pastor. Every Sunday, I’d serve Mass for him at 11 a.m. There, in the sanctuary just before Mass, that’s my default image of Monsignor… he’d sit on the side of the sanctuary recollecting himself, staring at the crucifix as the choir got in some last-minute practice for the Communion motet. Contemplation, the Cross and sublime beauty: that was Msgr. Hill. He became a friend, a mentor and a sure support when I had hard times.”
Father De Rosa said Msgr. Hill was “a man (and) a priest of culture. He loved and promoted all the best expressions of our humanity: art, opera, travel, theater, jazz, cuisine and more…. But all of these served as prefaces, supports, for the very highest culture we have, the divine liturgy of which Msgr. Hill was an assiduous servant… And like any son of New Orleans, music always surrounded him.”
The pastor of St. Mary Mother of God parish said he learned important things from Msgr. Hill.
“Quiet confidence in God’s mercy allowed Monsignor to share his struggles and triumphs with everyone he met and so communicate to us that we were not alone,” Father De Rosa said. “… (As) a college student newly discovering faith, zeal made it all too easy for me to see the Lord as either high or low: a figure out of legend or a buddy no different from myself. Time spent with Msgr. Hill taught me that the Lord is neither high nor low, but deep, deep in our hearts aiding our best aspirations and ministering to our most painful wounds.”
Father De Rosa said after his own ordination to the priesthood, “Msgr. Hill’s lessons and example didn’t stop. We got together at least monthly, which gave me a chance to vent and him a chance to smile, nod and laugh, deftly defusing my anxieties about Church life. He was unflappable, confidently affirming the human foibles of the Church and her infinite divine beauty.”
Due to Hurricane Ida and the subsequent negative impact to the Louisiana area, Msgr. Hill’s family rescheduled his funeral services. Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. will offer a Funeral Mass for Msgr. Hill at Holy Cross Church in Garrett Park, Maryland on Thursday, Oct. 7 at noon, with interment immediately following at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring.
