One of the many joys of my youth was perusing the Saturday religion section of the Los Angeles Times. Among other things in the babbling brook of competing sects that is the religious life of the City of Angels, in those far-off days innumerable varieties of “New Thought” schools advertised their wares. One that caught my eye – I suppose because of the Hibernian name – was that of Joseph Murphy and the Church of Divine Science holding forth at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
Murphy (1898-1981) was a native of Ballydehob in County Cork. Gaelic was the language of his household, but his father was sufficiently educated to teach seminarians. Joseph joined the Jesuits, learned pharmacy, and lost his faith shortly after ordination.
