Fr. James Bartholomew Buckley was born on November 29, 1937, in New York City. His parents, John Francis Buckley and Mary Catherine Lyons were Irish immigrants from County Galway.
He attended St. Luke’s grade school in the south Bronx, graduating in June 1951. In the fall of 1951, he entered Mother of the Savior, a Junior Seminary run by the Salvatorian Fathers in Blackwood, New Jersey. After graduating in May 1957, he entered the Salvatorian Novitiate in Colfax, Iowa on September 7th, 1957. After professing his first religious vows on September 8th, 1958, he began his studies in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. Upon obtaining his B.A. in 1960, he taught Freshman Latin & English for one year at Francis Jordan High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On June 5th, 1965, having completed his study of Theology at Catholic University, he was ordained a priest at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.
From the fall of 1965 to the spring of 1967, Fr. Buckley taught English and Religion at St. Mary’s High School in Lancaster, New York (Diocese of Buffalo). For the next three years, he taught English, Religion and College Composition at St. Pius X, the Junior Seminary for the Diocese of Sacramento.
From September 1970 to June 1975, Fr. Buckley was a missionary in Southern Tanzania where for two years he administered a parish with three mission stations in the Diocese of Nachingwea. After obtaining his master’s degree in English, he spent the next two years teaching English, Math, and General Paper at the Junior Seminary in Likonde operated by the Benedictine Fathers.
After returning to the states in 1975, Fr. Buckley was an Assistant Pastor at St. Marks Parish in Phoenix, Arizona for two years. He next taught English and Religion from 1977 to 1980 at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, Nevada. He was the Administrator of St. Margaret of Cortona Parish in Big Lake, Texas for 10 months and then became an Assistant at St. Mary’s in Ft. Worth, Texas. From 1981 to 1985, he was an Assistant for a year at each of the fallowing parishes in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia: St. Thomas More Cathedral, Our Lady of Fatima, St. Michael, and St. William of York. In 1986, he taught at Seton School in Manassas, Virginia while residing at All Saints rectory.
From the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1992, Fr. Buckley lived with the Fathers of Mercy, preaching Missions and Retreats. On July 5th, 1992, Fr. Buckley joined the Fraternity of St. Peter. For the next two years, he was the Administrator of Mater Dei, the Latin Mass community in Dallas, Texas. From 1994 to the spring of 2016, he taught various courses at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, where he served as Spiritual Director. During this time, he wrote a monthly column for the Fraternity Newsletter, published articles and book reviews in Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and conducted the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He also wrote some booklets including the following titles: You Are Peter, Purgatory, The Real Presence, A Catechism for Making a Good Confession, Miracles, and Collected Articles.
Because of glaucoma and macular degeneration in his right eye, he retired in the spring of 2016. He lived for one year at the Fraternity Apostate in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before moving to his final assignment in Mater Dei in Irving, Texas.