PORTAGE – Father Kevin McCarthy graduated from Our Lady of Grace School in Highland, Highland High School, the University of Evansville and St. Meinrad Seminary, but you can still find the pastor of Nativity of Our Savior in the classroom multiple times a day.
“People ask me if I visit the school every day, and I tell them it’s more like 10 times a day,” said Father McCarthy. “It’s a privilege for me to be there, whether it is welcoming the students to school, talking to them at recess or teaching them about Jesus.
“The idea is for them to see a priest who loves forming them in the faith,” he added. “Forty percent of our students are Catholic, and 60% are not, but we are forming all of them in the ways of the faith. Maybe some of what they learn about gets back to their parents.”
The pastor’s pride for his parish school of 185 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade is evident. “So many of our teachers were here when I came (in 2017) and are still here because they have a passion and desire for teaching,” Father McCarthy said. “Our students get love and attention in addition to a good education, and they feel it. The CHOICE scholarship program is bringing many students to us.”
Father McCarthy has fond memories of his early school days under the guidance of the Sisters of St. Francis from Mishawaka. They were wonderful,” he recalled. “My first three assignments as a priest – St. Bridget in Hobart (1989-92), St. Thomas More in Munster (1992), both as parochial vicar, and here at Nativity (1992-96) as associate pastor included a school, so I got used to having children around and enjoyed it.”
The students were older, but still plentiful, when Father McCarthy moved to his post as chaplain at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Student Center at Valparaiso University (1996-2015), followed by a short stint as rector at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels and administrator of St. Mark as it was merged with St. Joseph the Worker, both in Gary.
In 2017, Father McCarthy returned to Nativity, where the parish has grown to 1,100 families.
“My favorite part of being a pastor is watching the joy of the people both before Mass and after Mass as they continue to share and play out the faith in the lives of others,” he said. “Our Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) class this year has about 18 in it, and they are not coming from Mass, but from outside of the Church.
“We had the fire in the church last May and had to move to the school for Masses until early September, and we didn’t lose anybody,” Father McCarthy said.
He is proud of the parish’s Welcome Ministry. “New families get a letter from our parish, and they get a gift bag with information, too, then we continue to stay in touch, which builds evangelization,” he said.
Youth ministry has always been special for the East Chicago native who was baptized at Sacred Heart in Whiting and confirmed at Our Lady of Grace after his family’s move to Highland. “I was the coordinator of youth ministry for the diocese (1999-2002), and found Teens Encounter Christ retreats insurmountable in how they can change lives,” he noted.
As an avowed music lover, Father McCarthy believes in the power of the Music Ministry “to bring together the whole ministry of the church,” and he is impressed with the Women’s Ministry, which supports four meditation groups among other activities.
His vocation journey began in 1984 when, as a graduate of the University of Evansville, he moved out of the family home and was living and managing a Wendy’s Restaurant in Merrillville. “It was Mother’s Day, May 13, and I went to a Mass of Thanksgiving at Ss. Peter and Paul for Deacon Terry Chase, who was ordained to the priesthood a week later,” Father McCarthy recalled. “I was asked, ‘Isn’t it about time you considered the priesthood?’
“I turned in the paperwork to Father (Richard) Zollinger, the vocations director and he didn’t question me. Bishop (Andrew) Grutka sent me to St. Meinrad, where I spent one year in pre-Theology and four years in the seminary,” Father McCarthy said. I (thought that I) went to the seminary mainly to prove to God that he made the wrong decision when he called me, but he just kept reinforcing that decision instead. My parents, James and Judith, struggled with it at first, but came around.”
Away from the Church, Father McCarthy would be happy to share some advice with the management of his favorite team, the Chicago White Sox, and he also enjoys golfing and being outdoors.
Years ago he toyed with the idea of trying to audition for his favorite TV show, “Survivor,” but now he’s content to watch it when he’s not reading or catching a new musical.
“I’m a huge fan of musicals, especially the ones about people’s lives,” Father McCarthy said. “The Neil Diamond show, ‘A Beautiful Noise,’ was so entertaining, as was the one about Tina Turner and the show about the plane that was forced to land at that Newfoundland airport after 9/11 grounded all the air traffic. That was so creative.”
The classic “Pippen” is one of his all-time favorites, as is “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
“These are the stories of people’s lives, and they are interesting,” Father McCarthy said. “My priesthood is my life, but how do I influence others to live out the lives they are meant to have?”
Caption: Father Kevin McCarthy, pastor of Nativity of Our Savior in Portage, prays with kindergartners from the parish school during an Outdoor All-School Rosary on Oct. 1 to mark the month dedicated to the Rosary. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)