2023 Jubilarians

Story Title 75 Years a Jesuit
Current Assignment Pastoral Minister at St. Ignatius Hall in St. Louis
Title Father

John McCarthy, SJ

Father John Leonard McCarthy, SJ, celebrates his Diamond Jubilee after 75 years in the Society of Jesus. A Jesuit of the USA Midwest Province, he is assigned as a pastoral minister at the St. Ignatius Hall community in Florissant, Missouri.

Father McCarthy began his active ministry in 1955, teaching English at Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. For the rest of that decade, he taught English at high schools in Wisconsin and Nebraska, including Marquette University High School and Creighton Preparatory School.

After completing his academic studies in 1966, Fr. McCarthy taught theology at Creighton University for one year, before moving to Rome to serve at the Jesuit Curia as the regional secretary for the American assistancy.

Father McCarthy returned to Creighton University in 1970, this time as a campus minister, and remained until 1984.

He served briefly at the Jesuit Seminary Guild before returning to the Curia in Rome as secretary and delegate for the international houses, from 1985 to 1988.

Father McCarthy began working as an associate editor at the Institute of Jesuit Sources in 1988 before beginning his pastoral ministry in 2017.

Father McCarthy earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and philosophy from Saint Louis University. He also earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Saint Louis University and a Licentiate of Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.