Even in retirement, priest continued to spread Gospel
The Rev. Thomas P. McCarthy devoted 55 years of his life to the priesthood, including 20 years as a teacher and another 16 in parish life, all with the Clerics of St. Viator.
However, in retirement, friends say, he reinvented himself. With more free time, he picked up his Irish fiddle and sat in on "sessions" at the Irish American Heritage Center, before forming the folk band, Fr. Tom and His Disciples, which spread the good word through music, at area nursing homes and senior centers.
"He was the spiritual leader of the group," says accordion player, Arnie Lemke of Arlington Heights. "He made it all happen."
Fr. McCarthy served as chaplain for the Knights of Columbus in Arlington Heights, and he often performed there. However, he also played at Irish Fest in Arlington Heights, and in February, he won the "Young at Heart" award at Arlington Heights' Hearts of Gold dinner, at age 86.
Members of the Viatorians and Fr. McCarthy's many friends and extended family members now are mourning his passing. The 15-year resident of Arlington Heights died on Christmas Day. He was 87.
Fr. McCarthy was born and raised in South Boston, the oldest of seven children. When his father passed away at a young age, he helped support the family, while continuing his education, and holding on to the dream of one day becoming a priest.
He took his first vows as a Viatorian, at the age of 27, and was ordained a priest in 1952, in Washington.
However, he held firm to his Boston roots and returned to the area often. On one of those trips in 1996, he visited the home of a comatose girl, Audrey Santo, in Worcester, which, he later wrote, changed his life.
While concelebrating a Mass in the home with another priest, Fr. McCarthy looked down to see blood on one of the small Communion hosts, which visibly ratified the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, he believed.
Fr. McCarthy, and others in the room at the time, described it as a miracle, and it spurred him into becoming more active in evangelization.
"After that, he decided he wasn't going to sit around and wait for death," says the Rev. Thomas von Behren, provincial of the Clerics of St. Viator. "He went out and spread the Gospel message."
Fr. McCarthy traveled to groups and retreats across the country, describing what he had seen and carrying with him, samples of the oil that mysteriously appeared in the girl's home, from which he blessed people.
He ultimately wrote a book about the experience, "Forever a Priest," which was published by Marian Publishers in 2005 and co-written by Cynthia Nicolosi. Its subtitle summed up his renewed energy: "How little Audrey Santo and a Eucharistic mystery helped a retired priest get out of his rocking chair and on the road."
In a Daily Herald interview that year, McCarthy described the miracle and its impact on him.
"By God's providence, I was there," he said. "He wanted me to be a witness to this event and carry the word to thousands of people about his real presence in the Eucharist, and in the souls of little ones like Audrey Santo."
Fr. McCarthy is survived by his brothers, James, Francis, Charles, Paul, Richard and Vincent, and his sister, Theresa Baufford.
Visitation for Fr. McCarthy will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Little Sisters of the Poor St. Joseph's Home, 80 W. Northwest Hwy. in Palatine, before a 10 a.m. funeral Mass on Thursday at St. James Catholic Church, 820 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.