A beloved Staten Island high school chaplain has been chosen to serve as the right-hand man for incoming Archbishop Ronald Hicks.
Fr. John McCarthy, the chaplain and teacher of St. Joseph by-the-Sea, was appointed secretary to the new archbishop by Timothy Cardinal Dolan in one of his final moves before retirement, the school announced this week.
“Not only will we miss him personally, but we will never be able to make up for all he does for our students,” the school’s principal, Father Michael Reilly, said in a statement.
“He doesn’t know it yet, but Archbishop Designate Hicks is getting a great priest who will serve him well.”
McCarthy began the gig on Jan. 1, well ahead of the official Feb. 4 ceremony that will officially install Hicks as the Archbishop of New York, a sweeping community that covers the entirety of the Empire State, other than Brooklyn and Queens.
As secretary, McCarthy will serve as a key supporter for Hicks, both administratively as a liaison to other clergy and physically — during Mass, McCarthy will join Hicks on the altar to hand him the staff and offer up the Bible during readings.
He will also play a crucial advisory role for Hicks as he transitions into leading his new 2.8 million congregation.
McCarthy, 46, has served as the chaplain for St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School and its roughly 1,200 students since 2015.
He taught four classes, arranged religious retreats and led confessions throughout the year, as well as ran the Confirmation program and religious clubs, like the Holy Name Society, according to Reilly.
McCarthy also had the distinct honor of conducting the annual car blessing tradition for its senior class.
The beloved priest previously served as the administrative vicar of Visitation Parish in the Bronx, and as the parochial vicar for two Staten Island parishes, according to the Good Newsroom, the Archdiocese’s digital news outlet.
He was ordained May 14, 2005.
Hicks was handpicked by Pope Leo XIV to succeed Dolan as the powerful leader of the Archdiocese of New York’s 2.8 million Roman Catholics.
Dolan reached the Vatican’s mandatory retirement age of 75 last February.
