Occasional Papers  58

                 Daniel McCarthy was born June 26, 1911 in the Bronx and was baptized at Saint Joseph’s in the Tremont section.   His parents moved to Our Savior’s Parish where he went to grammar school and received his First Communion.  Though the McCarthys did not live within the territory of Saint Simon Stock Parish, they regularly attended there once the parish began in 1920.  Daniel was an altar boy at Saint Simon’s and his brother, Vincent, later to be a World War II hero was voted the “Most Popular Server” with his picture  in The Bronx Home News commemorating the honor.  Daniel’s older brother, David, had previously entered the Carmelite’s seminary, Saint Albert’s, in Middletown, NY, to study for the priesthood.

                Daniel McCarthy entered Saint Albert’s at an unusual time, February 8, 1926, and when he was about fifteen years old. There is nothing in any records to explain this.  On September 5 of that same year, he received the Carmelite habit, took the name in religion of Gerard and entered the novitiate.  He professed his first vow on November 6, 1927 and remained at Saint Albert’s doing college work until June, 1931. 

                Gerard McCarthy arrived in Rome on November 2, 1931 at the Carmelite’s Collegio San Alberto for his theological studies. Along with him was his fellow Simon Stocker, Berthold Forrester.  Both were ordained after three years of theology on July 15, 1934.  Gerard remained in Rome for one more year of theology and returned to the United States in the summer of 1935.  His first assignment was Master of Students at Saint Albert’s.  He is remembered by the students of those days as not being pompous and being a man who never issued threats.  He was firm in a manner that never generated fear.  Each evening, after night prayers, he spoke to the students in a way that stirred their souls and not their emotions.

                In 1943, Gerard was elected the prior of Saint Albert’s and was reelected for a second term in 1946.  His speciality was English.  In summer school and on Saturdays, he took classes at Fordham University eventually receiving his Masters in English with a minor in French.  When his term at Saint Albert’s expired in 1949, he went to Our Lady of the Scapular in Manhattan and was the chief chaplain at Bellevue Hospital until 1961.  For 1949-52, Father Gerard was the assistant provincial and was a member of the provincial’s council for the three years after that.  He was prior of the Manhattan community from 1955 to 1961. It is a testimonial to his character that he always held a position of responsibility.   

                In 1961, Gerard came home to Saint Simon Stock replacing the longtime pastor, Mel Daly.  They were difficult shoes to fill but he did so quietly, simply and effectively.   I came to Saint Simon’s in 1964 to be the prior of the man who was the prior of Saint Albert’s when I entered the Carmelites at the age of thirteen.  Father Gerard was very good to me, treated me respectfully and I received nothing but kind words from him.  He was generous to all of us and spared no expense in making life at the priory comfortable. 

                Father Gerard was very clever and he would be humorous at the table and in the community room.  He lived a life of poverty and this detachment from the goods we all adhere to made him generous.  When the high school students, faculty - including sisters - and myself were flying to Expo 67 in Montreal, I went to bed early the night before.  I heard some rustling at my door during the night and when I woke up in the morning, there was an envelope pushed under the door.  There were a few hundred dollars in the envelope with a note from  Gerard saying that school’s sisters do not have money and that they’ll find you at supper time.  They did and through his kindness, all ate well.  

                Though he was the pastor, Father Gerard did as much work as any of his assistants.  As an administrator, he had much experience and made the parish run in good fashion.  His brother, David (Stanislaus), lived with their mother caring for her.  When she went into a nursing home, he came to live at the Saint Simon Stock Priory.  He was a good addition to the staff.  He took a Mass every day and was in demand as a confessor. 

                 Gerard began a 50/50 club in the parish.  It turned out to be very successful and through the funds raised by it, he was able to liquidate the remaining parish debt and make some needed repairs and renovations in the parish plant. He was very active in civic organizations that were concerned with the welfare of the area. 

                Gerard McCarthy felt ill in the fall of 1968.  After much testing, he was admitted to Union Hospital in early December for surgery.  They discovered cancer in a number of his organs.  He entered eternal life at the age of fifty-seven a few days after an operation.  Another Simon Stocker, Lawrence Mooney, preached a powerful homily extolling the goodness of  Gerard McCarthy.  What he never mentioned and perhaps should have was that his pastorate was too short.  It was only seven years. 

                                         Alfred Isacsson, O. Carm.