Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley has announced the appointment of two new pastors for parishes of the archdiocese. Father Joseph McCarthy was named as pastor of St. Thecla Parish, Pembroke on June 27, 2008; and Father John Capuci will become pastor of St. Malachy Parish, Burlington on Dec. 12, 2008.

Father Joseph McCarthy?

A son of Joseph and Elizabeth McCarthy of Duxbury, he was born on Nov. 25, 1956. He was a graduate of Duxbury High School, after which Father McCarthy attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was awarded his undergraduate degree in 1981. He entered St. John’s Seminary and following his formation there, Cardinal Bernard Law ordained him to the priesthood at Holy Cross Cathedral on May 25, 1996.

His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Brigid Parish in South Boston. He later moved south, closer to his hometown, when he was named a parochial vicar at St. Peter Parish in Plymouth.

Before his appointment as pastor of St. Thecla he had been serving as the parish’s interim administrator during the illness of Father Robert Sullivan. When Father Sullivan’s health continued to decline and required more medical care, he submitted his resignation and Cardinal O’Malley named Father McCarthy as pastor of the parish.

When he was ordained in 1996 he told The Pilot staff that he thought that a perennial challenge would be “Evangelization and all it encompasses” and just a dozen years later he finds himself in a parish setting where there will be the challenge of evangelizing, surely.

One thing that seemed to be on his mind at ordination was that he wanted to get to know people and be part of their lives. The Pembroke parish is one that is growing and is fertile ground for Father McCarthy’s enthusiasm and evangelical zeal.?

Father John Capuci

Due north several miles from Pembroke and a few months later there will be a new pastor installed at St. Malachy Parish in Burlington.

Father John Capuci who hails from Wakefield succeeds Father Leonard O’Malley as St. Malachy’s pastor on Dec. 12.

Cardinal Law ordained him to the priesthood at Holy Cross Cathedral on June 16, 1990. His first assignment was at St. Margaret, Brockton as a parochial vicar. In 1991 he was named to a similar post at St. Michael Parish, Lowell.

On completion of his term there he entered a different form of priestly ministry when he was named chaplain at Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree with residence at nearby St. Thomas More Parish.

He returned north, this time as parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist parish in Chelmsford. Just a year later, he was given lend-lease status and took up responsibilities for priestly spiritual growth at a program in the archdiocese of New Orleans. In seven intervening years he saw much, not least of which was the devastation of the Crescent City by Hurricane Katrina. Although he went to New Orleans to help “rescue souls” with spiritual growth and direction, he spent a good part of his post Katrina time rebuilding lives.

He returned to the archdiocese in July 2008 and was for a short time the administrator of the parish where he will now be pastor. He left that temporary assignment in September and turned it over to the capable hands of Father Raymond Kiley. While Father Kiley stayed stateside, Father Capuci was granted a sabbatical and he enrolled in the Priestly Renewal Program at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE, for short) hosted and staffed by the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

The wealth and breadth of his pastoral and personal experience will enhance his move to Burlington and provide a sound footing for his new responsibility at St. Malachy.?