He is a "Cantabrigian" through and through. Wait, a what? Cantabrigian, related to Cambridge, originally Cambridge, England, but more locally to our Cambridge, or better, Father Toomey's Cambridge.

Born there on Oct. 6, 1951, he was the second of the five children of the late Timothy and Eileen (Dinan) Toomey. His father was a Cambridge police officer. The family lived in East Cambridge and were solid parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish there. Young Kevin attended Sacred Heart Grammar School and took the MTA to the South End for high school at Cathedral High School there.

He entered the archdiocesan seminaries, first at Cardinal O'Connell in Jamaica Plain, then to St. John's Brighton campus, completing philosophy studies at St. Clement Hall before he moved across the campus to the theology house.

Humberto Cardinal Medeiros ordained him to the priesthood on Nov. 18, 1978. The cardinal also gave him his first priest assignment as an associate at Gate of Heaven Parish, South Boston. Hand in glove best describes how he fit in at "The Gate." Even now, he has endless stories of his seven happy years there. To get the whole picture, it's better to have him tell those stories narrated in tandem with Msgr. Kevin J. O'Leary, rector of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Cross, who was a teacher at Gate of Heaven Grammar School during Father Toomey's tenure. Between the two, no detail is missing.

In 1985, he was appointed parochial vicar at Medford's St. Clement Parish, and in 1986, to a similar position at Dorchester's St. William Parish.

His next assignment was another seven-year post as a parochial vicar, this time at St. Jude Parish, Waltham, serving from 1987 to 1994.

When reviewing the list of his assignments, an interesting thing jumps out: all of them until his last assignment in Bedford had a Catholic school during his tenure.

In 1994, he began a two-year assignment and what would be the last as parochial vicar of St. Catherine of Genoa Parish in Somerville.

He has been the administrator of one parish, St. Mary of the Annunciation, Melrose, (2016-2017), and the pastor of four others, St. Brendan, Dorchester, (1996-1997); St. Raphael, Medford, (1998-2015); St. Agatha, Milton, (2015-2016); and St. Michael, Bedford, (2019-2025).

Two things stand out about his terms as pastor: his ability to build the parish into a cohesive whole and his attention to the management of the fiscal and physical plant.

A good example is the parish center at St. Raphael, Medford, of which he is justly proud. The parish was and is very active and so more space was needed for parish and school activities. Marshaling the parishioners and carefully managing the finances he oversaw the construction of the new center. And it may be said to be a model for parish centers, especially one that had to squeeze into a compact parish footprint.

While at Medford, he also served briefly as vicar forane of the North Region's Vicariate IV.

It was also during his tenure at Medford that he enjoyed a sabbatical at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE) at Rome's Pontifical North American College. And not surprisingly, the stories of his Roman adventures and those who accompanied him -- most notably fellow Bostonian and friend since seminary days, the late Msgr. Richard J. Mehm -- abound.

Father Toomey has a great capacity for creating and sustaining relationships, be they among parishioners, between priests, or his own family. He remains very close to his siblings: brothers John and Tim; and sisters Mary and Eileen.

During his retirement, he will be living as senior priest in residence at Immaculate Conception rectory, Malden. He will assist not only at the Malden parish, but as his schedule permits and as needs arise, will be available for other parishes as well.