January 15, 1998
Father Harold McCormick
Father McCormick was born on September 13, 1928 in Parsons, KS. After graduating from Parsons High School he served in the U.S. Navy; attended St. Benedict College in Atchison, KS; worked for Procter and Gamble; and studied at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, MO. He attended Conception Seminary in Conception, MO and was ordained by Bishop Byrne at St. Mary’s Cathedral on May 25, 1963. As an assistant he served briefly at St. Andrew Parish in Independence before volunteering for seven years in the diocesan mission in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Upon his return he was administrator of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Newton and was pastor at St. Anne Parish in Wichita, St. Patrick Parish in Chanute, and Sacred Heart Parish in Eureka with Hamilton and Madison as missions. From 1987 to 1992 he returned to the diocesan mission in Venezuela. His last assignment was as associate pastor at the cathedral working with the Spanish speaking community. During his priesthood he was Director of the Missions and Diocesan Director of the Propagation of the Faith. Father McCormick died on January 15, 1998. Bishop Gerber celebrated his funeral Mass at the cathedral noting in his homily that Father McCormick, “did it (his ministry) with charity for the poor and a sharpened sense of justice for the oppressed.” (The Catholic Advance, Jan. 23, 1997) Father McCormick was buried in Parsons.