May 22, 2012
Father Charles K. Harvey
Father Charles K. Harvey Father Harvey, a convert to Catholicism, was born September 28, 1926 in Sioux City, Iowa, but was raised in Topeka where he attended Hayden Catholic High School. He studied philosophy at St. Benedict's in Atchison and theology at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. He was ordained on March 8, 1952, by Bishop Mark K. Carroll at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. Father Harvey was first assigned in 1952 as an assistant at Holy Savior Parish in Wichita. He later served at St. Luke Hospital in Marion, St. Francis Hospital and St. Patrick Parish in Wichita, and St. Mary Parish in Derby. He received his first pastorate in 1962 at St. Rose, Mount Vernon. He was named pastor of St. Mary in Chase in 1964, and St. Patrick, Galena, and St. Joseph, Baxter Springs, in 1967. Father Harvey was moved to St. Mary Parish in Moline nine years later, in 1976. He was named pastor of St. Paul, Lyons, in 1983, where he served for seven years. He was then named pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wichita in 1990. The next year he was named pastor of St. Mary, Aleppo. He retired from active priestly duty on Dec. 31, 1993. Fr. Harvey had "given generously of himself to the people of the diocese in his various assignments," Bishop Emeritus Eugene J. Gerber said in 1993 upon Father Harvey's retirement. He is buried in Ascension Cemetery in Wichita.