COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - St. John's University and the University of St. Thomas will celebrate memorial Masses on Jan. 23 and 24 in honor of former U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who had close ties to both schools.
The Masses will be open to the public. Receptions will follow for friends and relatives to share stories about McCarthy, who died Dec. 10 in Washington, D.C. He was 89.
St. John's spokesman Michael Hemmesch told the St. Cloud Times on Thursday that having a memorial on the Collegeville campus "gives many of his longtime friends still here in central Minnesota an opportunity to gather and remember his life and celebrate all of the accomplishments that he achieved throughout his life."
McCarthy graduated from St. John's in 1936, when he was 19, with a degree in English and with highest honors. The native of nearby Watkins later taught briefly at St. John's and then in St. Paul at St. Thomas, where McCarthy launched his successful 1948 congressional campaign. He also served in the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971, and in 1968 led an anti-war presidential campaign that helped force incumbent Lyndon Johnson out of the race.
McCarthy often returned to St. John's for events or to visit old friends associated with the school, and his family "specifically expressed an interest in having a memorial Mass at St. John's," Hemmesch said.
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St. John's will hold its mass at 4 p.m. Jan. 23 in its Abbey/University Church. Abbot John Klassen will be the celebrant. Eulogists will include journalist and biographer Albert Eisele; McCarthy's son, Michael; and the Rev. Hilary Thimmesh, president emeritus at St. John's.
The memorial at St. Thomas will be at 4 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. Monsignor James Habiger will be the celebrant. The eulogists will include McCarthy's daughter, Ellen McCarthy; and George Latimer, former mayor of St. Paul.
