Obituaries

Chicago, IL (June 21, 2018) – Rev. John L. Harvey, pastor of St. Mary Queen of Apostles Parish in Riverdale, Ill., died on June 9, 2018. He was 67 years old.

Born in Chicago on June 16, 1950, Fr. Harvey attended Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago, earned a bachelor’s degree at the St. Louis University in St. Louis, Mo., and a pursued a master’s degree at the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Fr. Harvey was ordained to the priesthood on May 24, 1986, by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, and celebrated his first Solemn Mass at St. James Parish in Chicago on May 25 of the same year.

After ordination to priesthood, Fr. Harvey served at the following parishes: St. Felicitas Parish on 84th Street, St. Benedict the African East and West Parishes in Chicago, St. Mary of the Assumption Parish on 137th Street, all in Chicago and St. Mary Queen of Apostles Parish in Riverdale, Ill.

Monsignor Michael Boland, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, remembers his classmate as a “great and holy priest who worked very hard in his parish.”

Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was also a classmate of Fr. Harvey. “Fr. John was an intensely spiritual man, a priest after the heart of Christ,” Bishop Barron said. “His deep love of the Lord was evident in all he said and did. His death represents a great loss to the Chicago presbyterate.”

Visitation hours will be Friday, June 22, 2018, from 4 until 8 p.m. at the Rayner Funeral Home

 on 318 E. 71st Street in Chicago, and Saturday, June 23, from 10 to 11 a.m. at St. Mary Queen of the Apostles Parish, 207 W. 145th Street in Riverdale, Ill. 

Interment will take place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, Ill.