June 2, 2014
It was during his high school days at Georgetown Prep in Washington, D.C., that a young Louis McKernan first thought about becoming a priest. He was impressed by the priests that taught him, but it was the Paulists that often celebrate weekend Masses at the two parishes he attended that caught his interest.
“They always had something intelligent to say, and they were interested in the world beyond the area I grew up in,” recalled Father McKernan, now 86.
Father McKernan is now celebrating 60 years of priesthood and a life spent as a Paulist.
“Being in a community has always appealed to me, but I really can’t explain why,” said Father McKernan. “I have always enjoyed it.”
After his graduation from Georgetown Prep in 1945, Father McKernan entered the Paulist novitiate in 1947. He was ordained a Paulist priest on May 1, 1954.
After his ordination, Father McKernan first served as associate pastor at the Church of the Good Shepherd in New York City during the summer of 1954 before joining the faculty at St. Peter’s College in Baltimore, the Paulist minor seminary from 1954-55.
From 1955-56, Father McKernan did graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley before entering campus ministry at St. Ann’s Church in Boston from 1956-57.
Father McKernan then returned to New York City, serving on the staff at The Catholic World, a Catholic magazine begun by Paulist Founder and Servant of God Father Isaac Hecker, from 1957-61 before entering further graduate studies from 1961-66. He then returned to The Catholic World from 1966-69 before heading to St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C. for graduate studies from 1961-79 before serving as coordinator of St. Paul’s from 1971-75.
Alaska came calling, and Father McKernan served as pastor of St. Nicholas in Fairbanks from 1975-79 before serving as associate pastor at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco from 1979-82. He then went on special assignment based at Old St. Mary’s in 1982. Father McKernan is now in senior ministry residing in New York City.
“The Paulists have a lot of different ministries – from campus ministry to media ministry to working with people of other religions,” he said. “It is easy for someone to find their niche in the Paulists.”