Sister Regina McCarthy, O.P., dies at 86

Greeley native was founder and director of Hispanic Ministry 

     ST. CATHERINE, Ky. — Greeley native Sister Regina McCarthy, O.P., a longtime religious who served throughout the Diocese of Grand Island, died Feb. 26, 2023, at Sansbury Care Center in St. Catharine, Ky. She was 86.

      Funeral Mass will be March 7 at Sansbury Care Center Chapel at St. Catharine. Burial will be at St. Catharine Motherhouse Cemetery.

     Hale–Polin–Robinson Funeral Home in Springfield, Ky., is in charge of arrangements.

     Sister McCarthy was born Aug. 26, 1936, to Edward and Agnes Smyth McCarthy, the youngest of eight children.

     A 1954 graduate of Sacred Heart School, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish/English from Siena College in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968; a Master of Arts in Spanish from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln  in 1972; and a Master’s Degree in theological studies from the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, in 1983. She taught in elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Mattoon, Ill., Jeffersonville, Ind., and Spalding Academy in Spalding.

     In 1978, Sister McCarthy was Director of Ministry for the Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine. She became a teacher and parish minister at St. Patrick in North Platte and while in North Platte, created the Office of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Grand Island and became its first director in 1982. From 1994 to 1996, she was director of hispanic ministry at St. Mary’s Cathedral and was director of Small Christian Communities. In 1996, she was elected to the Leadership Team for the Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine.

     In 2002, she returned to Nebraska where she served in pastoral ministry at St. Ann’s in Lexington. In 2008, she returned to St. Catharine where she taught Spanish at St. Catharine College and also provided community service at the motherhouse. In 2014, she moved to Sansbury Care Center at St. Catharine.  

Survivors include brothers, Tom McCarthy of Norfolk, and Pat McCarthy of Fond Du Lac, Wis., and several nieces and nephews. 

     Memorials are suggested to Dominican Sisters of Peace, Office of Mission Advancement, 2320 Airport Dr., Columbus, OH 43219-2098.