WILMINGTON — Father John McVoy has been appointed administrator of St. Joseph Parish on French Street in Wilmington, effective Sept. 14. He succeeds Franciscan Father Paul Williams. The Holy Name Province announced in January that its priests, who staffed St. Joe’s and St. Paul’s in Wilmington, would be withdrawing from the Diocese of Wilmington because of a shrinking number of available priests.
Father McVoy began his ministry in the clergy as a permanent deacon, having been ordained in 2001. After his wife, Bethlhem Kebede, died in 2004, he studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 2010.
Since then, “Father Mac” has served as an assistant pastor at Holy Cross in Dover and in Wilmington at the following parishes: Holy Child, St. Peter Cathedral, St. Patrick and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. He is also chaplain to ChristianaCare and Emergency Management Services of New Castle County. He also has served as a prison chaplain.
A native of Paducah, Ky., Father McVoy, 63, earned a chemistry degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He worked as a senior chemist and project manager at the Dupont Co. He is the father of three adult children and a grandfather of three boys.
