Serving as a priest in ethnically diverse parishes and ministering as a chaplain at local hospitals, Father John McKay said he reflects on his 50 years as a priest and thinks, “Oh Lord, you really have brought me to some wonderful places of ministry that I did not give much thought to when those hands were laid on me” at ordination.

“Fifty years ago, I was newly ordained right out of the seminary, and I never would have thought that there is as much as there is that I can give thanks to the Lord for,” said the priest who this year marks the golden anniversary of his ordination.

A native Washingtonian, the future priest was one of six children born to Francis and Marian McKay. He attended St. Francis de Sales School in Washington, D.C., St. Jane De Chantal School in Bethesda, Maryland, and was graduated in 1975 from Cathedral Latin School in Washington.

He attended St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, prior to entering St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained in 1973.

Father McKay served as parochial vicar at St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland from 1973 to 1975, and parochial vicar at St. Martin of Tours in Gaithersburg, Maryland from 1975 until 1980. In 1980, he was named co-pastor and then parochial administrator at Holy Name Parish in Washington, D.C.

“I made the decision to go to a Black parish – Holy Name – but that was not on my radar at the time of my ordination,” Father McKay said. “It was a very special time for me to be able to connect with people who have endured so much within our society and our Church culture.”

In 1982, he was named parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland, a position he held until 1986. He then spent a year in Spanish language studies in Santo Domingo, Colombia and Puerto Rico. In 1987, he was named parochial vicar at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Takoma Park, Maryland, and in 1990, he was named pastor there.

“I learned the Spanish language – not perfectly, but good enough – to minister to those who have a different language and a different culture,” Father McKay said.

He served as temporary parochial vicar at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Derwood, Maryland, from 1996 to 1997, when he was named chaplain to Shady Grove Hospital, Shady Grove Nursing Home and Asbury Methodist Village. He served in those capacities until 2000 when he was named pastor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Riverdale Park, Maryland. In 2005, he was named pastor of St, Mark the Evangelist Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland.

In 2008, he was appointed chaplain to Laurel Regional Hospital and other health care facilities in Laurel, Maryland. In 2009, he was appointed chaplain at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

As a hospital chaplain, Father McKay said that while he has always been impressed with the care provided by health care workers, “certainly in the last three and a half years with the pandemic, I have been very impressed with hospital staff, especially in the beginning when we did not know much about the virus and we didn’t have a vaccine, but they would go into patients’ rooms to serve them.”

This past March, Father McKay served as homilist at the annual Rose Mass, sponsored by the John Carroll Society of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, seeks God’s blessings on medical, dental, nursing and allied health care workers and institutions.

“Those of us involved in the healing ministries and care, so often we are called to look upon those we serve with the eyes of Jesus. His eyes look beyond just the names and room numbers of those on our lists for surgeries, for visits, for consultations. We too are called to look with the eyes of Jesus to their hopes and dreams, their worries and concerns,” he said in that homily. “We share the hospitality of Jesus. That word hospitality comes from the same word as hospital, where we so often work and bring the light of Jesus.”

In 1991, he received certification from the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. Over the years, he has served as a police chaplain and member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains and a member of the priest council and the continuing clergy education board. 

Thinking about the varied roles he has fulfilled, Father McKay said that he has always strived to “keep walking with the Lord and be open to wherever the Lord sends you.”

To carry out his priestly duties, Father McKay said that “my connection with the Lord is what has kept me going – not just the formal prayers and the Liturgy of the Hours, but what our Holy Father calls ‘dialogue’ where you have a connection with the Lord and the Lord has a connection with you.”

When he thinks of the people he has been called to serve, Father McKay said he realizes “so many of them have been holy people – not in the sense of what prayers they say or how many devotions, but holy in the sense that they are trying to stay connected to the Lord.”

“A priestly ministry is a ministry with the Body of Christ – the Body of Christ that is the Eucharist and the Body of Christ that is the people of God,” he said.