Joseph Edward McCarthy

Born on November 14, 1876, Joseph Edward McCarthy was appointed on May 13, 1932 and was consecrated as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Portland on August 24, 1932. McCarthy was ordained to the priesthood in 1903. Prior to arriving in Maine, Joseph Edward McCarthy was a language teacher at a seminary in Connecticut. During his tenure as Bishop of Portland, Bishop McCarthy stabilized the financial situation of the Diocese by issuing bonds which liquidated the entire debt by 1963; numerous Catholic elementary schools, high schools and colleges were opened; and Bishop McCarthy’s tenure saw the arrival of the diocese’s first auxiliary bishop, Daniel Joseph Feeney. Bishop McCarthy also guided the diocese through the rigors of World War II. By 1948, the administration of the diocese passed to Feeney due to Bishop McCarthy’s declining health. Bishop McCarthy died on September 8, 1955.