In Memoriam: Rev. Dr. Howard J. McCarney

[J. Thomas Shelley]

 November 13, 2019


We learned that the Rev. Dr. Howard J. McCarney died this morning, November 13, 2019, at the age of 98. Bishop McCarney was ordained in 1945 and served as President of the Central Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America from 1966 to 1987. As soon as the funeral arrangements are finalized, we will issue an In Memoriam .

Please keep the McCarney family, especially Ruth and daughters Kathryn and Christine, in prayer during this time.

Yours in Christ,
†James S. Dunlop, bishop
Lower Susquehanna Synod, ELCA 

[J. Thomas Shelley]

Bishop McCarney was a friend.   He preached at my invitation at a congregation anniversary service.

Note that Bishop Dunlop refers to him as Bishop McCarney.

He entered into Life on the Feast of John Chrysostom.

[pearson]

We learned that the Rev. Dr. Howard J. McCarney died this morning, November 13, 2019, at the age of 98. Bishop McCarney was ordained in 1945 and served as President of the Central Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America from 1966 to 1987. As soon as the funeral arrangements are finalized, we will issue an In Memoriam .

Thanks for posting this, Tom.

Bishop McCarney was my first bishop, when I accepted my first call at Christ Lutheran Church in Harrisburg.  What I will always remember was a meeting he and I had about three months after I arrived.  Christ Lutheran grew out the nineteenth century Sunday School movement; the Sunday School was established about a decade before the congregation was.  It was emphatically Central Pennsylvania Synod: low church, liturgically naive, unionistic, dominated by a powerful lay Masonic leadership, where social justice activity was limited to passing our pamphlets in support of the Prohibition Party (yes, yes).  This Augustana Synod/LCA boy felt like he had entered an alien moonscape.  So, at the meeting with Bishop McCarney, he listened to my lament, then leaned close and said, "Pastor, always remember that Christ Lutheran Church is a good Methodist congregation."

Requiescat in pace, Bishop.

Tom Pearson 

[J. Thomas Shelley]

Rev. Dr. Bishop Howard J. McCarney, 98, of Camp Hill, passed away on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 in his residence. Bishop McCarney was born on April 11, 1921 in Sipesville, PA, the son of the late Reverend Guy E. and Ethel (Hamlen) McCarney. He was a graduate of Conshohocken High School, Gettysburg College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. He was ordained in 1945 by the Central PA Synod of the United Lutheran Church in America and in 1963 Gettysburg College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

Bishop McCarney served 1945-1946 as the Field Secretary of Gettysburg Seminary during which time he talked with young people about ministry in the church, raised funds for the erection of the Adbel Ross Wentz Library and organized chapters of the Friends of the Seminary, many of which continue to serve the seminary. He was Chaplain of Gettysburg College from 1946-1950; pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Middletown, MD, 1950-1956; pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Hanover, PA, 1957-1966; and President/Bishop of the Central PA Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, 1966-1987. In 1988 he became the Visitation Pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, PA where he served until 2010.

Throughout his ministry, he served on a variety of boards and committees including the Hanover School Board, the Executive Boards of the Maryland Synod, the Central PA Synod, the Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Gettysburg College, Susquehanna University, Gettysburg Seminary, and the PA Council of Churches. He was a member of the Commission on a New Lutheran Church that formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and was co-chairman with the Roman Catholic Bishop, Rev. Msgr. (then Cardinal) William Keeler of the PA Conference on Inter-Church Cooperation.

On April 27, 1999 the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg gave him the Distinguished Alumni Award for a Celebrated Ministry of Lifetime Service and on March 6, 1988 Holy Spirit Hospital gave him their first Community Service Award. He also is credited with beginning the World Hunger Appeal in the Lutheran Church in America. Today, the appeal has raised in excess of $650,000,000 and averages $23,000,000 annually through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Bishop McCarney is survived by his wife 74 years, Ruth Sowers McCarney; two daughters, Kathryn M. Foster of New Cumberland and Christine R. McCarney of Camp Hill; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter Elizabeth Jean McCarney and a sister Miriam McCarney Ehrhart.

A memorial service will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, November 30, 2019 in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Camp Hill with the Rev. Bishop Guy Edmiston, Rev. Bishop Jim Dunlop and Rev. Virginia Cover co-officiating. Visitation will be held from 12:30 – 2 pm Saturday in the church. A private committal service will be held in Rolling Green Cemetery, Lower Allen Twp. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests memorial contributions in Bishop McCarney's memory to either ELCA World Hunger, P.O. Box 1809 Merrifield, VA 22116-8009 ( www.ELCA.org/hunger ) or to Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1610 Carlisle Rd. Camp Hill, PA 17011.

To send messages of condolence to the family or for driving directions, please visit www.Parthemore.com .

Bishop McCarney's sister Miriam married one of the sons of long-time Jefferson Parish Pastor Kenneth S. Ehrhart.