McGread, Monsignor Thomas
MONSIGNOR THOMAS MCGREAD
April 1, 2013
Personal Info
- Date of Birth: 5 December 1928
- Place of Birth in Ireland: Tattysallagh, Omagh
- County: Tyrone
- Education: St Columb’s College, Derry and All Hallows College, Dublin
- Date of Ordination: 21 June 1953
- Place of Ordination: All Hallows College, Dublin
Diocesan Appointments
- Assistant – St Patrick, Parsons – 10/24/1953 to 6/5/1956
- Assistant – St Anne, Wichita – 6/6/1956 to 5/8/1959
- Assistant – St Jude, Wichita – 5/9/1959 to 5/30/1963
- Chancery – CCM Parsons Deanery, Moderator, Parsons – 7/1/1963
- Pastor – St Joseph, South Mound with St Ambrose, Erie – 5/31/1963 to 9/1/1965
- Pastor – Founder of the Church of the Resurrection, Wichita – 9/1/1965 to 8/21/1968
- Chancery – CCM North Sedgwick Deanery, Moderator and Parish Priests’ Retirement & Relief Board, Wichita – 12/1/1966
- Chancery – CCM Moderator, Wichita – 8/1/1967
- Pastor – St Francis of Assisi, Wichita – 8/22/1968 to 9/30/1999
- Chancery – North Sedgwick Deanery, Vicar Forane, Wichita – 7/1/1970
- Chancery – College of Consultors member, Wichita – 1/21/1974
- Chancery – Office of Development director, Wichita – 7/1/1985
- Chancery – Presbyteral Council member, Wichita – 1994 to 1999
- Chancery – College of Consultors member, Wichita – 1994 to 1999
- Chancery – West Wichita Deanery Dean, Wichita – 6/10/1997
- Named Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II, Rome – 3/4/1998
- Honorary Doctorate Degree – Newman University, Wichita – 2012
When Bishop Mark K. Carroll recruited priests from Ireland to come to Kansas, Monsignor McGread acknowledged he didn’t know anything about Kansas. So, he went to the encyclopedia and found out that Kansas averages 120 tornadoes a year. Nonetheless, he said he was ready to meet new people, new challenges and to serve God.
Bishop Eugene J. Gerber was the principal celebrant for the Mass honoring the medal recipients being recognized by Pope John Paul II. At the awards brunch. Msgr McGread, was honored for his development of a stewardship way of life. In making the presentation to Monsignor, Bishop Gerber stated: “No matter what the problem, everything to him is ‘no problem.’ He is graced with an uncommonly acute, uncommonly effective, uncommonly practical judgment. He sees straight, he judges true and he inspires loyalty in almost all who pass his way. He is known as the master pastor in the Diocese of Wichita, a guru of stewardship throughout the United States.” Father McGread’s impact on stewardship practices has been captured in a book published in 2011.
In 2006, Monsignor McGread was honored by Serra clubs for his service as chaplaincy of the Serra Club of Wichita-Metro. Bishop Michael Jackels, who attended the dinner, remarked “…that like St Paul, the young Father McGread was sent to an unlikely place to do God’s work and, as St Paul succeeded in changing the world and its people, Msgr. McGread certainly changed the Diocese of Wichita with his dedication to stewardship.”
Monsignor McGread is best known throughout the diocese as the “Father of Stewardship,” for relating faith to giving after he led an economically challenged parish school out of the depths of debt to become one of the best and biggest parochial grade schools in the State of Kansas. In 1968, the school had about 50 students and by 1999 had grown to 800. Monsignor McGread taught that stewardship (the giving of time, talent and treasure) is a way of giving, not out of a need, but rather a need to give. Because of the success of stewardship giving at St Francis of Assisi parish, Bishop Eugene Gerber introduce the concept diocese-wide and eventually adopted by other dioceses throughout the nation.
