By Mary Beth Marino

John McCarthy lives by a simple philosophy. “Is the world a little bit better because of me today?”

Mr. McCarthy was visiting Atlanta Sept. 19-21, for a regional conference as director of the U.S.C.C. Migration and Refugee Services out of Washington, D.C.

The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta, with representation from 10 states in attendance.

Among those present from the Atlanta area were Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, Rev. Jacob A. Bollmer, executive director of Catholic Social Services, and Bui Van Tam, program director for CSS.

Archbishop Donnellan was present to honor John McCarthy as he finishes his third and last term as director of U.S.C.C. Migration and Refugee Services.

He will remain on the board as a consultant to the new director who will be appointed in November.

But Mr. McCarthy wears another hat as well. He is the president of the International Catholic Migration Commission based in Geneva, Switzerland and represents the Catholic Church in 52 countries around the world.

John McCarthy’s work consists of helping refugees locate their lost relatives in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. But the job entails much more than that.

A refugee processing center, located at Bataan in the Philippines, provides orientation, language skills, job training and basically, teaching some 18,000 refugees about the world at work.

But the work is not done simply or without pain. John McCarthy explained that two weeks ago, 84 Vietnamese refugees left Vietnam in a small boat to seek shelter and freedom. Only 14 of these refugees survived the trip across the South China Seas. The others died of exposure or fell prey to pirates that roam the seas in hopes of stealing gold from the refugees, or harming their women.

A large ship spotting a refugee boat may not stop to offer help. Whoever stops and offers assistance is responsible for seeing that the refugees get resettled.

It was obvious that Mr. McCarthy was troubled about these tragic events.

Working in conjunction with the United Nations, the U.S.C.C. Migration and Refugee Services has 775,000 files on separated families. A staff consisting of 150 people work daily, searching out relatives who innocently fled in fear or fright against the terror of war.

“The Vietnamese give us a list and after all security clearances have checkout out, we fly the refugees to Bangkok for seven days. There we do a basic medical screening for documentation and then fly them to a processing center in Bataan. Then we train them in basic skills and arrange for churches to sponsor refugees coming to the United States,” Mr. McCarthy explained.

The staff and volunteers make the necessary arrangements for their transportation including finding houses, providing employment opportunities and arranging to have the sponsors meet the refugees at the airport.

“We have done this about 3,000 times for the refugees in Southeast Asia,” said McCarthy. Next week there will be a meeting in Geneva with the Hanoi government which will attempt to negotiate the release of 20,000 additional prisoners from the detention camps in Vietnam. “There are approximately 140 Catholic Vietnamese priests who were caught on the wrong side of the fence and are being held prisoners in Vietnam,” John McCarthy explained.

According to this busy and well-informed man, all religious are held in light detention. This is nothing new to Mr. McCarthy, who claims they have been moving innocent people from behind the Iron Curtain for years, where a life of freedom does not exist. “It’s essential to feel the intense emotion that belies what is going on in the world today,” McCarthy emphatically stated.

“We’re not fighting anyone, we’re loving them!” he declared emotionally.

The conversation quickly alluded to a less intense emotion as this sensitive man said, “We have found some solutions.”

In Port Sudan lives a community of 60,000 people. Housing in Port Sudan consists of cardboard or tin shacks. The majority of people in this community are walking around with tuberculosis.

“There is no protein available in this country,” John McCarthy explained. “So, we arranged for the locals of the community and the refugees to dig 1000 fish ponds. We put ducks in the pond to eat the algae and control the disease of fish. Then we cultivate the grass surrounding the pond and put goats out to graze. In three years, the project is self-sustaining, providing protein from the fish; pigs, goats and ducks are reproduced and sold at the market, and the market provides money, helping the community.” This totally dedicated man beamed as he explained the plan that provides growth and industry to the poor.

“The bottom line is that there is nothing we can’t do!” he said proudly.

“If only men were not so greedy, we could all survive without wars and poverty,” McCarthy stated convincingly.

This ambitious man is not only making his life’s work count, he has an extremely talented family who are all making impressive contributions.

John’s wife Mercedes has remarked more than once that she felt all nine of their children were part of a total missionary family! But a large family reaped benefits as they all pitched in and did whatever needed to be done while “Dad” was always working for the refugee.

Danette Christmas is the oldest child in the family and is married to an attorney. They have four children. Dennis McCarthy is a builder in business for himself: his shop, “McCarthy & Sons,” is named for his sons, aged four and seven! Sharon is a graphic designer at the Smithsonian Institute and her husband works with the U.S. Information Services. John McCarthy Jr. is single and works in a jet propellant lab as an electrical engineer.

Sheila Waters is an elementary school principal at Conley School of Holy Child, located in Potomac, Md. She has two children. Robert McCarthy is an attorney in private practice and Mike McCarthy and wife Mary, are both in commercial real estate management. Deborah White is married to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce, the Hon. Richard White.

Philip McCarthy is a senior at Fairfield University in Connecticut, and last but not least, adopted Vietnamese son Wong Choy is studying engineering at Maryland University.

The McCarthy clan includes twelve grandchildren.

John McCarthy’s scholastic background is very impressive. He holds degrees in psychology, social work and law. He has attended Columbia University, Fordham and Catholic University.

“This job includes all phases of my education,” he simply remarked.

But there is no reflection of a simple man at all in John McCarthy. He is obviously doing work that is meaningful to thousands of poor and needy refugees, who only seek the reunion of their families. The self-sacrifice and dedication that is contributed by John McCarthy will help to make this world a better place as evidenced by the thousands of refugees he helps.