Florida Catholic | Shrine Rector Retires

Msgr. Harte, rector of National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, retires.

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT5

Published: 11.09.07

ORLANDO | After 33 years of leading a project for a church to minister to the tourist trade, Msgr. F. Joseph Harte retired. He celebrated his final Mass as rector of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe Oct. 31 at the 6 p.m. vigil Mass for the solemnity of All Saints, in preparation for “the first day of my new life,” he said.

There is a deeply personal significance to the date. Msgr. Harte was ordained as a priest June 18, 1961, at All Hallows (All Saints) College in Dublin, Ireland, which was formally opened on Nov. 1, 1842.

The shrine is a project that “started with nothing and is now complete and completely debt-free,” said Msgr. Harte.

He looks ahead with anticipation. “I’m 77 years old and I have come to a time in my life that someone else should take over. I’d like to spend a lot of time in prayer. I’d like to play some golf and travel. I’ve been tied down and now I’d like to see the Grand Canyon, the Smoky Mountains and California with the beautiful ocean. I’d like to write a book or two — I have a couple of ideas in my brain,” Msgr. Harte said.

The idea for one book will unite his future with the passion of his past. “I’d like to write a book on the history of the shrine,” he said. “It’s been a very happy and sometimes tearful journey. There have been a lot of minor miracles and my little angels and the Mother of God have been with me. She’s been the chief architect.”

Msgr. Harte’s ministry to Orlando’s theme park visitors took him from celebrating Sunday Mass in local hotels to transforming the swampland purchased by the diocese into a permanent site that became Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine. In March of this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops honored it as a “national” shrine.

“If God were to call me home tomorrow, I’d be happy to go. God’s intervention has been here and is everywhere,” Msgr. Harte shared. “My dream is that this ministry continue and that the shrine will forever be a place of prayer and spirituality.”

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Msgr. Harte, rector of National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, retires.

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