The Vincentian priest Jeff Harvey, a veteran seminary professor and noted preacher, has died unexpectedly in California, some two weeks after his 61st birthday. No cause of death was released.
St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo announced the news on April 26, the day after his death, calling him a “beloved faculty member.”
“He touched many lives with his wisdom, kindness, meaningful homilies, and dedication to the priesthood,” the school posted on social media.
Born in 1964, Harvey was raised in Southern California as the seventh child of James and Essie Mae Harvey, a Catholic couple. He was baptized as an infant and raised at Ascension Church in South Central, where he also attended the parish school.
Sensing his own call to the priesthood in middle school, Harvey attended St. Vincent's High School Seminary in Montebello, where he graduated in 1982. He then entered the novitiate for the Vincentians, also known as the Congregation of the Mission, and professed final vows in 1992.
Harvey graduated from the former St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and was ordained to the priesthood in 1993—five years after his uncle was ordained in Arkansas.
Beginning his more than three decades of ministry, Harvey served as a parish priest in Phoenix; Patterson, California; and in Texas. In 2011, he earned a Doctor of Ministry in preaching from the Aquinas Institute in St. Louis and began nearly 15 years of service as a professor, formator, and homilist.
His academic posts included Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, which he departed in 2013, Holy Name of Mary Seminary in the Solomon Islands, Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, and the Vincentian Mission House in St. Louis. He also completed two stints at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, the second being his last assignment.
Harvey maintained connections with the African-American community throughout his time as a priest, preaching revivals, Black history celebrations, and other events. He was a longtime member of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
As recently as April, Harvey was active even outside of the seminary in Southern California, leading a Lenten retreat for St. Timothy Catholic Church in Los Angeles on the theme of the Jubilee Year of Hope. He died three weeks later.
Harvey is predeceased by his mother, and survived by his father; his sisters Carolyn, Evelyn, Janetta, Mynetta; his brothers Xavier and Kerry Joe; and his uncle L. Warren Harvey, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock.
A visitation for the late Fr Harvey has been scheduled for Thursday at his childhood parish, Ascension Catholic Church in Los Angeles, beginning at 5pm PT.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, May 9, at St. Vincent de Paul Church, where he was ordained. The service will begin at 1:30pm. Burial will take place on Saturday morning at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles at 9:30 am.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
