A Catholic priest believed to be the last survivor of a team that found Father Kino's bones will be honored in Tucson this weekend.
Historians from Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, as well as local religious leaders and artists will honor the Rev. Kieran Robert McCarty on Saturday during a Mass and reception in the chapel at the Villa Maria Care Center in Midtown. McCarty, 83, a Franciscan priest and historian who worked at the University of Arizona, lives at the center.
McCarty was part of an international team that in 1966 discovered a skeleton in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, 50 miles south of Nogales, identified as belonging to Father Eusebio Francisco Kino.
He's also believed to be the last surviving member of that team, according to Raul Ramir-ez, who is part of the Tucson-based Patronato de Kino, a non-profit group dedicated to educating the public about Kino and also to supporting his canonization as a Roman Catholic saint.
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The Patronato de Kino is organizing Saturday's event.
Ramirez said the group is trying to raise local awareness about Kino. In November, the Patronato de Kino plans to stage a public re-enactment of Kino's arrival in Tucson.
Supporters are hopeful that Rome will canonize Kino as a saint in time for the 300th anniversary of his death, in 2011.
Kino, a Jesuit, is credited with bringing Christianity to the Southern Arizona area. Today, about 27 percent of Tucson's population is Catholic.
Kino founded 21 missions in the Pimeria Alta, or the land of the upper Pimas, in Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona in the late 1600s and early 1700s in an attempt to turn American Indians in the area to Christianity.
The missions include those at San Xavier, Tumacácori and Guevavi.
Kino also introduced cattle and new crops to the region. In 1700, he put down the foundations for a church at the village of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River near modern Tucson, to be named after his patron saint, St. Francis Xavier.
Kino's dream of a church here later was realized by Franciscans and Tohono O'odham Indians, who built the stunning structure of San Xavier del Bac.
Though many missionaries who converted indigenous populations to Christianity have been criticized, supporters of Kino note that the priest always resisted Spanish military policy toward American Indians.
If you go
A Mass to recognize the Rev. Kieran Robert McCarty is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in the Villa Maria Care Center Chapel, 4310 E. Grant Road.
Seating is limited, so anyone wishing to attend is asked to call either Raul Ramirez at 237-3790 or Sue Alexander at 323-9351, Ext. 121.