The faithful and enduring love of Father Harvey for God and his neighbour, in as much as it was a participation in the love of our Lord - God the Son Incarnate - is not passing but remains a living reality in the Church, in the Communion of Saints.

Father Harvey was a great scholar… he always stood his ground, firmly supported magisterial teaching, and was fully in command of the relevant literature.

Fr. Harvey’s commitment to poverty, chastity, and obedience has everything to do with the light that we saw shining through his face, and that light contains a message to the world which says there’s something greater than pleasure or contentment or satisfaction - and that something greater is striving for a holy life through the love of God and the love of neighbour.

As a loyal son of the Church, Fr. Harvey has long sought to integrate the orthodox teaching of the Church and the real-life experiences of those for whom he has such great pastoral solicitude.

The nub of it is that Father John Harvey never set out to do what he has done. But he always wanted to do what needed to be done for the Church—which means what Jesus wants for the sake of the Kingdom. He accepted his call, and has remained steady in it despite contradictions that would have soured the faith of lesser men and women.

He is a priest, short, quite bald, and elderly. He is a recognized international scholar with a score of high level books and author of innumerable articles in professional journals . He laughs at good jokes and enjoys a steaming dish of tasty pasta. He likes people, is heavy with compassion and is non-judgmental…

Tenacious as he was in defending and explaining the Church’s doctrines, especially in the area of moral theology, Fr. Harvey possessed an exquisite pastoral sensitivity to those who struggle to live up to the challenges of those doctrines.

What will always be regarded as Fr. Harvey’s greatest legacy then, the creation of Courage, is a faithful witness to the counsel contained in the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (1986).

Father Harvey possessed that rare quality of simplicity, which made his mind all the more able to grasp the truth about morality and about the human person. He saw things clearly because he accepted the Church’s teaching plainly and did not clutter his mind with worldly sophistication and vanity.

“It’s so important to have prayer in our lives because this is what gives us an interior life. Chastity of the heart grows from prayer of the heart.” Fr. John Harvey, OSFS

It was a form of suffering for him when Bishops rebuffed him, because he was trying to do something for the good of the Church…

He was a humble servant of God who had pastoral sensitivity, great erudition and an ability to succinctly educate his audience.