Background
James Pardy was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of William and Sara (McCarran) Pardy and was one of 11 children.
James Pardy was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of William and Sara (McCarran) Pardy and was one of 11 children.
He was educated in the local public schools and the New York Preparatory School.
He served as the first Bishop of Cheongju from 1962 to 1972. Pardy earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from The Catholic University of America. He was ordained a priest on January 26, 1930.
After his ordination Pardy taught at the Maryknoll Minor Seminary for two years after which he was assigned to the mission field in of Korea.
In 1939 he became the superior of the Maryknollers in of Korea. He was captured by the Japanese and interred for ten months.
That year he was sent back to South of Korea where he once again became the superior of all the Maryknollers in of Korea in 1953. Pope Pius XII named Pardy the Titular Bishop of Irenopolis in Isauria and Vicar Apostolic of Cheongju on July 4, 1958.
James Pardy was consecrated a bishop on September 16, 1958 by Bishop Bryan McEntegart of Brooklyn.
The principal co-consecrators were United States. Military Auxiliary Bishop Philip Furlong and Bishop Christopher Weldon of Springfield in Massachusetts. Bishop Fulton Sheen delivered the sermon. At his consecration he was given the crosier used by Cardinal John McCloskey of New York and Bishop Patrick Byrne, M.M., who died on a death march to the Yalu River.
On March 10, 1962 Pope John XXIII named Pardy as the first bishop of the Diocese of Cheongju.
He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Pope Paul VI accepted Bishop Pardy"s resignation as Bishop of Cheongju on April 18, 1972.
Bishop Pardy died at El Camino Real Hospital in Mountain View, California on February 15, 1983 at the age of 84. His funeral was celebrated in the Maryknoll Chapel in New York and he was buried in the Maryknoll Cemetery.