Staff

Saint Martin de Porres is a Catholic Parish committed to loving everyone always and extending the hope and grace of Jesus to our neighbors near and far. We are one Body in Christ, and we do not stand alone.

Fr. Larry Dowling
Pastor
Rev. Larry Dowling is the pastor of St. Agatha Parish in Chicago’s North Lawndale community, having previously served as pastor at Chicago’s St. Denis Parish and associate pastor at St. James Church in Arlington Heights. He received his Masters of Divinity (1991) and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) (1998) from the University of St. Mary of the Lake. He is a ’97-‘98 alumnus of Leadership Greater Chicago. He currently serves as Dean of Deanery III-D. He also serves as Board President for the ACTA Foundation and as Moderator for the Priests for Justice for Immigrants as well as a board member of the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union. He is actively involved in local community organizing efforts, criminal justice reform and restorative justice projects, anti-violence and labor issues throughout the Chicago area. He served on the Board of Consultors to the Cardinal and on the Anti-Racism Implementation Team for the Archdiocese. He is also prior board member and president of the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention (ICVP) and Arise Chicago. He has served as Chair of the Association of Chicago Priests (ACP) and as editor of UPTURN, a bi-monthly publication of the ACP. He is a published writer, making contributions to publications of Liturgical Training Publications. He is a speaker on justice issues and on healing the wounds of child and youth sexual abuse. He is an avid reader, backpacker, hiker and bicyclist.
View BIO
Fr. Thadeo Mgimba
Associate Pastor
Fr. Thadeo Mgimba was ordained on May, 2008 by Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago. He served his first assignment at Holy Name of Mary Parish in Chicago from July, 2008 through June, 2011. Fr. Thadeo then served one year as administrator of Ascension-St. Susanna Parish and St. Gerard Majella Parishes for one year. He was appointed Pastor of the same communities in 2012 and has served both parishes until February, 2021. He was appointed as a Pastor of St. Martin de Porres on March, 2021.
View BIO
Rev. William Pouncy
Deacon
William Pouncy was ordained March 16, 2004, by Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago. He was a member of St. Angelas Catholic Church before merging with St. Martin de Porres Parish. William retired from the United Postal Service on November 30, 2019, completing 30 years of service. His last position held was Manager of Lead Control. His decision to retire was to contribute more time to his ministers. He is currently the Deacon Diaconate Coordinator for Vicariate Three, Chairman of the Liturgy Committee, Director of Charitable Hands Ministries, a member of the Black Catholic Deacons, a member of Knights of Peter Claver and actively participates in the Food Pantry serving those in need. William and Gail have been married for 36 years and have one son Terrence.
View BIO
Rev. Greg Shumpert
Deacon
Deacon of Archdiocese of Chicago, Ordained in 1999
View BIO
Cynthia Titus Smith
Director of Operations
Cynthia was baptized at St. Agatha when she was 9 months old. She started working for St. Agatha in 2014 as the Business Manager. Fr. Larry Dowling officiated the marriage of Cynthia & William Smith on July 11, 2015, at St. Agatha. In 2016 she received her MBA, and graduated magna cum laude from Strayer University. In 2020, Cynthia was promoted to Operations Director. Cynthia also serves on the Finance Committe for St. Agatha-St. Martin de Porres. It is with great pleasure to be part of the unification of St. Agatha - St. Martin de Porres. I am honored to not only work here at this amazing church, but to be a parishioner here.
View BIO
Dennis Smith
Music
Dennis was a musical prodigy and started playing music at 7 years old at First Corinthians Baptist Church in Chicago. His parents noticed his gift and brought him his first organ; that is where the magic began. Dennis further honed his gift by attending music school at Lyon and Healey. Dennis’s anointing has offered him the opportunity to play with some of the biggest names in Gospel, including Tramaine Hawkins, Kim McFarland, Douglas Miller, Reverend James Moore, Evangelist Beverly Crawford, Angie Spivey, and the Voices of Victory to name a few. Dennis stepped out on faith and completed a Volume I Smith Brothers CD. His CD project is a collection of music that defies genre categorization. It is a blend of Gospel, Jazz, and R&B and promotes healing and bringing people to Christ. Dennis collaborated with his brother Calvin who is also a musician to create The Smith Brothers band, together they produced, played, and wrote many of the songs on the CD released in 2017. Dennis spear-headed the St. Agatha It’s Over It’s Alright cd project and wrote many of the songs on the CD. Dennis has shared his gift as a music instructor at Dorolyn Academy for 14 years and has also served as Minister of Music at St. Agatha for over 20 years. In addition, he previously taught music at St. Sabina Academy. Dennis recently dived into radio, hosting his show on Intellectual Radio - Lift Him Up Sundays. Dennis is a force to be reckoned with, expect to hear more from this gifted Musician.
View BIO
Marvin McCurry
Lay Leader/ Church Maintenance
Marvin Darrell McCurry has been a parishioner of St. Martin dePorres Catholic Church when it was established the on the west side of Chicago in the Austin community in 1988 and he’s a former member of St. Mel Holy Ghost Parish where he was baptized in July of 1971. Marvin is the oldest brother of Melissa and Matthew McCurry and uncle to Serell and Senai. He enjoys dinner with family, friends, visiting museums, crosswords, bike riding on the lakefront and traveling. Marvin especially love Jesus Christ and church! “Christ in front of me, behind me, above me, underneath me and in my heart”. Marvin Darrell is a Physical Education teacher at Frances Xavier Warde School for 27 years with Preschool and Kindergarteners with a certification in early childhood. Marvin also received his certification as a Lay Leader at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein where he is currently of service to our parish as President of our parish Federal Credit Union, Men’s Group member, Coordinator for Proclaimers of the Word, Parish Environment, Provident Associate with the Sisters of Providence, Committee member of Parish Council and Liturgy Planning committees. He’s very happy to undertake the newest ministry of reaching out to our shut-in/home bound and those living in other cities and states with Live Streaming. Also he cleans and maintains the sanctuary for Sunday mass and making it a comfortable sacred place for worshipping and gathering Marvin Darrell is thankful for the strength God has given him to undertake the role and responsibilities of keeping our parish a faith, hope, and loved filled community. He loves the parish because they’re his family as well. He has learned and grown so much with the St. Martin dePorres community and so grateful for the love and support shown to him. It’s often said to Marvin “Don’t you get tired” he says: I’m never tired when it comes to working for the Lord. Marvin is also a member of the choir.
View BIO
DiMarkco Chandler
Instructor for The News School
DiMarkco Chandler is the full-time administrator and instructor at The News School at St Agatha’s. He was hired to develop and deploy a full- scale media program that focuses on raising the reading and writing quality of Chicagoland’s underserved youth and young adults. As The News Schools lead instructor, he coaches and trains the youth and young adult interns on the methods and practices of the professional and citizen journalist.
View BIO
Jack Jackson
Holistic Health Coordinator
Jack focuses on healing as a missing ingredient in many attempts at change. If it is true that "hurt people, hurt people" then healing allows the world to have little less hurt in it and hopefully then healing lessens the hurt in people resulting in less hurt of people. In addition to the need for healing, Jack is committed to understanding our many broken systems where all too often we forget that the conditions we’re in are far more serious than the character flaws we might carry. Jack has degrees in Cross Cultural Communication, Human and Community Development and holds a Master of Divity as well. He is trained in transformative mediation and restorative justice practices.
View BIO
Refoncia McGowan
Parish Secretary
View BIO
Carol Johnson
Parish Secretary
I joined the staff of St. Martin de Porres Church, which is currently unified with St. Agatha Church (St. Agatha - St. Martin de Porres) as Interim Secretary in June of 2022. My secretarial duties entail: Rectory Office Operations and assistant to the Operation Director as needed. I may sometime act as liaison for the Pastor and Deacon in certain capacities, as well as assist the volunteers of the Church's Food Pantry and Retail Shop, whenever necessary. Prior to joining St. Agatha - St. Martin de Porres staff, I was employed with The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and retired in 2018 after 25 years of service. I worked within the Office of the UIC Senate, Chancellor's Unit as a Public Functions Coordinator, and assistant to the Clerk of the UIC Senate. In my many years of working as an Office Administrator, it has enabled me to share the knowledge and expertise I've gained through-out my career, to any office environment. To this day, for over 30+ years, I continue to volunteer my time and service on Saturday mornings, to St. Martin de Porres Federal Credit Union. Also, for many years during the tax season, I volunteer to prepare and/or teach Income Tax Preparation to my family, friends and neighbors. During my leisure time, I enjoy Traveling, Dancing, attending Theatre Plays and relaxing while reading a Good Book.
View BIO
Frank Clark
Maintenance
Frank Clark, worked at Union Station until 1979 when he graduated from High School. He is the oldest of 6 Children. (3 Sisters, Joyce, Rotess and Theresa and 2 brothers Melvin and Eric). His hobbies he enjoys are: Volunteering at the Food Pantry and he is a member of the Men’s Group and an Usher, working on rewiring lamps, making wooden name plates, and collecting cans and doing puzzles, watching TV and eating. He enjoys keeping everything clean and neat when he is cleaning up around the parish and where he lives. After Union Station, Frank worked at Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church and then At St Martin de Porres in 2005 until current. He handles clean up and maintaining the grounds around the church and the various other locations of the Church.
View BIO
Scarlett
Housekeeping
TBA
View BIO
Emily Dillon
Website and Social Media Administrator
Emily Dillon is a recent marketing graduate of DePaul University in Chicago. Before working at St. Martin de Porres, Emily worked as a student worker in DePaul’s College of Communications Office and Ticket Office as well as a social media manager in the landscaping world. Emily is excited to be working in the Church with the opportunity to invite the community online and share with others the welcoming environment she has experienced with the members of St. Martin.
View BIO