was a native of the parish of Culfeightrin, and became a member of the Dominican Convent of Coleraine. At that period the friars of the Coleraine Convent were scattered through the counties of Derry and Antrim, where they officiated generally as assistants to the secular priests. He was sent to the Dominican Convent, in Lisbon, where he was ordained, in 1781, and was appointed to Larne and Carrickfergus, in 1787. When M’Carey was appointed to the parish which then comprised the present parishes of Carrickfergus, Larne, and Ballyclare, there was not a church in all that extensive district. He erected the Chapel of Ballygowan, and a temporary chapel at Carrickfergus, and he published a very instructive little volume, entitled, The Sure Way to Heaven …In January, 1798, he delivered a very loyal address to his parishioners, which was afterwards published. In the meantime the temptations thrown in his way, while he was collecting money for the chapels, and while he was selling his book, were fast undermining the early training, which the poor friar had received in the Dominican Novitiate of Lisbon. Falling into intemperate habits, for which he was suspended, he long continued to disgrace the Church, and outrage society, by celebrating illicit marriages. At length, weighed down with years, many of which were spent in gaol, he died a very penitent and edifying death, in the General Hospital, Belfast, in 1833.

O’Laverty also quotes from an advertisement issued by MacCary, dated 21 July 1811, which begins:

To whom it may concern. The Most Reverend James Matthew Vincent MacCary, by Christian, lawful marriage, a surviving son of Cornelius MacCary and Margaret MacCary, who when living, were land possessors of Carey Hills, Carey Mills, and Carey Mill Townlands, tenements, &c, of the Parish of Culfaughtrin.