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| Priests celebrate—from 5 years to 60 | |||
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May 22, 2005 Anniversary priests talk about their greatest challenges, who inspired their vocation, and more.We’ve spent the last few weeks in conversation with 15 East Tennessee priests who will celebrate major anniversaries in 2005—from five years for Father Christian Mathis to 60 for Father Joe Julius. Here are excerpts from those conversations. We wish each man a happy anniversary and many blessings.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The great gift that God gave me to become a priest. Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary?
A: We’re going to have a Mass [at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2], and then
a reception for everyone who would like to drop in and say hello. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: The priests at the parish [Immaculate Conception, Memphis] where I grew up were wonderful people. Some of the Sisters of Mercy who taught at the school were very inspiring to me, and Sister Martina, the principal the whole 12 years I was there, had a real influence on me.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The fact that God chose me out of all the infinite number of people he could have chosen. I can’t understand why he did, but I’m thankful that he did.
Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary? A: Every day is a celebration. I don’t need to have a great big one. I’m going to thank God again on that day in a special way and just keep going. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: Bishop William L. Adrian put the thought in my mind as a challenge to all the boys at Father Ryan High School in Nashville when I was a junior. Over a period of months it germinated, and all of a sudden it came out one evening: “I want to be a priest. I’m going to be one.” And I never changed my mind.
Q: What are you most thankful for?
A: The experience I gathered. I taught at [Memphis] Catholic High School, and
then for some strange reason I was appointed as the first priest principal of
Knoxville Catholic. That was an interesting experience—it’s like
a sheriff coming in from out of town. Then I was principal of Memphis Catholic
and became the pastor of some parishes. I had a little something to do with establishing
a school for exceptional children in Memphis. Then I was chaplain for seven and
a half years at Memorial Hospital. Q: What is your greatest challenge? A: To grow old gracefully and accept whatever God sends me in the way of health and circumstances. Q: What advice would you offer to a young man discerning a call to the priesthood? A: Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The opportunity to be of service to my neighbor and to the Lord, and I was able to do that in a variety of ways with more or less success.
Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: As a kid in grade school I was so impressed with the foreign missionaries—the Marist Fathers in the South Pacific and the Maryknoll Fathers in the Orient. Q: How are you serving now? A: I always had an interest in liturgical art and architecture, and what I’ve wanted to do was be available for pastors of small rural churches who were building or remodeling and to give them some help. I’ve been working with stained glass, and for small parishes that can’t afford to hire the big studios, I’m willing to help them design some stained-glass windows and show them how to make them.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The unbelievable ways God has lived through me in his priesthood in reaching out to so many great people in so many unbelievable circumstances and situations.
Q: What is your greatest challenge? A: To adjust to the lifestyle change that any and all of us experience when we enter retirement. I look forward to working in spirituality programs at the Jesuit House of Prayer in Hot Springs, N.C., as well as possibly doing some parish missions in our diocese and to be open to weekend coverage for the priests of our diocese. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: That goes way back to a time when I was a child and our parish priest used to visit my ailing brother weekly. I was scared to death of him because he dressed up (besides the clerical garb) with a black cape and biretta, but my brother enjoyed him so much during his eight-year illness until God brought him home that that moment has always lived in me.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: Recognizing that we’re all called by God, I am grateful in the sense that I found what I believe the Lord has called me to do. Q: What is your greatest challenge?
A: The challenges come from the direction that God leads me and probably more
accurately from the difficulties people have. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: The person who is most responsible is Father Frank Schilling. His priesthood inspired me to do what he asked me to do, and that was to go to seminary. That was the only place, he said, that I could find out for sure whether God was calling me to be a priest.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The opportunity to serve Jesus and to be part of the lives of so many people, especially at critical moments in their lives.
Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary? A: We’re going to have an anniversary Mass on July 14 at 5:30 p.m. here at St. Dominic’s and then a family-style celebration in the parish life center after Mass. We’ll have smoked kielbasa that my family brings down from Erie, Pa. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: Father Cyril Cooper [of Corry, Pa.]. He was my pastor when I was growing up, from the time I was in first grade till the time I was ordained a priest. This year would be his 100th birthday. We were fishing buddies and just good friends. Q: What advice would you offer to a young man discerning a call to the priesthood? A: Spend a lot of time in prayer and service, and out of that you’ll find your vocation.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: Mostly the personal relationships. I think that’s why I became a priest—those personal relationships and sharing people’s lives. Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary?
A: With a Mass of thanksgiving at 4 p.m. on May 29 and a reception afterward. Q: What is your greatest challenge? A: The complexity of both society and the church. Both are quite different than they were 25 years ago. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: The priests and seminarians I worked with at Camp Marymount [near Nashville]. At that time all of the seminarians of the diocese were required to work at the camp in the summer. They all seemed to love what they were doing, and it was very attractive to see people enjoying what they were doing.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: My priesthood—the fact that God had chosen me to serve him in this capacity. It’s an awesome feeling.
Q: Who person inspired you to become a priest? A: If I was influenced by anybody, it was by the Dominican sisters, especially Sister Catherine de Ricci Donnellan at St. John Vianney in Gallatin. I was in the sixth grade when she came, and I was having trouble reading. She took me every day after school and tutored me five days a week for three years. When I was in the sixth grade I was reading on a third-grade level. When I graduated from the eighth grade, I was reading on a ninth-grade, six-month level. She dedicated all those hours to me. I give her credit because without that I probably would never have been able to go to the seminary. Q: How did you come to have a foster son? A: I was working at Columbus Home, the shelter for abused and neglected children. I was in the seminary, and he just didn’t have anybody else in his life. We became friends, and it just led from there. They transferred him to a boys home where he got into trouble. . . . He went to reform school, and I got to be his foster parent through the Department of Corrections. The end of the story is that we got him into drug rehab. He’s now living in Texas and is a computer engineer, making $50,000 a year.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: How God has revealed how good and extraordinarily generous he is to me personally and really to everyone. Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary?
A: I’ll probably offer a Mass of thanksgiving and have dinner with my family. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: One would be my mother, in part because of her faith, her generosity, her service, and her love for God and for the church. The other person, significantly, was Pope John Paul II. . . . His whole way of presenting the priesthood was an inspiration to me. Q: What did your parents think when you first broached the subject of the priesthood? A: My mother was pleasantly surprised. My dad was surprised, but he had reservations because I had graduated as an engineer and had a very good job with a company in Texas. Q: How do they feel now? A: They’re extremely proud, very happy for me, and very supportive.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: All the people I’ve met and the people who’ve helped me to know God better. It’s a privilege to be a part of so many people’s lives at both happy occasions and very sad times.
Q: What is your greatest challenge? A: One is trying to help people forgive themselves. Sometimes we know God forgives us or someone else, but we don’t forgive ourselves. Q: What did your parents think when you first broached the subject of the priesthood? A: My father was already deceased, but my mother was open to it as long as it’s what I wanted to do. She knew that it would be something difficult, so she just wanted me to make sure that that’s what I wanted to do. She was always open and supportive to what we wanted to do.
Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: There are a number of examples in my family. I always go back to the campus minister I had when I was in college, Father Raymond Rafferty at New York University. He was a real inspiration for me and helped me to understand my faith in new ways.
Q: What did your parents think when you first broached the subject of the priesthood? A: My father, the non-Catholic, was more excited than my mother, the Catholic. It’s grown on her. The other thing that was almost as exciting as my ordination was the fact that my father received his first Communion at my ordination. Q: How do they feel now? A: They can’t imagine anything else. They call the Paulist Fathers their in-laws.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: Community has always been a large part of vocation, and often that’s where in my own spiritual journey I find God reflected the most.
Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary? A: On Thursday, June 2, at 7 o’clock in the evening we’re going to have an anniversary Mass at St. Mary’s. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: Where I really started to think about it was at the Catholic Center at ETSU. At that time Father Mike Creson was there and Father Bill Gahagan, and they really influenced me to take that step. Bishop [Anthony J.] O’Connell played a role. I met with him a few times and ended up going to the “Come and See” weekend at Conception Seminary College. Q: What advice would you offer to a young man discerning a call to the priesthood? A: I would say to pray and have courage. I do believe that whatever we are being called to, we won’t know true joy in our hearts until we answer that call. We’ve got to trust that.
Q: What are you most thankful for? A: The chance to serve the poor through Catholic Charities, to serve people who are needy. I love the work that I’m doing.
Q: What is your greatest challenge? A: Balancing my life between work, prayer, fun, and friendships and trying continually to see Christ in all those different aspects of my life. Q: Who inspired you to become a priest? A: My uncle [Father James Driscoll] was a priest, so that was kind of neat when I was a little kid. Also, Father Mike Sweeney, who was associate pastor at Sacred Heart when I was in the seventh and eighth grades. He sort of put the idea in my head too, and a guy I was friends with in college, Father Vic Wood. Q: What did your parents think when you first broached the subject of the priesthood? A: My mom was like, “Well, if this is what you want, this is exciting.” But my dad, when I told him, said, “I was afraid of something like this.” Q: How do they feel now? A: They love being part of the work that I do, and it’s neat to have them come to Mass at All Saints or an event at Catholic Charities.
Q: What is your greatest challenge as a priest? A: Connecting with people who don’t see the need for the church, religion, or any of those things.
Q: How will you celebrate your anniversary? A: One celebration is this June with a small gathering of close friends and family. I’m celebrating in August up in Chicago with my classmates from Mundelein. In the fall we’re trying to put together something here at the high school that will be a combination of the anniversary celebration and a promotion of vocations as well. Q: What advice would you offer to a young man discerning a call to the priesthood? A: I would obviously advise spending a good amount of time in prayer to allow God to speak. Also, I always advise people to spend time talking with people who are priests, if you are discerning a call. I would say talk to Father Pete [Iorio], our vocation director. Two additional diocesan priests are celebrating 20th anniversaries this year. Father Mike Linder, now in Portland, Ore., on a leave of absence, was ordained May 10, 1985. He formerly directed the Catholic Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Father Maro Cannon, CFA, also an Alexian Brother who is an associate chaplain for the order in Signal Mountain, was ordained a priest Dec. 15, 1985. | |||
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Father Joe Julius, retired, in residence at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Alcoa;
ordained June 2, 1945, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Nashville
Father Paul Hostettler, parochial administrator, St. Catherine Labouré Parish,
Copperhill; ordained June 3, 1950, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Nashville
Father Herbert Prescott, volunteer chaplain, Memorial Hospital, Chattanooga;
ordained May 28, 1955, at St. Thomas Church, Memphis
Father George Mathis, retired from Glenmary Home Missioners; ordained May 19,
1955, at Glenmary Seminary Chapel, Glendale, Ohio
Father Bill Gahagan, retired; ordained Jan. 31, 1970, at the Cathedral of the
Incarnation, Nashville
Father George Schmidt, pastor, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Chattanooga; ordained
Jan. 24, 1970, at Sts. Peter and Paul Church
Father Charles Burton, pastor, St. Dominic Parish, Kingsport, and diocesan director
of the diaconate; ordained July 11, 1980, at St. Jude Church, Chattanooga
Father Chris Michelson, pastor, All Saints Parish, Knoxville; ordained May 30,
1980, at St. Mary Church, Oak Ridge
Father Jay Flaherty, pastor, Holy Cross Parish, Pigeon Forge; ordained May 11,
1985, at St. Joseph Church, Madison
Father Vann Johnston, JCL, diocesan chancellor and moderator of the curia; ordained
June 9, 1990, at Holy Ghost Church, Knoxville
Father Alex Waraksa, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Alcoa, and diocesan
director of Worship and Liturgy; ordained May 26, 1990, at St. Mary Church, Oak
Ridge
Father Eric Andrews, CSP, pastor, John XXIII University Parish, Knoxville; ordained
May 13, 1995, at St. Paul the Apostle Church, New York City
Father Michael Cummins, pastor, St. Mary Parish, Athens, and diocesan director
of deaf ministry; ordained June 3, 1995, at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Knoxville
Father Ragan Schriver, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee
and diocesan director for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development; ordained
June 3, 1995, at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Knoxville
Father Christian Mathis, diocesan Youth Ministry coordinator and spiritual director
at Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga; ordained June 3, 2000, at Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Church, Chattanooga