By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – A teenager came with his parents – to greet priests he knows.
A young adult came in place of his mother – to hang out with his buddies.
A faith formation director took the night off – for a change – to honor her former pastor.
And a retired priest, transported by a former staff member, reminisced about a priest friend who just died.
They were among an estimated 250 attendees at the 8th annual Celebrate Priesthood! Gala, held Oct. 28 at St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School.
The evening included showings of a video about priesthood produced by the diocesan Communications Ministry, a wall of memories on which folks wrote messages honoring specific priests and bishops, and the “Taste of the Diocese” opportunity to sample food and drink provided by parishes, St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer, McAuley Nazareth Home in Leicester and area businesses.
A fundraiser for the care of retired priests, the gala brought in $212,454 before expenses, from 1,029 gifts of support, organizer Michael P. Gillespie, director of the diocesan Stewardship and Development Office, said Monday.
“Tonight I came along with my parents just to say ‘hi’ to all the priests I know,” said Anthony Seaman, 16. He said he’s been an altar server for Father Ralph DiOrio, who had a healing ministry and is now retired, who his mother worked with.
“He really brought me into the Church – along with my parents,” the teenager said.
He met other priests through his present involvement in various parishes. He said he’s an altar server at his parish, Our Lady of the Assumption, and at St. Brigid Parish, both in Millbury. He participates in the Life Teen program at St. Joseph Parish in Charlton and is senior patrol leader of the Boy Scout troop at North American Martyrs Parish in Auburn, he said.
Daniel Clark, 21, said his mother gave him the gala ticket that was given to her. Attending gave him another chance to be with friends from Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies for seminarians, he said. Speaking of the director of the Office for Vocations, Father Donato Infante III, he said, “He’s been a huge inspiration to me. He just wants everyone to draw closer to God, and it shows.”
One first-time gala attendee was Susan McGoldrick, faith formation director at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough.
“I’ve actually donated each year since it started, but this is the first year I came in person – in honor of Father Jim Houston (St. Rose’s long-time pastor), who just retired,” she said. She’s usually responsible for classes, but this year got someone to fill in for her.
“I just feel like it was a year to come together,” said Anne Dowen, religious education director at St. Mary of the Hills Parish in Boylston. “People need human beings.”
At first she was disappointed that the night out was not in St. Vincent Hospital’s atrium, like before, she said. But she was “pleasantly surprised,” she said; having it at St. Paul school “made it intimate.”
“I think it was good for the guys” -– the priests – to be at the gala, she said.
Father William Cormier, living in retirement at Southgate at Shrewsbury, said he has various impairments now, but got to attend because Nancy Norberg brought him. She’s pastoral associate at St. Denis Parish in Douglas, where he served for years.
“Father Joseh Nally was my best friend in the priesthood,” he said of a retired priest who just died. “We went out once a week to eat, if we weren’t busy.”
Father Nally and other priests who died this year were memorialized in the video, which also included Bishop McManus and active and retired priests talking about the gift of priesthood, from spiritual and personal perspectives.
“We’re honored to be here ... to be with many of the priests I grew up with, and to see the support that they have, and they deserve,” said Joanne Kay, who was raised at St. Joseph Parish in Auburn. “They’ve given their lives.” She’s a member of Prince of Peace Parish in Princeton, and came to honor people like her long-time pastor, Father James Caldarella, now retired.
“We saw some of our seminarians” who served at Annunciation Parish in Gardner, where she is secretary, Joanne Kay said. She got to see how they’ve matured, and also saw newly ordained Father Lucas LaRoche, who’s from that parish.
“We did get to see priests from way back in my teen years” at St. Mary Parish in Jefferson, said Christine Lawton, also from Prince of Peace. Her husband, William Lawton, Annunciation’s business manager, mentioned seeing Deacon Derek Mobilio, a transitional deacon preparing for priesthood, a high school friend of their son.
Theodore and Felice Jakubiak, from the Millbury parishes, like the “Taste of the Diocese.” Mr. Jakubiak said the food is always good and “we get to try items we don’t usually have” – homemade and made with love. He said they didn’t come for one particular priest; “we just kind of walk around and bump into people we know.”
William Szymczak, of St. Mary Parish in North Grafton, and his sister Connie Favreau, from St. Joseph Basilica in Webster, “bumped into” Father Charles Monroe, pastor of Our Lady of the Angels Parish.
“Oh, that’s where the girls go!” exclaimed Mrs. Favreau; her brother’s granddaughters attend Our Lady of the Angels Elementary School.
Mr. Szymczak said he and his sister attended St. Joseph Basilica and St. Joseph Elementary School in Webster, and have a long relationship with many priests.
He recalled being an altar boy for Msgr. Andrew Lekarczyk “pre-Vatican II,” and remembered Father Paul Couming, a former pastor of St. Mary’s in North Grafton, now deceased, as “one of the nicest guys.”
“We should be very thankful for all the seminarians from other countries,” said Mrs. Favreau, a director and past president of Serra Club of Southern Worcester County, which promotes vocations. She specifically mentioned Colombia, and priests from Poland – her pastor, Father Grzegorz Chodkowski, and former pastor, Msgr. Anthony Czarnecki, now retired.
Her brother, a Serra South member, recalled having African priests or seminarians visit his house, and said, “They went sledding on snow for the first time in their lives in my back yard.”
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