DIOCESAN NEWS
05/25/07
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Father Rietti `works hard at retirement’
By Fabvienen Taylor
     JACKSON — In his homily at the Golden Jubilee Mass of his ordination as a priest on Wednesday, May 16, in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, Father John Rietti, 75, repeated a story from one of his old chemistry professors.
     After a number of his pre-med students at Notre Dame University had failed a few courses, the professor would ask them: “Why are you putting yourselves through this, why are you trying to be a doctor, why are here?”
     To make money, to marry a beautiful woman, because my father’s a doctor were the answers the students gave, Father Rietti said.
     “The professor told them none of those worked. The only reason to become a doctor is because you enjoy it, you like it, you have fun at it.”
     “That’s the way I feel about being a priest. Of course, that is secondary to being connected to Jesus Christ every day in the Eucharist,” Father Rietti said. “Every time you meet someone it’s a connection with Christ. Christ is in the other person, Christ is in everybody.”
     “I like it, I’ve done it for 50 years,” he said.
     Father Rietti is a native of Jackson and was ordained in St. Peter’s on May 3, 1957.
     The jubilee Mass was followed by a reception in the Cathedral Center.
     Retired since 2001, Father Rietti has lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home in Clarmont Harbor.
     Later he bought a house in Gulfport that has two palm trees in the front yard and he planted cypress, live oaks and magnolia trees.
     “I’ve always had a garden wherever I’ve been,” he said. “I like to plant things and watch them grow.”
     His house is not far from St. Therese Church where he walks to celebrate Mass when needed.
     Father Rietti also walks three miles a day on the beach. In his garden he works with his flowers and vegetables.
     “Retirement is something you have to work hard at,” said Father Rietti. And he does.
Father Rietti visits the sick at Memorial Hospital and celebrates Mass for the inmates in the Harrison County Jail.
     He also celebrates Mass on weekdays and/or weekends when called upon in Gulfport,      Pass Christian and a few places in Alabama and Louisiana.
     Father Rietti spent 10 years in Latin America in Bolivia and Guatemala with the Maryknoll Fathers. So he also celebrates Mass in Spanish when needed.
     For many years Father Rietti, while serving as associate pastor, mostly, in various parishes, taught college chemistry, having received a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).
     He taught at Alcorn State University (ASU), Jackson State University (JSU), USM, and Holmes and Copiah-Lincoln community colleges.
     “My toughest degree was my master’s in theology from Spring Hill College,” he said.
     He likes to read primarily theology but has also read all of John Grisham’s novels and has even tried his hand at writing.
     “I like to keep busy, otherwise I would tend to watch too much television. It gets me out of my easy chair.”
     While he claims no fixed parish, he sings baritone in the choir at St. James Church in Gulfport.
     His favorite hymn is “Fisher of Men” or “Pescador de Hombres” by Cesareo Gabarain which was sung at his anniversary Mass.
     “The resurrection means God has given you the joy to experience everything and to enjoy doing it,” Father Rietti said.

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