DIOCESAN NEWS
03/20/09
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Retired priests fill in for many pastors
By Fabvienen Taylor
     JACKSON — Father Patrick Noonan, 72, faced a new challenge after retiring a year ago.
“I had to make a whole new adjustment. I had no schedule to live by anymore like I used to for so many years. But you have to adjust. Then you are free to make your own schedule and I like that.”
     Father Noonan joined the ranks of retired diocesan priests in January 2008.
Additionally, Father Noel Prendergast, 75, and Father James O’Riordan, 68, both recently retired.
     On a related note, Father Don Derivaux, 80, who retired in 2002, served as sacramental minister until last year for three Delta parishes – Shaw St. Francis of Assisi, Mound Bayou St. Gabriel and Shelby St. Mary.
     Currently there are 18 retired priests. Not all of them still live in the Diocese of Jackson.
The annual Catholic Service Appeal (CSA) helps fund their retirement/clergy assistance.
The CSA also funds seminarian education, mission parishes/schools, evangelization, campus ministry and Catholic Charities.
     “Imitate Christ’s Love” is the theme of the 2009 CSA collection which is the weekend of May 2-3, 2009.
     Since retiring, Father Noonan keeps to his schedule.
     “I like fooling around with a little gardening, I play a little golf, and I visit and spend time with people I know from parishes I’ve been down through the years. Some may be sick or have special needs,” he said.
     And as long as his health holds out, Father Noonan will help fill in for priests taking time off.
     “I am usually gone for a weekend,” he said. “I’ve been all over the place.”
Among the parishes where he relieved pastors during the year are Starkville St. Joseph, McComb St. Alphonsus, Forest St. Michael, Pearl St. Jude as well as several he once served as pastor — Sacred Heart and Holy Child Jesus in Canton and Brookhaven St. Francis of Assisi.
     Also he has celebrated Mass in the chapel at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison and visits people he knows there. “I’m usually in and out and gone on about my business,” he said.
“Pastors need to get away and it’s nice to help the guys out. And it’s nice to have the freedom to do so,” said Father Noonan.
     Relieving a pastor for a short or long stay is totally voluntary for any retired priest, according to Msgr. Elvin Sunds, vicar general who sometimes calls on a retired priest to fill in at a parish.
     “It is tremendously important because occasionally a pastor may be sick, may have a protracted illness or may need surgery and be unable to serve for a couple of weeks or a month or more.”
     Several years ago, retired Father Edward Balser stepped in for a pastor at Batesville St. Mary Parish for four months.
     “I’m booked up months in advance,” said the 79-year-old priest. “They call and book me months ahead of time.”
     Father Balser officially retired as a full-time pastor in 2003.
     Last fall he filled in four months at Yazoo City St. Mary and St. Francis of Assisi Parishes until their new pastor, Father Walter Brown, arrived in January.
     Already Father Balser knows the parishes he will be filling in during July and August.
     Not one to be idle, he makes wood toys for two area day care centers and runs his Friendship Boat for outings on the Barnett Reservoir.
     “He mentioned to me that he has traveled more over the diocese since he retired than when was active in ministry,” Msgr. Sunds said.
     When it’s time for a pastor to take vacation or a sabbatical, again, retired priests make a difference.
     “Priests have a right and really almost an obligation to take a vacation because if you don’t take care or yourself, you are not going to be able to take care of a parish,” he said.
If it were not for retired priests, either the parish would not have Sunday Mass or the priest could not take a vacation, Msgr. Sunds said.
     As with diocesan priests, retired religious order priests — Sacred Heart, Glenmary, Divine Word, Trinitarian and Norbertine — primarily fill in at parishes their orders are responsible for serving.
     Currently 20 religious order priests serve in the Jackson diocese. The individual religious orders are responsible for securing retirement funds for their priests/brothers.
     Some retired diocesan priests who might want to fill in at parishes can not due to reasons of health or other conditions.
     On Tuesday, March 17, anyone trying to reach Father Al Camp, 77, needed his cell phone number.
     “I’m on my way back south,” he said from Louisville, Ky. He had just paid a visit to his older sisters and brothers in Ohio.
     In residence at Madison St. Francis of Assisi, Father Camp, who retired in 2006, occasionally fills in for Mass on Sundays and weekdays and regularly celebrates Mass at St. Catherine’s.
     Furthermore, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the last six months he visits the sick at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and, on an as-needed basis, the Methodist Rehabilitation Center and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital.
     “Father (Brian) Kaskie at the cathedral (St. Peter Parish) asked me to do the visiting and when the new pastor came he asked me to continue, so I said yes.”
Msgr. Sunds said priests filling in receive a small stipend from the parish and mileage costs.
     “What Father Camp is doing is strictly voluntary. If he wasn’t doing it we wouldn’t have someone to take care of those places,” he said.
     With the retirement age set at 70, there are 39 diocesan priests active in parishes. Of those, five are over 70 and can retire now if they choose to, according to Msgr. Sunds.
     In two years, six more priests will turn 70, he said. There are 103 parishes and missions in the diocese.

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