DIOCESAN NEWS
03/19/10
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Priestly vocation continues into retirement
By Fabvienen Taylor
      JACKSON — At 10 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Father Al Camp, 78, enters the chapel suite at the University of Mississippi Medical Center at 2500 North State St.
      He enters his name and the time on a sign-in sheet and then picks up a list prepared for him of the names and room numbers of Catholics in the hospital.
      The names of new patients are added to the existing list of persons still hospitalized. Names are removed when patients are released.
      “Oh, he just lights up my day,” said Doris Jackson of Father Camp. Jackson attends St. Peter Parish.
      Jackson and Father Camp talked in general about her current stay in the hospital and about her grown daughters.
      Before he left the two prayed together and Father Camp gave Jackson a blessing.
      Checking his list, Father Camp next entered Michael Vaughan’s room.
      The soon-to-be released Vaughan sat on his bed tethered to an almost empty intravenous pump. Members of his family were seated near the window in the room.
      “As soon as this finishes I think the doctors are going to let me go home today,” said Vaughan, who rose to shake hands with Father Camp.
      Vaughan introduced his family members waiting to to drive him home.
      They all talked for a few minutes before Father Camp wished everyone well and blessed Vaughan.
      Father Camp is one of 17 retired priests in the Diocese of Jackson. He and five others are active in limited ministry, according to Msgr. Elvin Sunds, vicar general of the diocese.
      Among the six retired priests living outside of the diocese, Father Bill Cullen helps out in the parish where he lives and in Ireland, Father Liam Pentony assists at a local parish.
      Health issues prevent others from doing limited ministry, said Msgr. Sunds.
      Retired priests who remain active do limited ministry such as filling in for priests going on vacation, on sabbatical or who are ill.
      A major source of funding for priest retirement/clergy assistance is the annual Catholic Service Appeal (CSA).
      “As One Family In Christ” is the theme of the 2010 CSA collection which is scheduled the weekend of May 1-2.
      Also, the CSA helps fund the areas of seminarian education, campus ministry, evangelization/faith formation, Catholic Charities and mission parishes/schools.
      Allocations from the 2009 CSA collection are: seminarian education, $65,000; evangelization/faith formation, $140,000; campus ministry, $96,947; Catholic Charities, $456,281; retired priests/clergy assistance, $89,602; and mission parishes/schools, $110,000 totaling $956,830.
      “Most retired priests don’t want to be put on a shelf. They want to stay active at least on a limited basis in ministry,” Msgr. Sunds said.
      “Ministry is what they have been doing most of their lives. It is an integral part of who and what they are as priests. It is more of a way of life, not a job.
      “So as much as they are able, they celebrate Mass on weekends, help out with communal penance services, things like that.”
      Retirees are invited to the annual priests’ retreat and continuing education conferences and maintain their friendships with priests who are still active, with former parishioners and important social contacts they’ve known.
      Some of the retired priests in limited ministry include Fathers Edward Balser, Patrick Noonan, Frank Corcoran, and Noel Prendergast.
      “Father Balser helps out quite a bit,” said Msgr. Sunds. “He said he’s been more places since he retired than when he was still active because he spent all of his active ministry in the Jackson area.”
      On various occasions since retiring, Father Henry Shelton has been spotted ministering in several parishes.
      “Henry does quite a bit in terms of parish missions, retreats and continuing education, in addition to filling in on weekends,” Msgr. Sunds said.
      The retirement age for priests is 70. Right now five of the 38 active diocesan priests are eligible to retire.
      By the end of this year, six more will be retirement age.
      At the same time, the number of religious order priests and religious sisters ministering at parishes in the diocese has declined dramatically due to the vocation crisis, he said.
      “For example, since I was ordained 36 years ago, some parishes once staffed by religious orders have been turned over to the diocese: West Point Immaculate Conception, New Albany St. Francis of Assisi, Corinth St. James, Booneville St. Francis of Assisi and its mission Iuka St. Mary, Magee St. Stephen, Meridian St. Joseph, Mound Bayou St. Gabriel, and Yazoo City St. Francis of Assisi.
      “Our numbers are declining but the number of parishes the diocese is becoming responsible for is increasing,” he said.
      Msgr. Sunds said the diocese appreciates a number of religious order priests, not officially assigned to a parish, who volunteer to celebrate Spanish Masses, visit hospitals and prisons.
      In 2008, Bishop Joseph Latino asked all parishes and missions to revisit the area plans developed during the Mission and Ministry in Mississippi planning process, which was completed in 2005.
      The 21 area plans address the on-going shortage of ordained ministers within a given area and the steps that will be taken to address it.
      In 2010, parishes and missions will again be asked to revisit their area plans.

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