Our priests after Christmas Midnight Mass
Dear Parishioners,
In this age of Catholic Church
priest sex scandals, I took a serious look at the priests that surround me in
my everyday life. They say that you
really don’t know people until you live with them. Fortunately, I live with three dedicated priests,
while an additional dedicated priest resides at our other rectory in National
Park. We are very blessed to have five
priests (including me) residing in our parish.
Two come from other countries: India and Nigeria. The other two have some connection to
Atlantic City (in some ways, a world unto
its own!) I was born in Philadelphia
but grew up in Wildwood.
While two of us are assigned
here full time to do parish work,
the other three priests serve the diocese in various capacities. Fr. Nick is in charge of priest personnel,
Fr. Ernest is chaplain to two hospitals and Fr. Hugh takes care of the deaf ministry
and others with disabilities or special needs.
We all have different
personalities, but one thing we all seem to share is a sense of humor. While all
five of us are not always together each night for dinner, when we are together,
we usually laugh. We discuss matters of
the church and the world. We learn about
differing customs and cultures. We get to hear about
our various family members. In sum, we
seem to get along and enjoy each other’s company.
From what I can observe, each
of us enjoys being a priest. I know
that I do. We have well over 100
combined years of priestly service between us, having experienced many, many
situations—some in common and some absolutely unique. Together we have to face the unpleasant circumstances
of scandalous matters for which we were not personally responsible. Yet, we all share a priestly fraternity—a brotherhood—with the unified purpose of
serving the Catholic Church through its people.
The average parishioner doesn’t
see Fr. Ernest getting called in the middle of the night, or at dinner time, to
anoint a sick or dying person or to comfort a family after a death. You don’t necessarily see Fr. Hugh practicing
American sign language for hours, preparing for each and every occasion in his
ministry. You may not observe Fr. Jose
offering Mass at one of our many facilities for the aging or being called to someone’s
home to anoint a dying person. You probably
don’t realize Fr. Nick’s concern for all the priests of the diocese, including
our retired priests, and what is entailed
when various difficult situations come up.
However, I have personally witnessed all of the above taking place in real time. I have seen men trying to be—albeit imperfectly—Christ to others.
Personally, I have never had
any second thoughts or serious doubts about the calling that I heard from the Lord.
My vocation was officially set in motion when I was 18 years old—40 years ago!
Would I do it over again? Yes, I
would. What many may not understand is I
believe that God knows what is best for me and for my eternal salvation. I firmly believe that He chose this path for me. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose
you . . .. (Jn. 15: 16)
Please say a prayer for your
priests each day. I know that it might
be considered a horrendous time to try to promote priestly vocations. However, I know that Jesus is still in charge
of His Church and that He is ever-working to purify it—including the sacred priesthood.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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