by Stefani Manowski
May 4, 2009

Celebrate with the eight Paulists who are celebrating milestone anniversaries in priestly ministry in 2009. In total, they have a combined 335 years of service to the church and the Paulist community. Some have ministered in parishes, on university campuses, as military chaplains and in special assignments. We present the Paulist jubilarians, and the inspiring stories of their priestly journeys.

 

“What continues to inspire me are the opportunities to help people relate faith to culture, and work and relate culture and work to faith,” said Father Cary, 62.

Father Cary first encountered the Paulists as a teenager through lectures he attended at Wayne State University in Detroit, where the Paulists staffed the Newman Center at the time. He would find them again by occasionally attending daily Mass at the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Mich. It was a diocesan priest who turned the the former lawyer on to the Paulists due to his interest in areas such as adult education and campus ministry.

After his ordination, Father Cary served as associate pastor and director of the Catholic Education Center at St. Lawrence Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis, Minn., from 1984-88 before heading to the University Catholic Center at University of California at Los Angeles from 1988-90. Father Cary then served at the St. Thomas More Newman Center at the Ohio State University from 1992-94 and the University Catholic Center at the University of Texas at Austin from 1994-96.

Father Cary became the legal counsel and general treasurer of the Paulist Fathers from 1996-99 before returning to Grand Rapids as the director of the Catholic Information Center from 1999-2003. He returned to campus ministry at the St. John XXIII University Parish at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from 2003-06. Father Cary currently serves as chaplain at Northwestern University’s schools of law, medicine and continuing studies and as associate pastor of Old St. Mary’s Church in Chicago.

“It has been the great joy of my ministry to assist people on their faith journeys and to work with some very gifted and zealous lay ministers,” he said.

 

Being born in a British colony, Father DeSilva said he was “always interested in missionary work” and “always wanted to be a priest.”

The future priest landed in New York at age 19, where he met the Paulists.
“The Paulists had a different way of seeing things than any other group of priests I had ever met,” he said.

Father DeSilva served is pastoral year at the Paulist Center in Boston from 1959-60 before entering campus ministry at Clemson University from 1960-62. Father DeSilva then headed to the Paulist missions in Africa, based out of Holy Trinity Church in Johannesberg, South Africa, from 1962-66 and Holy Trinity in Johannesberg from 1966-69.

“That’s what got me, that [the Paulists] had missions in Africa,” said Father DeSilva. “The Paulists have given me an opportunity to do what I like – being a missionary in Africa and then the preaching apostolate in the U.S.”

He returned to the U.S. the last Paulist to come home from the African missions to St. Paul the Apostle in New York, where he continued his mission work from 1969-78. Father DeSilva then served as associate at St. Leo the Great in Houston from 1978-81 before engaging in the preaching apostolate out of St. Austin in Austin until 1991. He then returned to New York as associate at Good Shepherd parish, and began serving as a hospital chaplain in 2006. He continues to serve as a chaplain at St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

“I’ve never believed in priests retiring,” he said. “I’m still going.”

 

As a young man, Father Donovan had been thinking about the priesthood “for a long time, and decided to do it.” He first encountered the Paulist Fathers at Boston’s Paulist Center.

“I liked the work they were doing,” he said, “being involved in the instruction of potential Catholics. [The Paulists] had an openness, and I liked their whole attitude toward the church and the faith.”

After his ordination, Father Donovan served a pastoral year at the Paulist Center in Boston, from 1959-60. He then entered campus ministry at West Virginia University in Morgantown from 1960-62 before going to the University Catholic Center at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1962-65. Father Sullivan was called to the mission band based out of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City from 1956-67 before returning to Boston, still serving in the mission apostolate from 1967-68. He returned to campus ministry at the University of California at San Diego from 1968-75, serving as coordinator from1970-75.

“Those were exciting days to be on campus,” Father Donovan said. “With the Vietnam War, we were protesting mostly every weekend.”

After a leave of absence from 1975-78, Father Sullivan was on special assignment in Los Angeles with the United Farm Workers of America from 1978-83, where he ministered to many Hispanic Catholics.

“In Hispanic ministry, I learned about a whole different part of the church, learning their problems and their needs” he said.

One of those desperate needs was decent housing, “especially during harvest time,” said Father Donovan. In response, Father Donovan helped found the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, which has provided 3,000 houses and apartments for low and very low-income families since it began in 1982.

Father Donovan then moved so San Bernardino, Calif., where he served in the diocesan office of Hispanic affairs from 1983-85 before become the archdiocesan regional director of Hispanic affairs based out of Carpinteria, Calif., from 1885-88. Father Donovan served at St. Joseph parish in Carpinteria until 1998, when he entered senior ministry status. He moved to St. Paul the Apostle in Los Angeles in senior ministry status in 2000, where he still resides.

“I have had the opportunity to do creative things in ministry with the Paulists,” he said. “They are a very American, very forward-looking community.”

 

 

Birth date: Dec. 19, 1931
Birthplace: Nebraska City, Neb.

“I was intrigued by the goals and mission of the Paulists, especially the idea of being involved in dialogue with non-Catholics,” said Father Mort, 77, who found the Paulists in a brochure he read during a retreat at St. Mary’s High School in Albuquerque, NM. The future Paulist wrote the vocations director for more information, visited the Paulists in Lubbock, Tex., after graduation, and immediately applied for admission to the order.

After his ordination, Father Mort served at the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., until September 1959, when he went to New York as the associate pastor of Good Shepherd parish and pursued graduate studies at Fordham University. From 1960-64, he served as assistant director and from 1964-66 as acting director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center at the Ohio State University.

Father Mort then served as director of the Newman Center at the University of California at San Diego from 1966-69 before becoming dean of the university’s Revelle College from 1969-93. He retired to senior ministry status in 1994. Father Mort continues to serve on a few university committees, including the Eugene Burke, C.S.P., Lectureship on Religion and Society.

“I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity the Paulists gave me to work at the Ohio State Newman Center and at U.C. San Deigo,” he said.

 

Father Sullivan first met the Paulists at Power Memorial Academy, a high school once located near St. Paul the Apostle in New York with which the Paulists were involved.

Born and bred in a community with a rich and extensive Catholic history, Father Sullivan recalled his attraction to the Paulists was the excitement that came with ministering in areas of the country that did not have that tradition.

“Working with the other men in the community and especially working with the lay people in the ministries has sustained me in my priesthood,” said Father Sullivan. “They were always faith-based folks who were very affirming and committed to the faith. They always worked toward the common good.”

Upon ordination, Father Sullivan entered campus ministry at Clemson University in 1959 before heading to the Paulist Center in Boston, where he spent his pastoral year. In 1960, he left Boston to serve as associate pastor at St. Vincent’s in Mobile, Ala., until 1962, when he went to Good Shepherd parish in New York as associate form 1962-65. Father Sullivan then joined the mission band based out of the Paulist Center in Boston from 1965-1967 before returning to campus ministry at the University of California at Santa Barbara form 1970-74 and the University of Connecticut in Storrs from 1974-92.

Father Sullivan then served as associate pastor at St. Cyril’s in Tucson from 1983-86 before becoming superior at St. Paul the Apostle in Greensboro, N.C. in 1986. Father Sullivan entered hospital ministry in Charlotte, N.C., in 1991, in Derby, Conn., in 1992 and at the UCLA Medical Center in 1994. He entered senior ministry status at St. Paul the Apostle in New York in 2002.

“I have been given the opportunity to flourish,” Father Sullivan said. “I receive great encouragement from my peers and a sense of solidarity.”

 

It was while attending Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., that Father Scott decided he wanted to become a priest. He first learned of the Paulist Fathers through the famed Father Walter Elliott, who was once engaged to one of Father Scott’s cousins.

“I thought I’d like to work with Protestants, and the Paulist Fathers were established for that purpose,” said Father Scott, known for his “Good Stop” homilies. “The ability of the to adapt to the climate of the times and focus our work in that direction is key to Paulist ministry.”

Father Scott’s first assignment was at the Paulist Center in Boston in 1949. He then served at St. Lawrence’s in Monett from 1949-50 before heading back to Boston to serve at St. Ann parish until 1952. St. Paul the Apostle in New York was Father Scott’s next stop, where he served from 1952-53 before joining the mission band based at Old St. Mary’s in San Francisco from 1953-56. He then entered campus ministry at West Virginia University in Morgantown, where he served from 1957-60 before becoming the Paulist vocation director based in Boston from 1960-62.

Father Scott returned to campus ministry in Morgantown from 1962-68 before again serving as Paulist vocation director based in New York from 1968-69. Campus ministry again called, and Father Scott served at the Newman Center at the Ohio State University in Columbus from 1969-70 before heading to Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., from 1970-73. Father Scott then served at the University Catholic Center at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1973-74 before becoming superior at St. Paul the Apostle in Greensboro, N.C. He returned to San Francisco and Old St. Mary’s as associate pastor in 1979, then headed to John XXIII University Catholic Center at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville until 1980. He was on special assignment at Holy Family Church in Clemmons until 1981, when he became associate pastor of St. Austin Church in Austin from 1981-86.

Father Scott entered senior ministry status in February 1986, but returned to campus ministry at John XXIII University Parish in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1994. He then became pastor of St. Paul the Apostle in Horseshoe Bay, Tex., in 1999 and then returned to senior ministry status at St. Austin in Austin, Tex., that same year. Father Scott is currently pastor of St. Paul the Apostle in Horseshoe Bay as the oldest pastor appointed by the Diocese of Austin, and also continues to minister to the students at the University of Texas.

“The Holy Spirit has sustained me in my ministry,” said Father Scott, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Longhorn Catholic, the Catholic newspaper of the University of Texas. “When you don’t know where to turn, the Holy Spirit will direct you, guide you and keep you on the right path. I have enjoyed the opportunity to share the Catholic faith both to Protestants and those Catholics who maybe don’t fully appreciate their faith.”

Editor’s Note: Father Thomas Marshall, C.S.P., will also celebrate his 50th jubilee in 2009. He currently lives in a senior care facility in Toronto, and was unavailable for comment. No photo was available.