Father Mike led me into his office where there was a great restored organ. Father Mike has known he wanted to be a Priest since being a young boy. He is the oldest of 9 children!
He spoke about separating out the role from the rest of your life. He loves visiting his family up North. He moved to Lake Orion at 15 and now has come home as the Pastor. He loves having a school at the Parish and enjoys celebrating the Children's Liturgy. Although it does mean more work.
One item that resonated with me is that Father let me know he has all financial responsibility for the Parish including the school. The analogy is that he is CEO of a multi million enterprise. And Father Mike is an English major (He also was a competitive racquetball player for 30 years!). Of course he has a lot of help from his parishioners.
In regards to the homily, at the seminary he was taught to have the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. Father Mike does a lot of prep and hand writes all his homilies and weaves in current events. He then tell us about his experience in Africa and homilies and attending church in other countries. The point is: Our Faith is Universal.
In regards to the mass, Father Mike loves that moment just before he reads the gospel and has the book in his hand - he feels closest to Jesus at this time. This is a powerful moment.
In regards to his time in becoming a Priest and a possible a faith crisis, Father Mike tells us how he worked through it. Faith is not a matter of the intellect but a matter of the heart. He spoke about Pascal and the book, The Little Prince. He then spoke about parents and children who have strayed away from the Catholic faith.
Father spoke about Faith in relations to the scandals the Church has been through with kids. I appreciated his candor and thoughtfulness.
We went on to discuss a Priests way of life. He spoke about performance reviews, the ability Priest must have to be self-starters, and how he meets monthly with several other Priests to discuss life. Most Priests work too many hours. He has a lot of responsibility and think about this, he signs all the checks! But he has a great financial council that help guide him in making wise decisions.
I realized in hearing this that we underestimate the impact we have as parishioners in our local parish.
To recharge the batteries he likes to go up North and has achieved a certain balance in life. He loves watching the Tigers, PBS, and reads. He is currently reading a biography on Pope Francis.
His favorite part of the job is preaching and visiting the sick. He enjoys the impact he has building up the community and goodwill. People do remember.
Items we covered in this podcast:
Journey to the Priesthood – 1:45sec
Profession of a Priest - 4:25sec
History of his Parishes - 6:05sec
Having a school as a Pastor - 7:05sec
Homily Preparation - 10:30sec
Homily in Africa - 15:10sec
Time in Jerusalem - 24:15sec
Moments of "doubt" - 27:30sec
Job as a Parish Priest - 42:05sec
