Fr. Steve Adrian wrote his bulletin reflections in advance. This is the second to last reflection he wrote before his passing. His last reflection will be published on December 15, 2024.
December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (a feast celebrated continuously since early in the 5th century) and also the 56th anniversary of my ordination—December 8, 1968.
Family and friends, teachers and colleagues, classmates and parish members gathered for the ordination. Archbishop Leo C. Byrne was the ordaining bishop. There are no pictures of the event; at least I have never see a picture. The pictures I have are the snapshots I carry in my memory and imagination.
The opportunity to be a pastor was all that I wanted out of life. A priest can be a teacher, an administrator, a diocesan bureaucrat, etc.
A pastor is called to lead a local worshiping community and to live with and for that community, to cast one’s lot with a community. He is to become an active member of that community and tie into the fullness of the community’s life.
That is the reason I have rejected every suggestion that I move to a different parish or ministry.
Bishop Ken Povish, a former bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, told me earlier that particular week he had attended his paperboy’s birthday party. Over the years, I have held that image as a statement of what it is for a pastor to become part of a community.
Most often, a pastor is called to a community that has a long history of living the Gospel life. The first job of a pastor is to learn the faith of the community—after all, he is called to foster that gift of faith. He is to join with the people of that community to live out that local expression of the faith of the Gospel.
A pastor is to lead more by example than by word. The pastor is not always the one who walks before the flock, nor is he always the one who lags behind and encourages the slowpokes. Most often, the pastor is to walk side by side, shoulder to shoulder with the community.
As Jesus found his place among those who were poor and neglected, so the pastor is to seek out those on the edge, calm their fears and acknowledge their value.
Once I was asked by an agnostic Jew, “Adrian, are you still a priest?” I answered, “Being a pastor is the best thing to be.”
Once again, this December 8th, I give thanks for the gifts that have come to me.
Father Steve Adrian
Pastor Emeritus
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