January 11, 2008

Religious Vocations Supplement

Prayer anchors busy Seymour Deanery priest

By Sean Gallagher

SEYMOUR—Being the pastor of two parishes with members that come from a variety of cultural backgrounds takes a lot of time and effort.

Still, Father Todd Goodson, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in Seymour and Our Lady of Providence Parish in Brownstown, always makes time for prayer.

“I find it’s important to me to anchor myself in some sort of prayerful routine,” Father Goodson said. “I don’t necessarily have any sort of powerful experiences during that prayer time. But because I’m anchored in that, I see God in day-to-day [events].”

Once, he had a free hour prior to a parish council meeting. Should he get some notes together for the meeting or sit down and seemingly do nothing in prayer?

Father Goodson chose the latter.

“That parish council meeting was probably the most fruitful and productive parish council meeting we had had in the two years that I had been there,” he said.

All of the one-on-one ministry that Father Goodson does to nurture greater unity in his parishes can be challenging.

But it is prayer that gives him the strength to see his dream through to the end.

“Jesus never said that our way was going to be a piece of cake,” Father Goodson said. “In fact, he said just the opposite.

“But, he did say that he would give us the grace to get us through. And that’s why this anchoring in prayer, anchoring in the spiritual gifts of your parishioners, is what gets you through.” †

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