Archdiocesan priests reflect on how Pope Francis shaped their ministry

Pope Francis and then-transitional Deacon Anthony Hollowell exchange a sign of peace on March 19, 2016, during a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

Pope Francis was a part of Father Anthony Hollowell’s priestly life and ministry from the beginning.

He was weeks away from being ordained a priest when, on March 19, 2016, he stood as a transitional deacon by Pope Francis at the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican during a Mass on the third anniversary of the pontiff’s inauguration as bishop of Rome.

Three years earlier, he had been a new seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome when he was asked to proclaim the first reading at the Mass at the start of the conclave at which Pope Francis was elected.

The reading began:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord” (Is 61:1-2).

Now an archdiocesan priest for nine years, Father Hollowell sees this passage as a lens through which he views his own priestly life and ministry and the effect that Pope Francis had on it.

“Every time I hear it, it feels more intensely directed toward me and is a reminder of what God is asking of me to do as priest and how he’s asking me to serve,” said Father Hollowell, pastor of

St. Mark Parish in Perry County and St. Paul Parish in Tell City.

For him, Pope Francis “lived that reading in a very concrete way. For me, he showed me incarnationally what it is like to go out and to bring comfort to those who are afflicted and to proclaim a year of liberty in the Lord.”

Father Hollowell and two other archdiocesan priests, Father John McCaslin and Father Christopher Wadelton, spoke with The Criterion about the effect that Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88, had on their priestly ministry in the Church in central and southern Indiana.

‘Walking in a direction toward Christ’

When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, Father John McCaslin was pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Indianapolis, shepherding a congregation made up largely of Hispanic immigrants to the city.

He felt a connection to the pontiff from Argentina immediately, responding to the new pope’s request for prayer as he stood on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election.

“I remember kneeling down while watching it on television and praying for him,” recalled Father McCaslin, now pastor of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis.

While Father McCaslin appreciated Pope Francis’ care for migrants around the world and his call for the faithful to give them aid, the priest also valued the pontiff’s understanding of the Church as a whole.

“It was a broad vision where the Church was for everybody, no matter where they may be at this moment in their lives,” Father McCaslin said. “When they walk in the door, we know that they’re walking in a direction toward Jesus.

“Maybe where they are in their journey is at a different place than where someone else is. But here in the Church, we encounter the risen Lord in the mystical body of Christ, in the sacraments and all the ministries that we do. I value that vision of welcoming everybody.”

Father Christopher Wadelton currently leads the culturally diverse parish of St. Bartholomew in Columbus. At the time of Pope Francis’ election, he was pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish on Indianapolis’ near east side, which has a large Hispanic community.

So, like Father McCaslin, he also appreciated Pope Francis’ consistent care for migrants who face so many challenges.

“He recognized the dangers that people are going through as immigrants,” Father Wadelton said. “That was comforting to our immigrant community.

“It’s a divisive issue in some regards. So, to have the support and the great writings of the pope was beneficial. It was nice to have a model to look to who was living his faith in a powerful way, even in the face of people who sometimes don’t feel the same way. So, having his life reflect his beliefs was inspiring.”

‘I’m picking Mongolia’

Like his immediate predecessors, Pope Francis made apostolic journeys to countries around the world. But, like missionaries from the Society of Jesus in which he had previously been a priest, he made it a regular practice to visit countries where the Church is very small to nearly non-existent.

That included places like the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Thailand and Mongolia. In this central Asian country with a population of nearly 3.5 million, there are only some 1,400 Catholics.

Father Hollowell felt challenged by this witness from Pope Francis, even if he, as parish priest, had a much narrower geographic horizon for his ministry.

“He’s personally influenced me in that encouragement to go out,” Father Hollowell said. “That doesn’t mean to travel far. It means to travel where Christ is not [present], where he hasn’t been established.”

For Father Hollowell, that has meant serving as an assistant track and field coach at Tell City High School in addition to carrying out his pastoral duties at St. Mark and St. Paul.

“It’s been a priority for me pastorally to be there because it’s kind of my version of Mongolia,” he said. “I view that as part of who I am because part of my responsibility is to be sent.

“I’ve retained it because there’s that example there from the Holy Father. Don’t be afraid. When you have to pick between Mongolia and Venice, I’m picking Mongolia.”

‘We’re foot washers’

Pope Francis has affected all three priests’ understanding of the nature of ordained ministry in the Church.

In 2013, just two weeks after he was elected, the pope told priests in the Diocese of Rome at its annual chrism Mass during Holy Week that they should have “the smell of the sheep” by being out among the people they serve instead of remaining largely in their offices.

“That’s the best summary of how he’s reflected my priesthood,” Father Hollowell said. “He described a sense of insulation in the Church and encouraged us to go out. It’s actually more comfortable to answer e-mails than to go to a [track and field] practice.”

With nearly 1,800 households in his parish in Columbus, Father Wadelton knows that his days could be dominated by the necessary administrative aspects of his ministry. The example of Pope Francis, though, has been a spur for him to maintain a greater balance in the way he cares for his parishioners.

“I try to balance the administrative part with being with the people,” he said. “My e-mail inbox probably has 12,000 unanswered e-mails in it. I do my best. But it’s impossible. I don’t want to be sitting at my desk answering e-mails all day. I want to be out with the people.”

In the end, for Father McCaslin, Pope Francis demonstrated clearly the way that priests are to approach their ministry by the way he would wash the feet of people on the margins of society—inmates, migrants and those struggling with addictions—during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the day on which the Church celebrates the institution of the priesthood by Christ.

“I’ve always believed in the image of Jesus washing feet on Holy Thursday,” Father McCaslin said. “That’s what we are. We’re foot washers. We want to encounter people where they are and help them experience God’s mercy and grace and to find hope in that.”

For Father Wadelton, Pope Francis’ loving care for those at the margins of society was also expressive of his personal humility, something that the priest said would be a lasting legacy for him.

“I think his humility is going to stand out,” Father Wadelton said. “It will inspire people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The Church is here to save the whole world, not just the Catholics. He was a great model for that.” †

 

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