Retired priests offered 143 years of service
Catholic Spirit, June 2006, In Our World
By Alfredo Cardenas
Correspondent
At the end of June, Msgr. Ed Jordan, pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Austin, will retire. He will join two other priests, Msgr. Arthur Michalka and Father Paul McCallum, who retired earlier this year. Together, the three represent 143 years of priestly experience.
Of course, a priest never really retires. These men will remain active in various parishes conducting missions, leading retreats and celebrating Mass and other sacraments. They are available as mentors for newly ordained priests willing to seek them out.
Their careers share much in common that could be used to define a "successful" priest.
Msgr. Arthur
Michalka
Msgr. Arthur Michalka is the seventh child in a family of eight. Two of his older brothers also became priests and influenced the future monsignor to join the priesthood. However, Msgr. Michalka's parents first shaped his faith in many other ways.
"My parents would take us to Mass and had us take Communion every day at St. Monica's in Cameron," Msgr. Michalka recalled in a recent interview. "We prayed the rosary every night as a family."
Msgr. Michalka, who will turn 79 on Aug. 4, recalled experiencing a "moment of grace" when he was 11. His youngest sister was born on Christmas Day when he was two and the future priest felt that she was receiving favorable treatment. As most young boys would, he rebelled, which provoked stern discipline from his mother.
"One day, she was taking the switch to me and crying, ‘Arthur will you ever learn?'" Msgr. Michalka recollected. "Well I learned that moment that she was not hurting me with the whipping, I was hurting her with my behavior."
Msgr. Michalka enrolled at St. Mary Seminary in La Porte immediately after high school graduation in 1944, as had his brothers before him. After seven years of study, he was ordained a priest on May 26, 1951 at St. Mary, Immaculate Conception Parish in Brenham along with two classmates, Louis Wozniak and Harry Mazurkiewicz, both Brenham natives.
After several years serving as an associate pastor and pastor at St. Michael in Burlington and St. Paul in Smithville, he received a call while on vacation telling him he was to report to St. Mary in Temple, this time to become pastor.
For the next 23 years, Msgr. Michalka labored in Temple at St. Mary parish and school. He was involved in all aspects of youth ministries. He helped start the Catholic Youth Organization; he taught religious education classes; he was active with the Boys Scouts; and he coached the school's football, basketball, baseball and volleyball teams. He did not neglect the adults, as he participated in the Knights of Columbus and served as chaplain to the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.
It was while at St. Mary that he received the honorary title of monsignor. During his stay in Temple, Msgr. Michalka helped with the establishment of St. Luke Parish in Temple and Christ the King Parish in Belton.
In 1990, Msgr. Michalka applied for retirement, but Bishop John McCarthy would not have it. The bishop asked the monsignor where he wanted to serve next and Msgr. Michalka chose nearby Holy Trinity Parish in Corn Hill, what he calls "the geographical center of the diocese." At that time, he also ministered to St. Ann in Rosebud and St. Joseph in Cyclone.
During his 16-year stay at Holy Trinity, he made repairs to the church and built an activity center. In 1997, he was in Corn Hill when a tornado destroyed nearby Jarrell. Msgr. Michalka served on the relief committee that helped rebuild the community.
"Just being a priest and celebrating Mass" was his greatest accomplishment in 55 years of service, he said, adding, "and offering myself and people to God."
His advice to young priests is "to be humble, acknowledging that you are a priest to serve others, not to be served."
Since his retirement on Feb, 27, Msgr. Michalka passes his time answering the phone and in keeping with his upbringing, "celebrating Mass everyday."
Father Paul
McCallum
"We do plenty but don't have to do anything if we don't want to," is the way Father Paul McCallum, 73, describes his retirement experience. Father McCallum has wanted to do quite a bit since his retirement on Jan. 9: he gives retreats and missions, hears confessions and fills in for vacationing priests.
Father McCallum was born in Quincy, Mass. on Valentine's Day 1933, the youngest of four boys. In 1956, he enrolled at St. Mary Seminary in Houston and was ordained at Sacred Heart Parish in Watertown, Mass. on June 2, 1962. He celebrated his first Mass the next day at his mother's parish, St. Joseph in Quincy, Mass.
His first assignment was as associate pastor at Msgr. Michalka's home parish of St. Monica in Cameron. Three years later, in 1965, Father McCallum transferred to St. Mary Parish in Taylor and in June 1967, five years after being ordained, he received his first assignment as pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Rockdale. He served at St. Joseph 13 years before going to Immaculate Conception Parish in Sealy, which in 1980 was in the Austin Diocese.
In 1989, Bishop John McCarthy issued a call for someone to come to Austin to establish a new parish. Father McCallum answered the call and on June 14, 1989 left Immaculate Conception for Austin.
Father McCallum established St. Paul Parish off Slaughter Lane "from scratch."
"It was hard but good and we were able to do it," Father McCallum said.
The church property was on 13 acres and included a home that Father McCallum used as a rectory. Working with an architect, Father McCallum said they made the new church look like a church, not a multi-purpose building. However, he believes in making use of a church building, a parish's largest investment, for more than Sunday Mass. Everything inside St. Paul, such as the altar and Stations of the Cross, is permanent, except it has movable chairs in place of pews. Parishioners move chairs when they use the church for other activities, such as religion education classes.
In addition to the church, Father McCallum directed the building of a parochial hall next door. The parish recently purchased additional land, to bring the campus to 25 acres.
Father McCallum stayed at St. Paul until his retirement on Jan. 9, 2006.
"I've enjoyed my years as a priest," Father McCallum said.
His advice for young priests is to schedule some time off from the demands of the parish. He suggests one or two days a week and regular vacations.
"It's important for young men to have a hobby," Father McCallum added. His leisure pursuit is baseball and he often enjoys Round Rock Express games with season tickets given to him by St. Paul parishioners.
Msgr. Ed Jordan
Like his two colleagues in retirement, Msgr. Ed Jordan is a graduate of St. Mary Seminary and comes from a deeply devout Catholic family. Msgr. Jordan, who will retire on June 30 after 44 years in the priesthood, was born in 1936 in Springfield, Ohio. He was the oldest of seven children and one of his brothers is a Carmelite priest.
The future priest grew up in Indianapolis, Ind. He first considered missionary work; thoughts of returning to Indianapolis were frustrated when he realized there were five priests at his home parish and a priest had to be 55 before becoming a pastor.
He looked elsewhere for an opportunity to serve. A classmate at the seminary told him about Austin and he eventually decided that was where he would start his ministry.
"The movie ‘Giant' had come out the year before and I thought that was how all of Texas was like," recalled Msgr. Jordan. "Thank God I did not get assigned to Midland or Odessa. Austin is beautiful."
Before coming to Austin, however, the young priest had other plans. Father Jordan was ordained on the same day as Father McCallum, June 2, 1962, at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin. He was then assigned to Rome to obtain a doctorate in theology from Angelicum University. While there, he attended three sessions of the Second Vatican Council.
"It was a great time to be in Rome," Msgr. Jordan said.
In 1966, Father Jordan arrived in Austin to serve as secretary to Bishop Louis Reicher and chaplain at Holy Cross Hospital, where he lived during this time.
Bishop Vincent Harris named Father Jordan as one of his eight consultors in 1972. The following year he received his first parish assignment: St. Ferdinand in Blanco and St. Mary in Wimberley. In September 1974, Father Jordan transferred to St. Luke Parish in Temple, where he became pastor the following year.
He later moved to Hewitt-Midway near Waco to start a new parish. After celebrating Mass in a Knights of Columbus Hall for some three years, St. Jerome Parish became a reality. It was while at St. Jerome, on June 11, 1985, that Father Jordan received the title of prelate of honor, or monsignor, from the pope.
Msgr. Jordan returned to Austin in 1987 to serve as pastor of St. Theresa Parish, where he stayed for a dozen years. His next assignment was just down the road at St. John Neumann. His retirement will take effect on June 30 and Father Kirby Gardner will become pastor July 1.
"My plans are ‘to be' instead of ‘to do,'" Msgr. Jordan said. "Everyone defines you by what you do; I would like to be defined by who I am."
Msgr. Jordan plans to "do some thinking, reading, writing and traveling and see what the Lord has in mind."
He considers his greatest privilege as a priest was "to be trusted with the secrets of the heart through counseling, teaching and confession."
His advice to the newly ordained? "Remember you are part of the church. Be faithful to your baptism and holy orders because they are meant to serve the community. Love the people you live with.
"I would do it again," were Msgr. Jordan's parting words after 44 years of service.