some time every morning in quiet prayer. I try once I’ve read the scriptures early in the week, I try to look through the week and see what happens, as you move along the week and see how it affects and matches and connects with the scriptures that are going to be read on Sunday. And I really enjoy telling stories, so it’s a joy for me to be able to read something and then put the scriptures into the context of this time, through some experience that’s rooted in the scriptures.”
How has St. Monica changed over the years?
“New people, a lot of young adults in this community. At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday night, this church is packed, all young adults, not just 20s, but 20s and 30s. But young folks, that’s a wonderful thing. That community has grown a lot.”
Why do you think young adults are drawn to church?
“I think for sure here, when young adults see other young adults coming, that’s very helpful. Because they have a natural opportunity to get there and sort of talk to each other, and that’s a very good thing. Music is a big thing. Good music is very important. Hospitality, welcoming, that’s so important. I think that we presume that people feel that they’re welcome, but you’ve got to say it, ‘You’re all very welcome here.’
What do you like best about living in Santa Monica?
“It’s a beautiful place to live. I love the mix of Santa Monica. There is a great variety of people and a great variety of opportunities. I love the people of Santa Monica. I’ve been here a lot of years. And so I’ve met all kinds of people here. My heart is here, my home is here, my life is here. I love this community for all those reasons: For the people, for the challenges of a community like Santa Monica. If you can’t be healthy in Santa Monica, there’s nowhere where you can be healthy.”
What’s your favorite place to be in Santa Monica other than at St. Monica?
“What I love to do, I’m an early riser, I get up at about 5 in the morning, I love to get out on my bike at 5 o’clock in the morning when this place is very quiet and just ride along Santa Monica.”
What do you see as the greatest challenges for Santa Monica?
“I think there are several challenges, but let me just name a few. I think the homeless and the poor is a big issue in Santa Monica. I think the issue of education is a large issue in our city, and I think the issue of the rising expense to living in this community is a challenge. I think the complexity of a mixed community is always a challenge, and of course, the large number of folks who want to live here, especially the large number of folks who do not live here and work here. It creates a lot of challenges for us. And the freeways. Those wonderful freeways.”
How is the church involved with issues?
“We do our very best, I think, to work with the poor in the city, I think that’s important. I try to do my very best to help in education. We have two schools here, but I’ve worked very hard with (schools superintendent) John Deasy and (former Santa Monica College president) Piedad Robertson. They’re very good friends of mine, so I’ve worked very hard to be engaged with them in that service. I encourage our people to get involved in the life of this city, because that’s how we make changes and differences in the city. We don’t just talk about it, but we actually try and do something.”
What are some of your favorite St. Monica community-based events?
“What I love about Octoberfair is it’s a community event. We do a 5K race. It gets us out into the city. Because when you have a community like Santa Monica, it’s good to also have something that’s less challenging for people than when they walk into the church. You have the whole campus area, and people can walk out and there is a ferris wheel, and there’s all kinds of rides and games and food, and it gives a chance for us to have that kind of hospitality that we have in the church, but to have that in that setting as well. And that’s coming up again in the last week of September.”
What events do you have coming up? “On Saturday we have an auction, a ‘SMASH Auction’ we call it. We’re using the Fairmont hotel, and there are two things that the money from that auction goes to: To kids who want to come to our Catholic school but can’t afford the full rate. We have kids here at St. Monica that come from anywhere from the inner city to Pacific Palisades. And so many of those folks can’t afford the full rate of tuition. So we have this wonderful opportunity to help them with partial scholarships. Secondly, our laity are taking on a new role in our church. The laity are taking on a much stronger role of leadership. We have a large group of lay people who are full time, serving St. Monica. Full-time lay ministers of our church, both in our schools as well as in our parish. So that is what that auction does. It helps our kids as well as our laity in their education and formation because we need to continue to educate and form the leadership of our church today.”
When did you decide that you want to pursue priesthood?
“I think I always had it in my heart, but I think it became much clearer for me as I headed toward my ordination to priesthood. Most priests are ordained at about 26 years of age. It was, before that the time, it solidified in my mind — in the seminary — that’s really what I want to do. It was an opportunity for service and a call, I thought. So I pursued it, and 40 years later, I’ve got to tell you it has its ups and downs. But I’ve got to say that ultimately it’s been a huge blessing for me.”
What makes this congregation special?
“Ultimately I think it’s God’s grace, but I think they’re very generous, very engaged, very forgiving — not a cranky community. ‘Largess’ would be the word.”
Any final words to the community?
“I feel very grateful for the people that are in this parish as well as the larger community. I think we have huge challenges that are before us, but I think doing it together we can beat those challenges. I would pray especially these weeks for the Holy Father and for the successor. I think that’s such a critical moment in our church today.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 11, 2005. Read the original PDF.