What does a day in the life of a priest entail?
For the Rev. James E. Gehl of Cicero’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the answer to that question has never been the same twice.
“You never know what’s going to happen when you wake up,” Gehl said. “There’s all sorts of things that come across your desk.”
Among Gehl’s daily agenda items are overseeing Sacred Heart’s youth programming and service activities, visiting ill parishioners, celebrating morning Mass and sorting the never-ending stream of mail that comes across his desk.
Gehl is in the process of cleaning off that desk — after 14 years at Sacred Heart and 46 years as a priest, he’s retiring effective June 30. After decades of working in large parishes like Cicero, which has more than 3,000 families, Gehl submitted his retirement to Syracuse Bishop Robert J. Cunningham.
“I’m 72 and I just can’t carry on like I used to,” Gehl said. “It’s just time. I’ve thought about it a lot, and the bishop accepted me right away to retire.”
Gehl attended Catholic school from first grade on, graduating from Seton Catholic High School in Endicott, New York, in 1961. The idea of becoming a priest occurred to him when he was still in high school.
“I couldn’t get it off my mind, so I consulted my high school principal, who was a priest, and I decided to give it a try,” he said.
Gehl’s career as a priest began during a transformative time in the Catholic Church’s history. He was ordained May 17, 1969, just under four years after the closing of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI’s Second Vatican Council. Vatican II brought many changes to the church, including the celebration of Mass in local languages instead of in Latin.
“There was a saying that you can go to any church in the world [and all services would be in Latin], but what do you take home with you?” Gehl said.
As his career comes to a close, Gehl has seen another wave of change in the church.
“Our present pope is very good, calling [Catholics] to reassess what they’re doing and to be of service to people,” he said of Pope Francis.
Sacred Heart’s programming is centered around three tenets: social, spiritual and service. The parish’s human development committee oversees a food pantry and engages in “mercy ministry,” sending cards and checking up on parishioners who have been hospitalized “so they don’t fall through the cracks,” Gehl said. Churchgoers also participate as ushers, altar servers, lay Eucharistic ministers and liturgy readers.
Gehl said he is proud of many of Sacred Heart’s accomplishments during his tenure: the construction of the food pantry, the music program, the fall festival and relationships forged with local Methodist and Lutheran churches.
“It’s good community participation,” he said.
Most of all, Gehl is proud of Sacred Heart’s work with young people. A former teacher at Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School, Gehl has devoted much of his career to developing young Catholics. At Sacred Heart, both boys and girls can be altar servers, and there are youth ministry programs for elementary, middle and high schoolers. High school mission groups have traveled to South Dakota to volunteer on a Native American reservation and to New York City to assist with cleanup after Hurricane Sandy.
“Kids get excited … that they can contribute,” Gehl said.
Many of the children in Sacred Heart’s youth programs go on to the confirmation program. Others volunteer in the food pantry or participate in services about the Stations of the Cross.
“Can you imagine a kid being involved from kindergarten through high school, their growing years? It’s got to be a positive influence,” Gehl said.
That involvement could be key to helping solve the Catholic Church’s priest shortage. Gehl said Catholic schools should consider a vocational program to help students enter the priesthood. The vocation tends to be a family affair, too.
“We have a lot of priests who are brothers to each other,” he said.
Recruiting new priests is an ongoing struggle, especially given the popularity of violent movies, video games and other media that don’t line up with the church’s moral principles, Gehl said.
“Right now, we’re in discussions with how to best meet our needs with fewer priests. We’re trying not to close parishes, but sometimes you have to,” Gehl said. “We try in different ways, but we’re fighting our culture.”
Despite the culture wars, Gehl said helping people through his ministry has been rewarding, whether it’s being there for a family in mourning or helping someone rediscover their faith.
“When you make a difference in a person’s life, they’re relieved,” he said. “Sometimes, they’ve been away from the church for a number of years and something triggers them to come back — the power of prayer, I guess.”
As for life after the church, Gehl has a few plans. He’ll be moving to the Nottingham, which is home to a community of other retired priests. He is thinking about continuing his painting — he recently sold almost 30 paintings at an art show — and would like to do some more writing. Gehl has written a handful of books for both youth and adults about the Stations of the Cross.
One thing he’ll miss is writing a weekly column for the church bulletin.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “You just start typing and it ends right where it should, at the bottom of the page.”
