In the 10 years Father John Riccardo has been ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit, he’s brought the saving and sanctifying Gospel of Jesus Christ to countless souls — then stepped back to let the Holy Spirit do as he will with the work.

Pastor of St. Anastasia Catholic Church in Troy, Mich., since 2005, he shepherds 3,400 families and teaches Bible study and RCIA, conducts apologetics forums for overflow crowds and hosts the weekly “Christ Is the Answer” show on Ave Maria Radio. He also launched an archdiocesan-wide conference and ministry for men that has drawn more than 3,200 brothers in Christ closer to the Lord.

“From my point of view, he’s the best catechist in the entire archdiocese of Detroit,” says Paco Gavrilides, director of the archdiocese’s office of evangelization. “One of the gifts most pronounced in Father John is a teaching gift, especially a tremendous and powerful charism to teach the Catholic faith (in a way) that is extremely accessible to the faithful.”

Father Riccardo’s parishioners agree. Just ask Ann Johnson and Angela Maile.

Ann, who attends St. Anastasia’s with her husband and their teenage and young-adult children, appreciates his Bible study and homilies because he’s deeply knowledgeable yet easily understandable.

“He reaches you; he’s never over your head,” says Johnson. “He doesn’t talk about himself. It’s all about Jesus. His love for Jesus is blatantly apparent.”

She welcomes the way Father Riccardo inspires people like herself to learn more about their faith by, for example, frequently suggesting books they can read to deepen their faith. She was so caught up in St. Augustine’s Confessions on his recommendation, she says, “I brought it up at Bible study hoping more of the women would read it.”

Angela Maile, a 23-year-old parishioner, first met Father Riccardo when she was a college senior and going to Mass irregularly. The occasion was a talk Father Riccardo was giving to young women at Ave Maria House on the campus of the University of Michigan. 

“When I first met him, he had this spark about him — this love of Christ and enthusiasm about what he was teaching,” she recalls. “He brings that love to me every time I talk to him. That enthusiasm and spark brought me back to confession for the first time since confirmation.”

Angela, now an active parishioner who teaches confirmation classes, credits Father Riccardo with pointing her toward the right path in life. “He really helped me to know to always keep my eyes on the cross,” she says, “and to continue to ask Jesus to help me to know the Father’s love.”

Such successes don’t surprise Gavrilides.

“Father John has a real zeal for reaching young families and youth with the Gospel message,” he says. “He tells how to embrace the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. He teaches with an honesty that recognizes that some of the Church teachings may require a real sacrifice, struggle and dying to oneself to live real discipleship. And he’s not afraid to give the encouragement and wisdom for how to do that.”

When told about the flattering comments his parishioners have made about him, Father Riccardo responds with modesty. “If the Lord has given me a gift,” he says, “it’s to teach in an informal, accessible way.”

The youngest of five children, Father Riccardo worked for a short while out of college for a Christian nonprofit organization. After he had a profound encounter with the Lord, he entered the seminary and studied in Rome. Then, at the request of Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit, he studied at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C.

Father Riccardo says the toughest challenge he faces today is breaking through the image put forth by popular culture that God is a celestial killjoy who hates happiness and wants to restrict people’s freedom. His goal is to help people see that the culture has things exactly upside-down: God doesn’t restrict freedom; he offers it.

But God’s freedom is the real stuff, not a counterfeit of slavery to sin masquerading as total liberty from any and all judgment calls.

The Church’s teachings on marriage and family, says the priest, “help us find the way to human happiness and live an authentically human life.”

Meanwhile modern communications media allow the Church to reach people right where they turn for news, ideas and information.

“One of the things that inspired me about Pope John Paul II,” he says, “was his clarion call to use the media as the new Areopagus.” He’s referring to Mars Hill in Athens, Greece, where St. Paul preached the Gospel to the pagan philosophers (See Acts 17:22-34).

Along with his radio show, Father Riccardo follows suit with talk CDs available from the station plus the Internet and podcasts. See StAnastasia.org to read or listen to his homilies and podcasts.

Adoring Parishioners

Besides his popular apologetics forum, which is similar in format to Theology on Tap for young adults, Father Riccardo is lately starting a new outreach to married couples for ongoing marriage enrichment.

“They need marriage prep after they got married,” he says, referring to many distractions from wedding preparations. The monthly program will help couples going through all the realities of married life — intimacy, praying together, forgiveness, dealing with tragedy.

“John Paul had a love for couples; I have a love for families,” says this former director of the Cardinal Maida Institute for Youth and Family. “That’s the great thing about being parish priest. You’re involved in everyday married life — meals, folks with difficulties, baptisms, weddings. You’re there at every turning point of life.”

What about the oft-heard claim that those who were never married are unqualified to offer marital counseling?

“A priest has much experience with married love,” he explains. “It’s just a different kind of experience. We can share a lot of things indirectly with people because of our experience working with married couples.”

Whatever their station of life or age, people have to know God is love, continues Father Riccardo. “They don’t know that God is crazy about us. Once they have this encounter in the sacrament of reconciliation and meet Jesus — and are exposed to the Blessed Sacrament in prayer and meet the Lord there, and come to know the Bible as a letter written from Our Father to us — then their lives change.”

His parishioners are the proof.

“He taught me how to pray and how to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament,” says Says Angela Maile, noting that she’ll be on her way to Eucharistic adoration as soon as the Register interview ends. “That’s an incredible gift, sitting there with Christ and letting him transform me.”

Staff writer Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

Wanted: Priests

Do you know a young priest who excels at evangelization, catechesis and Christian discipleship — a man who can inspire youth to pray for vocational discernment while inspiring the rest of us to confidently hope in the future of the Church? Nominate him to be the subject of a Register Priest Profile. Contact: [email protected]