Hospital chaplain, chaplain to two fire departments, spiritual director to the Missionaries of Charity of Detroit — working with a pastoral plate so full, it's a wonder Father John Hedges finds time for his demanding duties as pastor of a sizeable suburban parish.

Yet manage he does. In fact, the energetic pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Wyandotte, Mich., is even able to squeeze a little R&R time into his schedule. Among his favorite ways to kick back and recharge the old batteries? Visiting his grandmother on her farm or hunting deer in the woods.

Father Hedges grew up the third of nine children in a rural part of the Great Lakes State. His father worked as a security guard and his mother stayed home to care for her children. “We were a very close family and we still are,” he says. “We had the custom of the family rosary growing up every night.”

Ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1987 by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, who now serves at the Vatican, Father Hedges remembers beginning to hear God's call early on in his life. “When I was about 3 years old, I was attracted to a little shrine my mother had in the bedroom,” he recalls. “I also felt a very strong inclination of wanting to do what the priest did in the parish church.”

Today, he's thankful for his present assignment at St. Stanislaus Kostka, whose parishioners he describes as “close-knit, warm and devout.”

“I credit most of that to the close family structures that are here — and to family prayer, which I think is really at the heart of this parish,” he adds. “Everything that is brought into this parish originates in the home and starts with the mother and the father and the grandparents.”

It's not hard to ferret out testimonials from St. Stanislaus parishioners whose lives have been changed by regular contact with Father Hedges. All you have to do is ask.

Greg and Cheryll Kowalsky, who began attending Mass here three years ago, say Father Hedges inspired them to delve deeper into the Church's eucharistic life and to practice true devotion to the Blessed Mother. “His devotion and passion for the Mass, and his love for God and his Church, really affected us, too,” Greg says.

Moved by Father Hedges’ example, Greg and Cheryll began a local chapter of the Fatima Family Apostolate. At the group's monthly meeting for November, which fell on the Solemnity of Christ the King, Father Hedges agreed to offer holy Mass and then lead prayers for holy hour afterward. “That's Father John for you,” says Greg. “He's a real spiritual dynamo.”

The Kowalskys are also members of the Oratory of the Blessed Sacrament, a support group for Catholic families educating their children at home. In addition to all his other responsibilities, Father Hedges somehow finds time to serve as the spiritual director for the oratory.

Father Hedges’ second highest-priority assignment from Cardinal Adam Maida is serving as chaplain at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, a position he has held since 1996. It's a post that has him frequently on call for emergencies.

Of his work with the fire departments (of Wyandotte and Trenton, Mich.) he says: “My two youngest brothers are firefighters, so I have an affinity for the work they do.”

And then there's Detroit's community of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, whose sisters serve the poor in one of the country's most desolate urban areas. He travels there each week to lead the nuns in Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and holy hour. Serving the servants of the poorest of the poor, Father Hedges points out, gives him a chance to bring the Gospel to some of our society's most downtrodden individuals.

Oh, and Father Hedges also serves as the spiritual director for Holy Trinity Apostolate, a Detroit-area organization dedicated to teaching the catechism, promoting eucharistic devotion and piety, and supporting priests.

Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that, for all his frenetic activities, the aspect of priestly life Father Hedges most enjoys is celebrating the holy Mass. “It is the greatest event, the greatest experience,” he says. “There's nothing that even comes close to celebrating Mass.”

“Second is hearing confessions — being used by God in a way to give people pardon and forgiveness,” he adds. “And then it would be all of the events of the sacraments because in those events, I act in the person of Christ.”

Father Hedges’ tireless work for, and deep devotion to, Holy Mother Church have not gone unnoticed. Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Leonard Blair, a faculty member at the seminary Father Hedges attended, recalls the idealistic young seminarian — and states his respect for the priestly servant Father Hedges has become. “I have visited his parish on several occasions,” says Bishop Blair. “He shows a great love and enthusiasm for the Church, the people of his parish and the gift of the priest-hood.”

Father Hedges knows that all work and no play makes Father a dull priest, and he knows how to unwind between duties and dispatches. That's where the farm and the woods come in.

“Thankfully my 88-year-old grandmother is still able to do a lot of her own work,” he says. “Going out there, I can bond with her. It's like making a little retreat.”

And every autumn as soon as deer season opens, he travels to northern Michigan, toting firearms or a bow and arrow. “I love getting away and being out in the country or in the woods,” he says.

Asked what rank-and-file Catholics might do to help the Church in America through one of its darkest periods, Father Hedges doesn't hesitate. “Receive the Eucharist often. Make the Mass the center of your spiritual life. Get involved with perpetual eucharistic adoration,” he says. “And create an atmosphere of faith and prayer in your own homes.”

“Pope John Paul II has given us all the tools that we need for reform: the catechism, eucharistic devotion and piety, and new mysteries to contemplate with the rosary,” he adds. “He's just bringing us back to the basics, to the simple faith.

“We don't need any frills. The things we need to be close to God and to be reasonably happy in this world are the things we've always had.”

Anthony L. Gerring writes from Lincoln Park, Michigan.