PRIEST PROFILE

When the people of St. Anne's Church in Broken Arrow, Okla., held their annual parish talent show last summer, the big mystery was: Who's that drummer?

It turned out to be none other than the parish's new pastor, 32-year-old Father Michael Dodd.

Since last July when he arrived, he's also played drums with the parish band for St. Anne's dances.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” says parishioner Jack Boucher. “It made a bond with the teen-agers here.”

Playing drums isn'd new for the young pastor, who's also a canon lawyer. Early in college, he was studying to be a musician and music teacher.

“I'm still very much interested in music as a listener and amateur player,” says Father Dodd. He also picks on the piano a bit and leans toward classical music, although he likes all kinds.

He's a percussionist and he loves jazz,” is what Father Charles Swett of Tulsa says. Now semi-retired, he's the priest who inspired Father Dodd's vocation and remembers it well.

“It was that precious moment when you ask someone if they ever thought about being a priest — and he said Yes,” recalls Father Swett.

Today their friendship is stronger than ever.

“I'm still able to say what I want to him, no matter what,” says Father Swett, “and he's humble enough to listen.”

Father Dodd surely did in those early college years when he was a couple of steps away from the Church, briefly, but not terribly far. But his mentor was instrumental for his full return and for his vocation.

“I didn'd think about priesthood growing up,” says Father Dodd, “but it happened pretty quickly during my junior year of college.”

His new parishioners agree it was the right choice. He quickly endeared himself to St. Anne's 500-plus families when he brought their precious icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa in solemn procession down the aisle and placed it above the altar once again. The image was originally brought to the church by the Polish Capuchins who administered the parish, once heavily Polish, after WWII.

Nor is Father Dodd a stranger to other traditional devotions. He likes being invited to go out and bless someone's home, a common practice around his area.

“We have a wonderful, beautiful store of rites in the Church that have been neglected for too long, such as house blessings, and all the wonderful blessings we have for blessing of objects,” he says, calling them “good core practices of the Church that were unfortunately neglected for awhile. I'm glad to see the people here find these things valuable.”

That includes the parish's rosary guild, which not only prays the Rosary but makes rosaries as well.

Chuck and Trish Salat of Broken Arrow find their pastor a source of real joy.

“Our Easter services are very traditional,” explains Trish. “Holy Thursday we had the procession taking the [consecrated] hosts to the chapel, the way we were brought up with it. It was very solemn.”

Chuck appreciates the young priest's organization.

“At Easter vigil Mass, all the altar servers knew what to do, when to do it, and how,” he explains. “Father obviously spent a lot of time with them explaining and going through what was going to happen and why. If a Mass goes smoothly, you tend to pay more attention to it because there are less distractions. And this Mass was absolutely one of the most beautiful Masses that happened in our church because he's so organized.”

Jack Boucher and his wife Evelyn also appreciate the reverence of Father Dodd's Masses.

“We go to daily Mass, and he's slow and precise,” says Evelyn. “His homilies at daily Mass are all very knowledgeable. And before Mass, there's silence, not talking.”

Says Jack, “With his knowledge, he doesn'd look down on you, but he responds to your level wherever you're at. For a young priest, he's well endowed with wisdom and very friendly. He listens.”

Jack helps with the Little Rock Scripture study, and when he goes to Father Dodd for help with information, the pastor gives an appreciative Jack book after book.

Basic Teachings

Helping adults learn the faith is part of the New Evangelization, which Father Dodd sees in the broad sense of re-evangelizing ourselves.

“We have to start with the people here who should be Christian,” he says, adding a comment on how important is the Church's use of the media.

“There's a need for solid adult education for the parishioners in the basics of the faith,” he says. “Somewhere along the line for some reason there's a hole there that needs to be filled in just the basic teachings of the faith.”

St. Anne's will be having a lot more adult education offered this coming year.

As a graduate of the North American College and the Angelicum in Rome, Father Dodd is also a canon lawyer — the promoter of justice and defender of the bond for the tribunal in the Diocese of Tulsa.

“All of the annulment cases come through me at one point,” he says. He loves the study of canon law, which he calls “a wonderful gift.”

“We are dealing with people who are broken, who have serious problems in their past, so by distributing justice with God's law and the Church's law, it does good for these people,” he says. “That's why it's there. It's rewarding work.”

So, too, is another part of his priesthood. “On two occasions in last few months I've been able to be with a person at the time of death,” he says. “That is a very powerful thing. It's great to be able to see a good death, and see them receive the sacraments. This has been one of the most memorable parts of priesthood.”

Ironically, when he was a seminarian, thoughts of these experiences concerned him more than just about any other aspect of his impending priesthood. He thought ministering to the sick and dying would be too difficult for him.

“As it turns out, those are such graced moments,” he says. “You really know that God is there. Besides, knowing I'm an instrument is personally enriching to my faith.”

Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

Wanted: Priests

The Register needs its readers’ help in identifying noteworthy priests to profile — men of God who by their ministries show that Christ is still calling outstanding young men to serve at the altar. We are particularly interested in those who emphasize promotion of the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II. E-mail your nominations to [email protected].