The Message July 24, 1998: Page 9

July 24, 1998 The Message
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1998 The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana 9 page 8 :hael T. Madden is :e new pastor of St. Matthew, Vernon. His first days have been filled getting a ill- and "getting to the parish and the corn- has been exploring the I started around the neighbor- one direction, then he said. He has dri- the city, too, getting more familiar with Madden was born 1, 1949, in Washington, ,." where his family attended lmon Church. After studies and in Innsbruck, ordained Aug. 22, 1975. i FATHER MICHAEL MADDEN Mount Vernon Swartz said so few days in his new Were "so far, confusing, how to use the tele- learning the sched- • just learning routines." Joseph Swartz, who FATHER JOSEPH SWARTZ Sacred Heart, Vincennes has been at St. Matthew, Mount Vernon, since 1986, is the new pastor of Sacred Heart, Vin- cennes. He returns to a parish he served as an associate in the early years of his priesthood. Father Swartz was born Nov. 24, 1949, in Washington, Ind, where his family attended St. Simon Church. After studies at St. Meinrad and at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, he was ordained May 31, 1975. At Sacred Heart, he said he expected to begin soon to start attending the regular meetings, the parish council and finance committee, to see "where they are and what their goals are." Father Swartz said his approach at a new parish is "to want to keep things as much as possible the way they were in the past." There are probably good reasons for the way things are done, he said. To really get a feel for a place, he believes it takes as much as a year, going through the whole church year. But he sees steady progress. "Each day makes a difference," he said. Father Lowell Will continues his service to the Washington Deanery, moving to St. Mary Church, Washington. He had been pastor of St. Peter, Mont- gomery, St. Patrick, Coming, and St. Michael in Daviess County since 1991. Following the designation of St. Patrick and St. Michael as chapels, Father Will added pastoral responsibilities for All Saints Church, Cannelburg. Father Will was born Sept. 29, 1942. His family attended St. Joseph Church, Vanderburgh County. After studies at St. Mein- rad and Innsbruck, he was ordained March 2, 1968. Father Lowell Will has moved in to the rectory at St. Mary Church, Washington, but he said he doesn't have everything unpacked yet or in an orderly place. "Things will come (togeth- er) within another week or so," he added One of the exciting things about his new position as pastor is getting re-acquainted with the people he had gotten to know when he was an assistant pastor and a teacher at Washington FATHER LOWELL WILL St. Mary, Washington ATR1A ASSISTED LIVINO COMMUNITIES SEE ATPROBLEM WITH ALZHEIMER'S. WE SEE A PERSON WITH ALZHEIMER'S. 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FATHER JACK DURCHHOLZ Holy Redeemer, Evansville Father Jack Durchholz has served as an associate for a few months at St. Joseph Church, Princeton, and as associate at St. Ferdinand Church for about three years. He now lives and works at Holy Redeemer Church, Evans- ville, where he looks forward to "aiding Father Ron (Zgunda) and getting to know more about the people and their interests." The new associate says his books are all on the shelves, and everything is out of the boxes, but there is still some rearranging to do, as he completes his move and starts his new assignment "It's exciting being back home in Evansville, but it was hard leaving Ferdinand, leaving friends and family members, parishioners," he said. In the few days he has been at Holy Redeemer, he has found that "people are very open, very friendly and accepting." Father Durchholz was born July 11, 1957, in Evansville, and ordained a priest March 18,1995. said, going on to say it is just a healthy part of any person's life. If your child is sick at night, you just get up, he said. You don't stop and question your promise of obedience. If a friend is in need, you help. So when the bishop called, Father Zgunda answered, believ- ing that priests have to be com- mitted to go where they are needed. "People in the military understand this best," he said. But doing what duty calls you to do "doesn't take away the emotional ties and bonds you've made," he said. "And that's a good sign. I would hate to have left a place and not felt a nse of mourning, of grieving." There's a flip side, too, said Father Zgunda. "There is a healthy challenge that comes in change, in moving." He said when a priest finds himself so comfortable that he begins to do the same thing that he did last year, "you begin to lose that cre- ative edge you need in ministry." A priest needs to have openness to the call of the spirit, he said. As for getting to know the new parish, "it requires patience on everybody's part." People in a parish "know what they're los- ing, but they don't know what they're gaining." We all speak the same lan- guage, he said, but each parish has its own dialect. It's like a fam- ily, which is in many ways like any other family, but yet each has its own personality. Father Ronald Zgunda, a for- mer co-pastor of St. Simon and most recently pastor of St. Mary Church, both in Washington, is the new pastor of Holy Redeemer, Evansville. Father Zgunda was born Feb. 12, 1951, in Hammond, Ind. He studied at Indiana State Univer- sity, and then went to St. Mein- rad. He was ordained May 6, 1977. 'q think the longer a person is at a parish, the more ties you make, the bonds grow deeper," he said. His eight-year stay in Wash- ington was the longest assign- ment of his priestly life. "Leaving there personally was a far more wrenching thing than I thought it would be." But Father Zgunda told the parishioners at St. Mary's that he recalled his earlier years in Lin- ton and Bloomfield, where he had been very happ); too. Moving to a new assignment is part of priestly life, part of the obedience required, Father Zgunda said. "All of us are obedient," he FATHER RONALD ZGUNDA Holy Redeemer, Evansville "For a while," the new pastor believes, "you need to know how to dance with each other, not stepping on toes." You have to show respect for each other. Father Zgunda points to statis- tics that say the average Ameri- can family moves every seven years, and notes that a diocesan priest's life is much more stable than thaL He knows that in the long run, he'll be in the Diooese of Evansville, ha southwestern Lndiana. An average American family does not have that kind of security, he notes. Ot aspect of a priest's move from parish to parish is not often talked about, Father Zgunda said. And that is the "tremen- dous help" given to a priest by a secretary or a housekeeper, by people who take time to write a card or a hole, € members of the old and new parish staff who all "do an exceptional job in tDfng to be sensitive to the cha in your life at the mom,t."