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September
5, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 15Oakland,
CA
New pastor hails spirit of W. Oakland parish
Months before he came to St. Patrick Parish in Oakland
to start his new assignment as pastor, Jesuit Father Gregory Chisholm
paid the community an impromptu visit to check things out.
Attending a Mass, he sat in the congregation to observe the community
in action. He saw a “great deal of lay involvement” —
lectors reading the Scriptures, the choir singing enthusiastically, ushers
assisting parishioners with a sense of hospitality.
“Coming from a parish with a lot of lay involvement I was really
encouraged by that, that I would be walking into a community that is actually
functioning – not only functioning, not just sort of hanging on
– but thriving,” he said.
Father Chisholm was inspired by the dedication of the lay ministers, in
part because the 300-member community had been without a pastor for about
a year. The priest learned that much of the parish’s strong lay
leadership was empowered by the previous pastor, Jesuit Father Tim Godfrey,
and Margaret Roncalli, a pastoral associate, who cared for the parish
during the interim between pastors.
Father Chisholm realized that he and the parish would be a good match.
“I said (to myself), ‘It’ll work,’” he recalled
with a laugh. “It was very encouraging – I would not have
to go all the way back to the beginning again to try to build up a parish.”
The parish is gaining a priest with pastoral experience, who also brings
skills he developed as a former teacher and mechanical engineer.
A native of New York, Father Chisholm came from what he called “a
very Catholic” family. As a youth he attended St. Mark the Evangelist
Parish, the oldest Black Catholic church in New York City.
“I was taught initially by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
and my father was taught by the same Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
and my grandmother was taught by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament,”
he said. “My grandmother came out of Savannah. It wasn’t quite
the center that New Orleans was, but if you know a little bit of Black
Catholic history you know that Savannah was kind of a fertile place for
Catholic outreach.”
He knew at the age of 11 that he wanted to become a priest. His father,
however, had a different dream for his son. “He wanted me to be
an engineer,” Father Chisholm said. Armed with a talent for math
and science, young Gregory followed that path to Massachusetts Institute
of Technology where he earned a bachelor of science degree, a masters
of science degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.
After his father died, Chisholm, then in his mid-20s, took another look
at his life and decided to pursue the priesthood. He entered the Jesuits
in 1980 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1993.
During his journey in religious life, however, he maintained his connection
to engineering as a teacher, including four years as an assistant professor
at the University of Detroit Mercy.
Although he loved his work at the university, Father Chisholm realized
that he wanted to be more involved in pastoral ministry. His next assignment
brought him to southern California where he spent seven years –
six of those years as pastor – at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in south
Los Angeles.
Pastoral ministry is where Father Chisholm has found his niche. “I
enjoy all that worship entails,” he said. “I enjoy the preaching.
I enjoy the communion in the broadest sense – not just the sharing
of the Body and Blood of Christ in the physical sense but rather the community
life that occurs at least once a week centered on the person of Jesus
Christ.”
What brings Father Chisholm the most joy, however, is encouraging people
to become disciples and to take that belief into the world. Some of that
takes place in ministries and part is through education of both youth
and adults, he said.
The new pastor is looking forward to expanding the parish’s relationship
with the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. For several years JSTB
students have attended Mass at the parish and served as volunteers as
they prepared for their own ministries. This year some parishioners are
planning to take courses at the school.
Linking people with life experiences with those who are doing “serious
theological reflections” is unique, but not unheard of, among African
Americans, said Father Chisholm, who hopes to teach a course at JSTB.
“A lot of great black theologians such as Howard Thurman were involved
in teaching in the seminary as well as running and preaching in churches,”
he said. “It is a dynamic that African Americans, at least among
our Protestant brothers and sisters, would not find an issue at all.”
Meanwhile, the priest said his immediate goals include getting to know
the community, improving his Spanish-language skills so he can communicate
with his Latino parishioners, and building on the work of his predecessors.
“This parish has a very long history, 125 years of ministry. It
has been very strong in the past and I want to see it get stronger.”
Father Gregory Chisholm, SJ
