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March 21, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 6Oakland,
CA
for Walnut Creek parish
The past several weeks have been a blur for Father
James McGee, the new parochial administrator at St. John Vianney Parish
in Walnut Creek.
Since his appointment became effective on Jan. 24, the priest has moved
to a second parish in the span of six months, met parishioners, conversed
with members of the buildings/grounds and finance committees, gotten acquainted
with the pastoral staff, handled emergency calls at nearby John Muir Hospital,
learned how the parish operates, helped spearhead the parish’s upcoming
40th anniversary … it’s enough to leave a priest breathless.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said during a rare moment
between meetings.
But one thing is clear to the priest — he has landed among good
people. “The people here are wonderful, they are wonderfully gracious
and very welcoming,” he said.
As the new administrator and the parish continue to get to know one another,
Father McGee is enthusiastic about the journey. He brings a suitcase full
of skills and experience.
A native of Scranton, PA, Father McGee, 50, earned his bachelor’s
degree in economics from the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
He received his seminary training at Theological College at Catholic University
in Washington, D.C. and earned his Master’s degree in Divinity at
Catholic University.
Ordained for the Diocese of Scranton in 1985, he served as an associate
pastor at two parishes before joining the Sulpicians (Society of St. Sulpice),
a group of diocesan priests who teach in seminaries. Sulpicians are the
founders of the first diocesan seminaries.
Father McGee became assistant dean and professor of Christian Spirituality
at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, the first seminary
established in the U.S. He worked there for three years before he moved
to the West Coast. He did his graduate studies, in management and organizational
behavior, at the Hass School of Business at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Then he worked at Santa Clara University at the Leavey School of Business
and began teaching spirituality and management leadership in the business
school there.
He came to the Oakland Diocese in 2002 and became parochial vicar at St.
Bonaventure Parish in Concord where his ministry included “a lot
of work in the parish council and parish planning.” He hopes to
continue to focus on these in his new assignment.
In July 2004, he was named parochial vicar at Christ the King Parish in
Pleasant Hill, an assignment that represented a kind of homecoming for
the priest.
During his doctoral studies in Berkeley in the early 1990s, Father McGee
spent many hours “helping out” at the parish.
“I did more than weekend supply. I was heavily involved in the parish
with adult programming, doing spiritual direction, working with planning
for their social ministry, things like that,” he recalled.
At St. John Vianney Parish, Father McGee hopes to focus some attention
on the link between spirituality and business, an arena of evangelization
that the Catholic Church and other religious traditions have neglected,
he said. Among the topics he wants to address is how spirituality “serves
as the
foundation” of norms for good and just behavior.
“It is a both a need within the Church and society at large,”
he said, “particularly when you consider that in the United States
95 percent of the population spends most of its time and energy and resources
in the for-profit enterprise, business enterprise.”
He will speak about the issues in homilies and parish workshops and hopes
eventually to offer workshops for other parishes as well. “All of
that will depend on time,” he said.
In the meantime, he is training his sights on the parish’s plans
to commemorate its 40th anniversary — a time to “lift up and
honor the past, celebrate our present, and dream a future to enhance our
community.” The major celebration is slated for Oct. 1-2.
Other recently announced pastoral assignments include: Divine Word Father
Joseph Parekkatt, parochial vicar, to St. Edward Parish in Newark, effective
March 15; and Father Dante Tamayo, parochial vicar, to St. Isidore Parish,
Danville, effective April 15.
Father James McGee
