Father Dan Danielson |
By Carrie McClish
Staff writer
Throughout his 44 years as a priest, Father Dan Danielson
has amassed a host of titles — retreat master, popular lecturer,
nationally published writer, newspaper columnist, and spiritual director.
But he is best known for his role as pastor for the past 22 years of the
Catholic Community of Pleasanton. Next month, shortly after his 70th birthday,
he will relinquish those responsibilities and step into a new chapter
of his life — retirement.
Earlier this month Father Danielson took a break from preparations to
move and spent some time talking about his long ministry as a priest.
Not surprisingly his thoughts focused on the place that has been both
his home and work site for nearly two decades.
“I’ve been very happy here. I’ve spent half of my priesthood
here,” he said.
When he first arrived at the parish, then known as St. Augustine, in 1985,
the church was at the edge of town. Cattle and horses grazed just outside
the parish’s parking lot.
“The road ended at our driveway,” he said of East Angela Street.
There was a cozy, small-town feeling. “It was a warm and welcoming
community — not just the Catholics — but the community in
general,” the priest recalled.
Massive transformatioin
Recent years have seen a massive transformation. Instead of open fields,
the church complex is now surrounded by houses and streets that go on
as far as the eye can see. Many of the new homes are big and expensive.
But as the community has grown in size and in numbers, Father Danielson
said, it has lost a bit of its soul.
“The community is not as warm and welcoming as it once was. It tends
to be much more self-focused and selfish — very little is pursued
for the common good. Neighbors are much more concerned by the individual
good — my life, my neighborhood, my children — and have very
little sense of community unless it benefits ‘me.’ So I didn’t
like it as well in the last 10 years. I liked it in the first 10 years.”
While increased wealth in the area was a factor in this change, the community’s
size also contributed, Father Danielson said.
He was determined that the parish, also in the midst of a growth spurt,
would not suffer the same fate even as the faith community — now
consisting of about 5,100 families — grew so large that another
church site and meeting space was needed.
Parishioners built and paid for a chapel, office and meeting rooms at
a separate location, anticipating that the parish would be split. However,
ultimately it was decided to keep the parish with two church sites. When
the new St. Elizabeth Seton Church was dedicated in 2000, the parish assumed
a new name, the Catholic Community of Pleasanton.
Parishioners possess gifts
A large parish has a number of advantages, one of which is the talent
of its members, Father Danielson said. “You have a lot of gifts
that parishioners possess, and you have sufficient income to do stuff.”
However, size also presents a major challenge; a big parish can become
very impersonal. “It can become somewhat of a service station, a
faith station, where people don’t get to know each other. They just
check in for goods and services,” he said.
To prevent that from happening, Father Danielson and his staff have spent
a “fair amount of money” making the parish “personable.”
To start, that means that a human being, “not a machine,”
answers phone calls at both parish sites from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday, until 4 p.m. on Saturday, and on Sunday until 2 p.m. at
the St. Augustine site and 8:30 p.m. at the St. Elizabeth Seton site.
On another level, the parish staff seeks to connect face-to-face with
its members. This includes interviews with parishioners before they receive
some of the sacraments. “We have a staff person who does nothing
else but First Eucharist and First Penance. A lot of that person’s
time is spent in personal interviews,” he said.
There is a major emphasis on developing small Christian communities, including
groups that involve entire families in intergenerational activities. At
present there are about 25 small communities that meet regularly.
“We do a lot of things to try to keep the parish personable so that
it doesn’t become too automatic and impersonal,” Father Danielson
said.
One of the parish’s greatest characteristics is its spirit of stewardship,
something the pastor has strongly encouraged. Rather than staging endless
fundraisers like festivals and dinners, Father Danielson asks them to
decide about what they will contribute to the parish, then he provides
them with information about the budget. These individual financial contributions
should “be based upon their need to give, not upon our need,”
he said.
The parish donates five percent of its income to causes, concerns and
groups outside the parish in addition to what it gives to the Oakland
Diocese. “We have made our Bishop’s Appeal goal every year
— we are the second highest in the diocese — and we do it
on stewardship alone,” he said. “I don’t make any big
pitch about it. I simply tell people that this is their chance to share
what God has blessed us with.”
Addressing social issues
Inspired by the Gospel message and guided by their pastor, parishioners
have also addressed social justice issues including extensive programs
on immigration, the death penalty and poverty.
“People understand that social justice is an integral part of the
Gospel,” the pastor said. “They may disagree on how you get
to that goal — that is a perfectly legitimate disagreement. What
is important is that they are willing to struggle with the issue from
a moral point of view.”
Ordained in 1963 at Oakland’s St. Jarlath Church, his home parish,
Father Danielson spent his first four years as a priest at Holy Spirit
Parish in Fremont. He helped the congregation understand the many changes
occurring in the Church as a result of Vatican II. He conducted adult
education classes and faith formation sessions for new Catholics.
After a year as associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Alameda, he went
to study theology at New York’s Fordham University, where he earned
a Ph.D. He returned to the East Bay with new skills and insight that he
put to use on the diocesan level. He became the clergy education director
for the diocese and helped to set up the first Priests’ Senate.
During the 1970s he served in a variety of roles in the diocese. He founded
the Vatican II Institute for Continuing Education of Clergy in Menlo Park
and served as its first director. He was spiritual director of the Cursillo
Movement, diocesan vicar of Catholic Charismatics, and diocesan director
of a continuing education program for permanent deacons. He also served
as chairman of the diocesan Theological Commission and wrote a column
for The Catholic Voice for three years.
Later, he helped set up the first Diocesan Pastoral Council, directed
the Ministry to Priests Program, served on the Senate of Priests, was
part of the diocesan Strategic Planning Group, was diocesan coordinator
for evangelization, and a consultor to Bishop John Cummins. From 1980-1985,
he served as pastor of St. Paschal Parish in Oakland.
On a national level, he was an advisor to the U.S. bishops committee on
priestly life and ministry, co-founded the National Organization for Continuing
Education of Roman Catholic Clergy, and was part of a task force of the
National Federation of Priests Councils that revised a 25-year-old document,
“The Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood.”
A popular retreat master and lecturer, Father Danielson has facilitated
nearly 100 retreats and workshops for priests and seminarians throughout
the country, including one for a group of U.S. bishops.
As his 70th birthday approached, Father Danielson told parishioners in
a parish bulletin that he had decided to retire while he was still “active,
energized and engaged” in the work of ministry. He plans to move
to Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont where he will “help out”
the pastor when needed and not being “in charge” of anything,
except conducting an occasional workshop or retreat.
The Catholic Community of Pleasanton will gather Dec. 16 to formally thank
their longtime pastor for his years of service to the parish and diocese
with a Mass at noon at St. Augustine Church, 3999 Bernal Avenue in Pleasanton.
A reception will follow in the parish hall.
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