Closeness to Christ in the priesthood: Senior priest serving again where he began

With the approach of the 12th annual Celebrate Priesthood! Taste of the Diocese Gala, to thank priests and raise money for their retirement needs, we offer this snapshot of the life of a newly “retired” priest.

The gala will take place on October 30 at St. Paul Jr./Sr. High School in Worcester. Tickets can be purchased and donations made at worcesterdiocese.org/celebrate-priesthood. For more information call 508-929-4368.

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER – Father Michael A. DiGeronimo has attended a few Celebrate Priesthood! Taste of the Diocese events that benefit the Priests’ Retirement Fund, but this will be the first time he’ll be there as a retired priest.

“That will be strange,” he admitted.

Father DiGeronimo, 75, retired in June after serving in parishes in the Diocese of Worcester for 49 years, the last 17 as pastor at St. Mark Parish in Sutton.

The 12th Celebrate Priesthood! Taste of the Diocese Gala will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30, at St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School.

“It’s pretty important,” Father DiGeronimo said. “There are a lot of us in my generation who are either just retired or are about to retire. So we’ll require that support from the diocese.”

When Father DiGeronimo attended Celebrate Priesthood a few years ago, St. Mark parishioners accompanied him and he said they enjoyed it.  

“It was good to see people from different parishes,” Father DiGeronimo said, “and people supporting their priests.”

Father DiGeronimo hasn’t retired completely. He’s serving as a senior priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish. After he was ordained in 1976, his first assignment was as associate pastor at Our Lady of Loreto Parish and Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Ann Parish. The two parishes merged in 2017 and hold Masses at Our Lady of Loreto.

“It took me about a day to adjust to retirement,” he said. “I was ready and I was very fortunate to be welcomed back into the parish that I began in.”

When Father DiGeronimo was associate pastor, the current pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto, Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, was a parishioner there and attending seminary. After he was ordained, Msgr. Pedone celebrated his first Mass at the parish while Father DiGeronimo was stationed there. So the two have known each other for a long time.

“It’s been a nice new, old home for me,” Father DiGeronimo said, “to say Mass on the weekends and help in different ways. It was time for me not to be in charge.”

He still gets to do what he likes best – officiate weddings and Masses, and comfort loved ones at funerals.

“So I’m still doing the ministry things that I enjoy,” he said, “and giving Msgr. Pedone a hand because he’s got a couple of jobs. So I’m happy to help him out.”

In addition to pastor, Msgr. Pedone serves as judicial vicar and vicar for canonical affairs for the diocese.

Father DiGeronimo has worked for nearly all of his life. He grew up in Leominster and his father owned a supermarket in that city.

“When I was in the first grade,” he said, “he said to me, ‘Mike, I think it’s time for you to come into the store and do some work.’ So before I was 6 years old, I was working.

I did everything. I bagged produce. I wrapped produce. I bagged groceries. I had to stand on a box to reach the counter, but that didn’t stop me.”

As a priest, Father DiGeronimo has done just about everything as well.

“It’s true,” he said.

After serving as associate pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Ann Parish and Our Lady of Loreto Parish, he served as co-pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption in Milford, associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Auburn, Christ the King Parish in Worcester, St. Anna Parish in Leominster and St. Boniface Parish in Lunenburg. In 1992, he was named pastor at St. Joseph and St. Pius X in Leicester and in 2009 he became pastor at St. Mark. In 2012, he was appointed pastor at St. Anne while remaining pastor at St. Mark.

He and Father William C. Konicki, pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hope-dale, also spent nearly 20 years traveling to Haiti for mission work with their parishioners. His parishes in Leicester sponsored a parish in Haiti, St. Eugene de Mazenod. Since 1992, St. Mark has sponsored the only nursing home on the south coast of Haiti, the Foyer de St. Etienne in Les Cayes.

Father DiGeronimo also volunteers on Tuesdays at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker, which provides food to those in need on weeknights. He and a couple of others pick up 2,000 pounds of food at the Worcester County Food Bank and they distribute it at the Mustard Seed from 4-6 p.m.

“This keeps me grounded with the poor,” he said.

When Father DiGeronimo was asked what his proudest accomplishment as a priest was, he didn’t have to think long for an answer.

“Probably to be associated so closely with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior,” he said.
How does he think he’s served Jesus?

“Well, I hope I did okay,” he said. “I was happy doing it and people seemed happy with me. So I hope I did all right. Of course, I’m still doing it.”

Father DiGeronimo is happy to be back at the parish where he started.

“I’m surprised that I have so many people who remembered me,” he said. “There are quite a few. They’re all my age or older, but they do remember me and they smile when they see me so I must be all right.”

Father DiGeronimo said he knew he wanted to become a priest when he was about 8 or 9 years old. He was the only child in an Italian family so he admitted his parents “weren’t exactly thrilled because they wanted grandchildren, but they supported me once they really knew I wanted to do it.”

Father DiGeronimo graduated from Leominster High School in 1968 and from Assumption College in 1972. He studied for the priesthood at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore from 1972-1976.

Father DiGeronimo pointed out that far more distractions exist for parishioners today than when he became a priest. St. Mark has a lot of young parishioners and with his staff he created a group called, “Forming Young Disciples,” for young parents and their children. Every other month, Father DiGeronimo and his staff met with 30 or so people to listen and support them in their vocation as Catholic parents.

“As a result,” he said, “of us listening to them, they supported us.”

Father DiGeronimo said no parishioner declined an invitation to attend so he considered the group to be a success.

“I think we had a great rapport with our young parents,” he said, “and we knew how difficult it was for young parents today to get their kids to church and keep them in church and still do all the things that young families do with sports and other activities.”

Father DiGeronimo said he would like to remain as senior priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto for as long as he can.

Last year, Celebrate Priesthood raised more than $310,000 for priests’ retirement, according to Michael Gillespie, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development. That was the most of any year so far. There are currently 43 retired priests in the diocese.

A collection is also taken for retired priests on Ash Wednesday.

To purchase tickets for Celebrate Priesthood at $100 each or to make a donation, visit
worcesterdiocese.org/celebrate-priesthood, call 508-929-4366 or mail it to Celebrate Priesthood, 49 Elm St., Worcester, MA, 01609.