MOORESVILLE — The first time you meet Jesuit Fathers Frank Reese and Don Ward, you get the sense that you are in for a few laughs. Their friendship forged over the past four years as Jesuit priests serving the people at St. Thérèse Church is evident. They poke fun at each other, smiling as they exchange inside jokes. It seems as if they have been friends and roommates forever.
"We've been banished to the downstairs (of the rectory)," they joke.
Despite the fact that Father Frank, 87, entered the Jesuit order in 1950 and Father Don, 76, entered in 1957, the two have more of a brotherly relationship.
This year, Father Frank is celebrating his 55th anniversary of ordination; Father Don his 45th.
Both priests say they grew up in very devout Catholic families in Philadelphia, attending Catholic schools during their formative years, and the Jesuits they came into contact with in their families and in their schools really made an impression on them.
But Father Don remembers rejecting the idea of a priestly vocation during his senior year of high school.
"I went to Holy Cross (in Worchester, Mass.), thinking I was going to be a doctor, and I met a very nice chemistry teacher who taught me that was not my vocation," Father Don jokes. "Somewhere during the first year of college, I thought I would like to do what I saw Jesuits doing. I never thought about any other order or the diocesan priesthood."
Father Frank spent 14 months in the Army in the mid-1940s before discerning his call to the priesthood.
The two laugh about their college experiences.
"Frank went to St. Joe College and I went to Holy Cross," Father Don explains. "But Frank finished and I didn't!"
"And I had the same experience with chemistry!" Father Frank chimes in.
Pictured: Brother Jesuits, Father Frank Reese (far left) and Father Donald Ward (far right) are pictured with Bishop Peter J. Jugis after the dedication of the new St. Thérèse Church March 28 in Mooresville. They are celebrating 55 years and 45 years of priestly ministry, respectively. Also pictured are Jesuit Father Vincent Curtin, pastor; Deacon Joe Santen; Deacon Myles Decker; and Jesuit Father Dominic Totaro. (SueAnn Howell, Catholic News Herald)
Father Frank has an interesting explanation as to why he passed through the various steps of Jesuit formation more quickly than usual. "It was because I was bald," he deadpans, and people thought he was a later vocation.
After novitiate studies and vows in Wernersville, Pa., Father Frank studied philosophy in Spring Hill, Ala., for two years (1953-'55) with Jesuits from all over the country. He then taught for two years at Georgetown Prep outside Washington, D.C.
In 1957, Father Frank entered the largest Jesuit seminary in the U.S., Woodstock College outside of Baltimore (now closed), for his theology studies.
"It wasn't easy, but it was worthwhile," he recalls.
He was ordained in the Woodstock College Chapel by Cardinal Egidio Vagnozzi, on June 19, 1960, along with 23 other Jesuits.
"It was a joyful time," he recalls, especially since his parents and some of his other family were able to attend. "It was great to be finally getting out into parishes, to get out of the House of Studies."
Father Frank also worked with six other priests who served at a mental hospital in Shillington, Pa., after ordination while finishing his theology studies.
Father Don, who was ordained after the Second Vatican Council, had a slightly different experience. He studied theology at a new seminary north of Chicago, in Aurora, Ill., staying in a former Hilton Hotel with a room overlooking a pool.
"It was very good for me. I had studied (for years) with the same people. I hadn't left the province. I didn't know anyone (out there). It was much more structured than the East Coast. The Midwest was more structured. I had a great time."
He returned to Woodstock College for his second and third year of seminary. "I really did like Woodstock. I really liked theology. It was a happy time for me."
Father Don was also ordained in the chapel at Woodstock College, in 1970, by Cardinal Lawrence Sheehan in the last class ordained there. He remembers driving home to attend his sister's graduation the day before his ordination and then driving his father through a bad storm to attend his ordination the next day. His dad was ill, so it meant a lot to have him there, he says.
"His being there is what I remember most about the ordination. I don't remember anything about the Mass."
"I mentioned my dad in my first homily," he adds. "He told me if I talked too long he'd walk out. A famous Jesuit who was there told me that was the best homily he had ever heard!"
Teaching was a huge part of both priests' experiences as they developed their gifts and talents.
Father Frank spent his first year after ordination in tertianship, a third year of spiritual formation. He was sent to high schools in Pittsburgh, Pa., then back to his beloved Philadelphia, where he taught at St. Joseph's Preparatory School for 11 years. After a sabbatical in Toronto, he asked to work in Appalachia and was assigned to start spiritual retreats in Hot Springs, N.C., at what became the Jesuit House of Prayer. He was also the pastor for Madison County, where the Jesuits first came to minister in the 1920s.
"I worked with a wonderful pioneer priest, Jesuit Father Andy Graves. He was a wonderful mentor and friend. (Also) Father Joe McCloskey and Mercy Sister Peggy Verstege. It was a great experience."
After Father Don was ordained, he served briefly in Boston and then spent nine years at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. He always had a deep desire to serve outside the U.S., and begged his Jesuit superiors to send him abroad. He finally got his wish in 1981, when he was sent to Chile.
He spent two years in Santiago teaching in the high school there. He also worked with the outreach to the poor started by St. Alberto Hurtado called Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ), helping the needy. He was able to work in Osorno for three years before returning to the U.S. to serve at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia – the same school where Father Frank taught years before.
Father Don jokingly admits that his superiors have "matched the jobs to my personality" over the years.
His love of new experiences and exposure to different cultures have allowed him to travel the world during his priestly ministry, especially Africa.
"It was challenging. It grew on me. I loved Africa."
He bounced back and forth between cities in the northeastern U.S. (Camden, N.J., was one city where he served Puerto Rican and Dominican parishioners) and places like the Dominican Republic and Africa. "It was a fabulous experience," he said of serving the elderly in the Dominican Republic.
Father Frank, on the other hand, has a very distinguished service record here in the U.S., especially in western North Carolina, where he also served in Mars Hill, working with the Catholic community to build St. Andrew the Apostle Church in 1991 and ministering to the people of nearby Sacred Heart Mission in Burnsville. He had a growing Hispanic population at his parishes there and he greatly appreciated their deep love of the faith. He admits his grasp of Spanish, which he did not learn until his 70s, was a bit of a challenge.
But, he recalls, "It was a very joyful experience. Studying the Bible in a new language was a great gift. It opens your eyes in a different way."
He had the help of Sister Verstege in assisting the Hispanic community in Burnsville, where she still ministers today.
Father Frank says he never could have imagined all that the Lord has done in his life as he has followed the path of St. Ignatius of Loyola in serving the Church as a Jesuit.
"We are formed in the spirituality of St. Ignatius, our founder, which calls us to strive to know Jesus more intimately, love Him more ardently and serve Him more perfectly, and always to strive for the 'magis,' i.e., to try to do whatever is for the greater glory of God."
"I could tell God was doing something different when he moved me to North Carolina," he adds. "I could feel it in my being."
Father Don has also settled into life in North Carolina at the growing parish of St. Thérèse. He has been there for seven years, arriving before Father Frank, and now particularly ministers to the parish's Latino community.
"Of all the changes (in my assignments) this adjustment has been the easiest of my life," he says. "I really like North Carolina!"
Both Father Frank and Father Don have advice for men discerning the priesthood.
"Pray. Talk to people. Trust," says Father Frank. "Keep trying to follow the leading of the Lord. In my experience, the Lord leads. It may require patience. Trust requires that."
Father Don agrees that prayer is essential. "Pray. Have a spiritual director. Stay close to the Eucharist."
They both agree that they are very blessed by the communities they serve, which welcomed them warmly.
"It's been a joy ride," Father Frank says about his priestly vocation, drawing laughter from Father Don. "Some days!" chimes in Father Don.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter