Priest

>> My name is Father Jerry Riney, and I am a Catholic priest, pastor here, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Actually I'm in my 15th year as pastor. Part of my job, though is to help people grow in their relationship with God and with the Lord. And so I have the privilege, really, of sharing in people's lives at, at joyous moments like weddings and 25th and 50th anniversaries. Last week, I was at a, a birthday for a lady in the parish who turned 99. So, graduations and all of that kind of thing, weddings, baptisms, all those joyous occasions. And I also have the privilege of walking with people in tough times. When they lose their jobs, when their marriage is on the rocks, when, you know, tragedy comes to their, death, and those types of dieing situations, and I think my job is to, in a [inaudible], is to connect the word of God to the people's real life. You know, when they leave, they feel like they have something that's going to help them that week. I'm in this because of faith and I believe that God has called me, and that call for me was very real. It was just as real as the call of Jeremiah, and in the first chapter of Jeremiah talks about this young man who was called as a teenager to be a prophet of God, and I felt that call when I was pretty young, to be honest, and, you know, I struggled with it, for a while. And yet, finally, after dealing with some of the issues of not being married, choosing not to marry, and choosing not to have children are my own, which were very tough decisions. You know, I, I just, I enjoy, if I think if you're called to this kind of vocation, I think there's nothing that will make you happier.