Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   LOCAL FEATURES Friday, July 19, 2002 Pastor, 80, keeps busy with ‘lots of interests’ Missionary of the Sacred Heart Fr. Gerald Sommer enjoys priesthood too much to retire By Joanne Malene Staff Associate CANTON – If Father Gerald Sommer could bottle and sell some of his curiosity, energy and enthusiasm, he would be rich. Father Sommer, 80, is pastor of St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception parish here. A Missionary of the Sacred Heart priest, he was ordained in 1947. “I have been here for 16 years,” Father Sommer said. “When I was sent here to St. Mary’s, I was 64 years old. We had a six-year term for pastors and I thought, ‘Great! I can retire from here when I am 70.’ “But, every year, I would get a letter from Bishop Malone that would say, “Jerry, could you stay one more year?” So, one more year has become 16. And, I don’t think I will be retiring soon.” Those who have gotten to know Father Sommer sing his praises. Carl M. Johnson, a parishioner at St. Paul Church in Canton, said he met Father Sommer seven years ago. “My son goes there to St. Mary Immaculate Conception,” Johnson said. “I met Father when he came to my wife, Irene’s and my 50th wedding anniversary celebration seven years ago. He is a wonderful person. He is so dedicated and it is pleasure to be around him. He is my age and I feel having a man like him still running a parish is a wonderful gift to the Church. “I think he is just a tremendous person. When you hear all the things going on in our Church, all the bad news, I think it is wonderful that he is still a pastor at his age, when there is such a shortage of priests.” Peggy Neidig, the secretary for the parish, says many people see Father Sommer as an inspiration. “Father treats everyone as if they are someone special,” Mrs. Neidig said. “You see Christ in him. He lives his faith. Father is such a teacher – he knows where we are and where we should be as far as Catholics. His homilies are the best. You come away after hearing him preach and you have learned.” Over the years, Father Sommer has seen many changes take place in the Church. “One of the most amazing things was Vatican II,” Father Sommer remembered. “I used to say Mass in Latin with my back to the people. Sometimes, people still long for that, say they wish we could go back to that, but I always tell them the priest got lonesome up there. Now, we share a much closer relationship with the people. [Catholics] used to put the priests on a pedestal and the people were afraid to look up. Now with this pedophilia scandal, some priests are afraid.” Father Sommer noted that for all of the big headlines about pedophilia and priests, only a small minority of priests have been accused. “When you read the newspapers, it is always the same priests over and over who have done these terrible things,” he said. “The Church will survive this – God brings purification – but priests must be priests and models of prayer for our people. We serve the people. Our mission is to help our people make a commitment to Christ and they can’t do it unless we do it. “Today, I think people are much closer to the Mass, although they don’t go to confession as much, but confession – reconciliation – is a wonderful gift from God.” Father Sommer grew up in northern Michigan, in the upper part of the Upper Peninsula. “I knew when I was a little kid that I wanted to be a missionary,” he said. “After eighth grade I went to Geneva, Ill., for minor seminary. I went to Shelby, Ohio, for my novitiate and diaconate and I was ordained there. I stayed there for 22 years teaching philosophy. Then we started a seminary on the campus of DeSales University and I taught sociology there for a couple of years, before I finally got a parish in Nazareth, Pa.” Father Sommer was in Nazareth for several years before he was sent to a parish in West Warwick, R.I. “But we didn’t have enough priests and we had to close some places,” he recalled. “Then I was sent here.” The pastor cannot say enough good things about his parishioners. “We have wonderful, generous people in this parish,” he said. “These people support you as Christians. Today, the people are much more involved, which is another effect from Vatican II. “We also have two vocations [to priesthood] right now from our parish, which is such a blessing. Father Scott Fether and Frank Natale – they are at Our Lady of the Lakes Seminary. We are very proud of them. Our parish is praying for them. Our last [priestly] vocation from this parish just celebrated the 40th anniversary of his ordination, so that is a long time between vocations. But I think once you get the Holy Spirit working in a parish, it is good. It encourages vocations.” Father Sommer jokingly says he has never stopped teaching. “I love teaching,” he said. “My Sunday homilies, everything I write, the letters to the parish, I am always trying to teach, to get the message to people. I have an adult education class every Wednesday morning. It took us two years to get through the Acts of the Apostles. Right now, we are going through apologetics, which demonstrates the truth of the Catholic faith.” Youth ministry and families are high on Father Sommer’s list of importance. “We had 32 students go to Steubenville for the youth rally,” he said. “This is a good facility for youth ministry.” “I tell the students being a Catholic today means going from doing religious things to developing a relationship with God – not just by what you are doing, but by who you are. Each of us is a child of God.” “Family life is so important,” he added. “Families need to pray. It is so essential. I love to teach and the people are hungry to learn. Kids have so many things on their minds – Internet, television – they come to class, but they don’t learn. There are too many things going on in their lives and in their heads. Adult religious education is an essential part of a parish. If the parents don’t teach their children, we can’t. “The first educators of the children are the parents,” he continued. “We have to educate the adults so they can educate the children.” Father Sommer also believes more people should support “Right to Life” issues. “You have to … be a witness. You feel you are doing something. You are planting a seed everywhere you go. You don’t know where it will end up. It is amazing what God will do.” Although he has a number of hobbies and avocations, Father Sommer says he really enjoys getting together with his fellow priests. “It is good to get out with other priests and share what you are doing,” he said. “Also, I am lucky. I have a lot of interests. I have my dog, Buddy, who follows me everywhere. I love to read, especially Catholic magazines and newspapers and the daily newspapers and local books. There is just so much to do and learn.” He is proud of his rose garden, which supplies flowers for St. Mary’s, and of his bird feeders. “I love to feed the birds, especially the sparrows. They are so humble. I have feeders out all over. I love plants. I have big tomatoes coming and this was a great year for roses. I think if you want to get old gracefully, you have to have a lot of interests. “I used to be an amateur radio operator and I enjoy music,” he continued. “I love listening to music, especially the Daughters of St. Paul. I like old movies, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. I used to repair electronics but I gave it up when they switched from radio tubes to chips. “But, that just shows you – the world passes you by, but religion doesn’t,” Father Sommer continued. “I have a great love for the Holy Father and for our Church. It is something to hang on to.” Although St. Mary’s at one time was a large parish, the parish enrollment has dropped, leaving the congregation with several large empty buildings. Not one to waste anything, Father Sommer has a daily Head Start program using the school building as well as a home for foster girls in another section of the parish campus. “This used to be a very large parish,” Father Sommer explained. “But three things happened: In the 1960s, the expressway was put in, cutting our parish in half. Then in the seventies, the bottom fell out of the steel business, which affected many of our parishioners and, in the late 1970s, the nuns left. We had 10 nuns here teaching school. But it was too expensive to continue. The nuns were working for peanuts and to start paying lay people to teach, well… lay people have families to feed. “But, I think a school is such an essential part of a parish. So, now we have Head Start. The kids are from three to five years old and they are just delightful. I like to have things used. We have 480 families here. Over the years, we had a lot of older people who have since died. We are kind of rural, even though we are in the city. I have a lot of cows, chickens, pigs and horses; I just need more people.” Father Sommer was quiet for a while and then said, “You know, looking back, I am happy I am a priest. I would never want to do anything else. It’s been a wonderful life.” Joanne Malene covers Stark and Portage counties for the Exponent   Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   Other Articles of 2002   Christmas letter from El Salvador missions thanks diocesan Catholics   Bishop shares views, discussion with Central students   ETC slates Christmas specials throughout the season   My Favorite Christmas Memories   Guidelines on religious ed homeschooling are issued   Local Catholic radio station targets Feb. 1 date   HMs end 98-years of service to Salem St. Paul Parish   Learn ‘language’ of young, youth meet speaker urges   Bishop Tobin: Meeting in D.C. on norms was ‘anxious, tense, difficult’   Priests must ask one another the tough questions, speaker says   Catholic death and funeral rites   Deacons mark 25th with Mass, dinner, memories   Diocesan Ministry Convocation Speaker: Global solidarity, not globalization, should be aim   Jusseaume inaugurated as sixth Walsh president   Diaconate marks 25th anniversary with Oct. 27 fete   New norms sent to priests, deacons on Communion under both kinds   Ashtabula parishes are ‘one Catholic community’   Jusseaume to become Walsh’s sixth president   Charismatic speaker: ‘Church being tested in faithfulness’   Lutheran/Catholic covenant event draws 140 to Walsh   Canton St. Joseph Parish observes centennial celebration   HMHP CEO Michael Rowan   Stewardship speaker: It’s about gratitude and thanking God first   Imagination is key to resolving crisis, priests told   War with Iraq? 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