A Message from Fr. Joe Illes with Gratitude

Arriving here I was greeted by a warm and loving parish characterized by a particular spirit of family familiarity. Families, filling the pews at Mass, welcomed me, their doubly new priest, with words of prayerful encouragement as I found my way through ritual books and preached a first few nervous homilies. After five years here, I am no longer so much a new priest, indeed ‘firsts’ are becoming a rare commodity, but now I add another: leaving my first priestly assignment as I begin full-time studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

It is rare that a new priest would have the opportunity to serve five years in his first assignment. Normally we are with a community only two or three years before we are assigned elsewhere. This means that we do not generally have the opportunity to really get to know a community, nor for our parish community to get to know their priest. Yet I have been greatly blessed in this regard. I am grateful for the five years that I have had serving here and for the chance to come to know so many of you who have opened your hearts and homes to me since 2019, and who have been so generous in your kindness and prayers for me. Thank you very much for the kindnesses you have given me over the years—they truly mean a lot.

As I have been formed in my priesthood and priestly identity by the care, love, faith, and witness of the students, families, and parishioners of our parish church and its schools, so I have been formed by the kindness and guidance of so many of the clergy, faculty, and staff. To each of them, I owe a debt of gratitude. 

I have been blessed to have two pastors, Msgrs. Brennan and Celano, who have both taught me much about what it means to be a priest and pastor of souls. I am deeply grateful for their examples, their wisdom, and the lessons they imparted to a new priest. I thank as well the priests and deacons with whom I have had the pleasure of serving in our church and schools. I am grateful for their fellowship, their humble service to our God and Church, and for how they each show the gift of the vocation of ordained ministry. I am especially grateful for the assistance of Deacon Reynaldo Lopez who helped me each week to prepare my homilies for the Spanish Mass, and who has been my help and support in ministering to the Spanish Community.

I am grateful, too, for the administrators, faculty, and staff of our schools, for the parish office staff, and for all of those, too numerous to name, who contribute so much to the parish missions of faith, worship, education, and service, and who have always been models of discipleship with whom it has been a privilege to work. Thank you all for your assistance, your kindness, and your dedication to our parish and schools that is so crucial for the Church in Somerville.

While I am leaving this assignment, I will not be gone for long. I will be around during breaks, and upon completion of my studies, will return to the Diocese of Metuchen to resume priestly ministry, somewhere. But know that, wherever I am, I take you all with me in heart, mind, and prayer as I leave you. Please pray for me as well, for I will certainly need your prayers as I complete my studies. While I am away I may be reached at my parish email, [email protected].

Thank you, and may God bless you all, and our Immaculate Mother keep you.

Fr. Joe Illes