You Were Born for This with Fr. John Riccardo
Jun 1, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
In this episode, Fr. John and Mary continue to talk about transitions in parish life, only this time Fr. John asks Mary to speak about this from the perspective of someone in the pews. It all ends in…
John RiccardoHost
Mary GuilfoyleHostNo entities detected.
So much like last week's conversation, we were talking about, um, new priest assignments and transitions.
But this happens, again, as I mentioned, not too far from where we're gonna be soon.
This is Paul's... a part of Paul's farewell speech to the elders, uh, in Ephesus, and it, it took place, uh, at the port, uh, as you'll read here in a second.
But I, I think, you know, this passage, which is so moving, I mean, I just ache for something like this to actually happen in our parish families 'cause I, I, I think we forget oftentimes, as we mentioned again last week, that these kinds of transitions, these farewells as priests move and then new priests come, they, they bring with them, at least for some people, not for everybody, uh, but they bring real grief.
And this text, it not only normalizes grief, it shows what we're supposed to be in the Church.
So, so we shouldn't be surprised that it reveals this amazingly deep bond that Paul has with his people, and that, that I know priests long to have with the people that they get to accompany for however many years they're with, and that I hope, anyway, that the people long to have with us.
And I pray y- those of you who are listening can feel the, the beautiful emotion here.
And they all wept and embraced Paul, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see, that they should see his face no more.
That passage doesn't in any way imply that we're not gonna see or you're not gonna see your former pastor or associate anymore.
But it does speak to the reality that when our spiritual fathers leave our parishes and they get reassigned, those of us in the pews experience that real loss and sorrow.
And, and we say often, you know, we just had a, a leadership immersive with us last week, and we're always talking about Paul as a model for leaders, and we say, you know, like, Paul didn't have a staff.
I mean, if there's a, if there's a biblical text that-... that more powerfully and emotionally reveals that than this, I don't know what it is.
I mean, here's a man, he- he's not saying goodbye to coworkers in the sense that, you know, like, "Hey, we used to have a job together."
So much like last week's conversation, we were talking about, um, new priest assignments and transitions.
But this happens, again, as I mentioned, not too far from where we're gonna be soon.
This is Paul's... a part of Paul's farewell speech to the elders, uh, in Ephesus, and it, it took place, uh, at the port, uh, as you'll read here in a second.
But I, I think, you know, this passage, which is so moving, I mean, I just ache for something like this to actually happen in our parish families 'cause I, I, I think we forget oftentimes, as we mentioned again last week, that these kinds of transitions, these farewells as priests move and then new priests come, they, they bring with them, at least for some people, not for everybody, uh, but they bring real grief.
And this text, it not only normalizes grief, it shows what we're supposed to be in the Church.
So, so we shouldn't be surprised that it reveals this amazingly deep bond that Paul has with his people, and that, that I know priests long to have with the people that they get to accompany for however many years they're with, and that I hope, anyway, that the people long to have with us.
And I pray y- those of you who are listening can feel the, the beautiful emotion here.
And they all wept and embraced Paul, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see, that they should see his face no more.
That passage doesn't in any way imply that we're not gonna see or you're not gonna see your former pastor or associate anymore.
But it does speak to the reality that when our spiritual fathers leave our parishes and they get reassigned, those of us in the pews experience that real loss and sorrow.
And, and we say often, you know, we just had a, a leadership immersive with us last week, and we're always talking about Paul as a model for leaders, and we say, you know, like, Paul didn't have a staff.
I mean, if there's a, if there's a biblical text that-... that more powerfully and emotionally reveals that than this, I don't know what it is.
I mean, here's a man, he- he's not saying goodbye to coworkers in the sense that, you know, like, "Hey, we used to have a job together."
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