![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/ShsVZdpWCPI\/AAAAAAAAFpw\/jmU3g5Txr0c\/s400\/513-bn-20090525-A001-forclassof1969a-2024-MI0001.embedded.prod_affiliate.50.jpg\")
<\/a>Afterward, they stood for photos shoulder to shoulder in their pressed white vestments, looking with pious expressions at the camera, as if peering into the future.<\/p>\nLittle did they know at the time what was in store.<\/p>\n
Most of them ended up as respected pastors and are now approaching retirement. A few left the priesthood and got married. One of them was elevated to bishop and Tuesday will be installed in the Diocese of Syracuse.<\/p>\n
The Class of 1969 was one of the largest ever in the Buffalo diocese \u2014 and a stark contrast to the state of priestly vocations now. In many ways, it was a class on the cusp.<\/p>\n
Its members were called into a whole different priesthood than the one they ended up learning and practicing. Not that they minded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really did think there was going to be a major change in the direction of the church,\u201d said the Rev. George L. Reger, pastor of Blessed Trinity Church.<\/p>\n
The country was in upheaval over the Vietnam War, inner-city riots and campus protests, and the Catholic Church in the United States was in the midst of its own drama, adjusting to a new Mass in English, along with other liturgical and philosophical changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sands were shifting under our feet in the institution we were committing ourselves to,\u201d said the Rev. John J. Leising, senior associate pastor of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Clarence.<\/p>\n
In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued his controversial encyclical \u201cHumanae Vitae,\u201d which declared artificial birth control sinful and prompted widespread backlash among most American Catholics, including at St. John Vianney Seminary in East Aurora, where the Class of 1969 was being educated. Several faculty members were removed because they would not support the decree.<\/p>\n
Priests influenced by moral theologians such as the Rev. Bernard Haring and educated in the ideals of Vatican II \u2014 which called for a more pastoral style, greater openness to other faiths and more participation by laypeople in the liturgy and life of the church \u2014 watched those ideals unravel quickly in early parish assignments.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur expectations were so geared up, so wired, that when we hit reality, it was a difficult adjustment to make,\u201d said the Rev. Angelo M. Chimera, former pastor of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which closed in 2008.<\/p>\n
In 1969, the diocese had more than 600 active priests working in 272 parishes, and many of the old-school pastors ran their parishes with an iron fist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was oil and water coming together, and we had casualties,\u201d said Chimera, who experienced his own clashes with an older pastor early on.<\/p>\n
Some pastors were downright cruel, locking up the rectory refrigerator and prohibiting young associates from visiting parishioners.<\/p>\n
The Rev. Daniel J. Palys, pastor of St. Gabriel in Elma, remembers as a young priest being greeted by a new pastor: \u201cHis first words to me were, \u2018I\u2019m the boss, and you\u2019re not.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
That same pastor refused to give out the rectory phone number to parishioners, and at dinner, \u201che put your food on your plate for you and told you how much to eat,\u201d Palys said.<\/p>\n
In his time as an assistant pastor at Annunciation Church on the West Side, Monsignor Paul J. E. Burkard helped establish Concerned Ecumenical Ministries, working with other religious groups to help the poor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pastor at the time just wanted nothing to do with that. It was foreign territory,\u201d Burkard said.<\/p>\n
There were other adjustments.<\/p>\n
Leising said that it took him years to build up his social graces.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy people skills needed a lot of developing. I\u2019d go to a wake, and I wouldn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Rev. Richard S. DiGiulio acknowledged that he struggled early in his priesthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get out [of seminary], you\u2019re expected to be an initiator and a motivator, and I had a hard time with that. I expected to be given more guidance. That was uncomfortable for me,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Check out the News link<\/a> for the rest of the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With ordination season upon us, the Buffalo News decided to check in with a group of men who were ordained 40 years ago. It’s a fascinating glimpse at “the way we were” as a church — and the way we are. Take a look: It took two Buffalo cathedrals and a basilica in Lackawanna to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links-r-us","category-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\n
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