St. Stephen's Catholic Church

   In the News....

September 28, 2001

“St. Stephen Parish in Weatherford Welcomes a New Pastor”

 By Mike Koller, Correspondent (Reprinted by permission from North Texas Catholic)

St. Stephen Parish in Weatherford welcomed a new pastor last month (August) with the arrival of Pallottine Father John Casey. Fr. Casey replaces Pallottine Father Liam Sweeney, whose health forced him to retire.

Coming to St. Stephen's, just west of Fort Worth, is a significant change for one whose previous duty consisted of nearly a quarter century in the Diocese of Lubbock, which is seeded with parishes in remote small towns. But Fr. Casey's vocation as a priest has unfolded in the itinerant manner of many priests' lives.

Born in Ireland, Fr. Casey, who jokes that he's 104 but is actually decades younger, served in London in the Diocese of Westminster before being sent abroad as a young priest.

He served six years in Argentina where, he says, he enjoyed some trout fishing in addition to his pastoral duties.  With the rising need for priests who could speak Spanish, Fr. Casey was asked to move to Texas in 1977.

Asked about his view of St. Stephen's and what he thinks are the challenges and opportunities there, Fr. Casey frankly admitted he was too new to offer an informed answer.  Explaining that he had been in Lubbock until two weeks ago, he said, "The most difficult thing is to get to know the people," who, he added, have been friendly and welcoming to him. He has formulated no specific goals for the parish.

"The main thing is to be able to get along with each other and respect one another," he said. "That goes for anybody we come in contact with."  Fr. Casey's work will conform with traditional priestly tasks, said Pallottine Father Philip McNamara.  "Mostly I expect he will be busy with the usual pastoral work and with the youth ministry and nursing homes,"  Fr. McNamara said.

And there's a large and growing Hispanic community in Weatherford too, which will tap Fr. Casey's bilingual skills, Fr. McNamara said.

But with the parish population expanding rapidly, the work may also be challenging, Fr. McNamara suggested.
St. Stephen's is a large and growing parish with some 70 new families coming through the door every year, he said.

"They get five to six new families a month, and the people there are very much involved in the life of the parish or want to be," Fr. McNamara said. "Weatherford is a different situation, because residentially it's expanding so quickly there west of Fort Worth."