A Pastor for the Interim

Enter RUMOUR, painted full of tongues.
(Henry IV, Pt. II)

It appears that due to Fr. Sacco’s continuing ill health, we will have an interim pastor at our parish of Saint Rita.

Here is what I’ve been able to cobble together from various Internet sources about the man who will shepherd us starting Friday, 1 July (the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) and continuing through the end of September.

Rev. Kenneth Baker, S.J., entered the Society of Jesus in 1947. He studied theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria and was ordained there in 1960. He taught philosophy and theology at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington from 1961 to 1978. In 1970 he briefly served as president of Seattle University.

He was editor of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review from 1971 to January 2010 and, as editor emeritus, he continues to write for the magazine. In 1975 he became president of Catholic Views Broadcasts, Inc., which produces a weekly 15-minute radio program that airs on 50 stations across the United States.

Fr. Baker has built and run three community television stations and has also appeared several times on EWTN, both as a guest and in programs commenting on the Bible.

He is the author of numerous books, including the monumental three-volume catechism Fundamentals of Catholicism (Ignatius Press, 1982).

For the past fifteen years or more, he has been associated with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, including a brief stint as priest in residence and temporary administrator at Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in Pequannock, NJ. This Chapel is run by the FSSP and exclusively celebrates the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

If his most recent editorial is any indication, we shall be in very good hands indeed.

Deo gratias!

Related: Hopes and Prayers for a New Pastor.