| Vol. 44 No. 10 June 1, 2005 | |
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Msgr. Fagan fullfilled missionary aspirations at home By Pete Sheehan | |
| Huntington — As a
student at St. Peter’s College, New Jersey, more than 50
years ago, Msgr. Robert Emmet Fagan recalls, he was
still grappling with his vocation. Growing up with his brother and sisters in a Brooklyn Catholic home, Msgr. Fagan said, the priesthood seemed attractive, but he was uncertain. “I dated quite a bit in high school.” As a senior at the Jesuit-run Brooklyn Preparatory High School, he began thinking about the priesthood while on senior retreat, Msgr. Fagan said. He studied pre-med at St. Peter’s while considering his vocation. His older brother, John, also pursued the priesthood. (Msgr. John Fagan is now retired after many years as director of Little Flower Children’s Services.) |
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| “I used to
talk to an older Jesuit there. He suggested that I go to
Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, finish my
philosophy requirements, and then decide,” Msgr. Fagan
said. “‘After all,’ he told me, ‘The door swings both
ways.’” So he transferred to Huntington for his last two years of undergraduate study, as was the practice at the time. He also began reserve training with the Marines in Virginia. Mission at home “It was after World War II, so we were required to get reserve training. I decided to go summers and not interrupt my schooling,” Msgr. Fagan said. “During that training, I met people from all over the country, mostly men who were college-educated. “The ignorance of college-educated men toward the Catholic Church astounded me,” Msgr. Fagan said. “I even thought about going to Maryknoll.” His father, Thomas Fagan, a Wall Street broker and a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, understood his son’s missionary aspiration but offered some advice. “In every parish, there is a mission. There is always someone who needs help.” On June 4, 1955, he was ordained a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese. Msgr. Fagan will celebrate his anniversary this Saturday at a Mass at 11:30 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, Bay Shore. A reception will follow at the Montfort Retreat Center there. His first assignment as a priest was to the newly-founded Maria Regina Church, Seaford. “We didn’t have a church yet. We used a building which is now a meat shop. Someone once told me that you will never have a better experience of the priesthood than at a new parish. It was great. You never had to ask for volunteers. Everybody showed up. “As a new priest, you were involved in everything from car raffles to teaching religious education,” Msgr. Fagan said. They didn’t have textbooks, so they wrote up materials for the classes. In 1960, “I got the letter that I was to report to Msgr. Charles Bermingham,” director of diocesan Catholic Charities. “He told me, ‘I don’t want any experts by appointment. You are going to Fordham University for a degree in social work,’” Msgr. Fagan said. He pursued his master’s studies while working for Charities. “I learned a lot from him,” Msgr. Fagan said. “He was so aware of what was going on and he built up Charities on Long Island. When I started there we had one office, in Mineola.” Eventually, Charities opened several more. “Under his leadership, Charities opened the first nongovernmental health clinic in Suffolk County.” ‘Eye-opener’ Msgr. Fagan’s first assignment at Charities was ministering to migrant farm workers on the East End. Many of those workers suffered from poor living conditions and exploitation from the crew bosses who recruited them. “It was a real eye-opener. It was also a volatile issue in the community.” Later, Msgr. Fagan moved to the family division. “We brought Big Brothers to Long Island,” he explained. Msgr. Fagan became director of Charities in 1970. “It was very challenging” as Charities launched new endeavors, including programs for people with mental and physical disabilities. When Msgr. Fagan started Charities’ first residence in Valley Stream for people who were mentally retarded, there was some bitter opposition. “In time, the people accepted it, even some of the leading opponents. “I learned from that,” he noted. When opening future residences, he met first met with parish and community leaders, including likely opponents, to ease their concerns. In 1983, Msgr. Fagan was assigned to St. Patrick’s in Bay Shore. Though confident of his ability as an administrator, “things had changed since I was in a parish. The priests didn’t do everything anymore. St. Patrick’s had 700 volunteers and all kinds of different programs,” Msgr. Fagan said. He learned to work with the people in the parish. “I was following a beloved pastor, Msgr. James Coffey. Both he and (Msgr.) John Rowan, the associate at the time, were very gracious to me as I was coming in.” He continued the parish’s ministry to people in need, supporting the hospitality center which served meals for the hungry and homeless and an outreach to former mental patients left homeless after a fire destroyed the Bay-bright Hotel, Msgr. Fagan said. He also joined in efforts to revitalize downtown Bay Shore. He left St. Patrick’s in 2000, serving as senior associate at St. Jude’s, Mastic Beach. “Then, Bishop Murphy asked me to serve as interim vicar for the diocese’s western vicariate” the next year, until the ordination of Auxiliary Bishop Paul Walsh in 2003. Now retired, Msgr. Fagan lives at Immaculate Conception here. “I travel more now than I did before,” assisting at different parishes and driving out to visit his brother at Little Flower. “I spend a lot of time with my nieces and nephews, and their kids, who are now becoming adults. I also get to visit friends I haven’t seen in years.” Of all his experiences, one thing that stands out in his mind is the experience of hearing confession, “seeing people get a sense that they are forgiven, that God loves them more than they imagined. “As a social worker, you learn that it takes a long time in counseling to get to the heart of a problem. You have to develop a relationship. Yet in confession, the person’s faith bridges that, and you can sometimes get to the heart of it so quickly. “That has always astounded me,” Msgr. Fagan said. “You know it’s not you. It’s the presence of the Holy Spirit.” |
