VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
“Dad? They are wearing sandals. Don’t they know?” I remember asking my father while driving home from church. It was the dead of winter in upstate New York and we were wearing boots, jackets and mittens. But the visiting friars did not seem to mind the cold as they stood outside the church and warmly greeted everyone after Mass. They really seemed like crazy men. Crazy, holy and joyful.
Growing up, I knew I had the calling to be a priest. But, I also wanted to be a religious. Sometimes, however, the plans we have for ourselves may not be in God’s design. I do not care for the phrase, “When one door closes, another will open.” I did apply to Maryknoll, which was close to my home, but was rejected. Fast forward, after finishing college, I completed my graduate degrees at the Maryknoll School of Theology. In one way, the door to my first choice of entering a religious congregation was locked. But God opened a window and I was able to climb in.
Most of my priestly life has been spent working in the parish. Of course, parish work has its challenges. Yet, if I were to self-describe, I am a shepherd that loves to preach, and a preacher that loves to shepherd. If you go to a parish and you look for bad people, you will find them. If you go to a parish and look for good people, you will find them. I look for the good people and lots of them find me.
Holy and joyful. The friars in upstate New York took time to really be present with us, especially with the kids and the young adults, even though they were only in our parish Saturday night and Sunday. After I entered the Capuchin Franciscans, one of those friar-priests became my provincial, and the other became my vocation director. Another I had as a seminary teacher. They all remembered me, “Hey! You’re the kid from Stony Point.”
When we keep green, we grow; when we are ripe, we can rot. Thus, we need to keep growing. What’s your favorite book? One day, Father Leo Faletoi, a good friend of Father Eli Carter, called me and said, “Mike, you are always talking about the church fathers. Would you like some church father books?” Father Eli was moving. I was in the process of leaving St. Elizabeth’s parish in Aiea for Immaculate Conception parish in Ewa. To have received the 57 volumes — the complete series — was such a great gift.
In my library, I have books on Franciscan spirituality, general spirituality and the church fathers. I have always gleamed wisdom, encouragement and sometimes great consolation from their spirituality and history. People may frequently hear me quoting from Cyril, Augustine and Ambrose in talks, missions and preaching. I wish others would rediscover them.
According to an old tradition, whenever there was a pontifical Mass or celebration in the Vatican, clergy would line up according to rank. Jesuits would be first, Dominicans somewhere in-between, with Capuchins always in the back. However, as the last, they were always near the Holy Father.
Thus my request to be the last of this Dominican-inspired column has now been fulfilled. Be encouraged! Keep growing!
Father Michel Dalton is a Capuchin Franciscan of Our Lady Star of the Sea Custody of Guam/Hawaii in the Province of St. Mary. He was professed in 1969 and ordained in 1978. He served 17 years in Guam. This year marks his 26th year of ministering in the Diocese of Honolulu. He is pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Kuliouou
Editor’s note: This is the final column of “Viriditas: Soul Greening” by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP.
