TRANSITIONS IN PRIESTLY MINISTRY...IN HOMAGE TO FATHER JERRY RYLE.........

As the summer unfolds so do transitions in the priestly ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. 14 parishes will be receiving new Pastors including the two parishes in which I have most recently served, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish and St. Philomene Parish, in the Arden -Arcade area of northeastern Sacramento. I would happily become Pastor of either of these two wonderful parish communities, but presently the kidney transplant I am awaiting blocks my being appointed to any parish. It is a personal disappointment and pastoral frustration for me not to be allowed to do the very work I I was ordained a priest to do. Please God, my transplant will take place soon and after the necessary convalescence I can resume full participation as a priest and pastor of the Church. The outgoing Pastor of Presentation Parish, Father Andrew is being transferred to Isleton / Walnut Grove. Father Jerry Ryle, like myself, a local grown, native vocation of Sacramento, is retiring from parish ministry after 41 years. But he will immediately have a very busy retirement as he becomes the Director of Campus Ministry at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Father Jerry will be truly missed by the People of God in the Sacramento Diocese, especially in the parishes he has served, including as Pastor over the past 23 years, St. Lawrence, North Highlands, St. Christopher, Galt, and St. Philomene, Arden-Arcade. Father Jerry's spirituality, theology, and liturgical prowess, are renowned. His love of God and the Church are undeniably evident in the manner in which he ministers and interacts with others. Possessing a forthrightness with and empathy for his parishioners and brother priests, Father Jerry has a natural intellectual curiosity about life from focusing on the depth of the daily news, to a personal insightful appreciation of the arts. Another of Father Jerry Ryle's many gifts is his stellar ability as a storyteller. His connection with others is often grounded in their stories and his ability to relay the stories he hears into pertinent and meaningful shared experiences with the community of believers. I am extremely grateful to Father Jerry for the friendship and fraternity he has extended to me the past two and a half years. We have worked collaboratively together quite well because our Sacramento roots and ecclesiolgy comfortably parallel one another. As we bid him farewell for now and wish him all the best in his new campus ministry in Connecticut I pray his personal pastoral spirit will continue to permeate the hearts and minds of the People of God here in the Sacramento Diocese and there on the East coast at Sacred Heart University. Thank you Reverend Father GERALD RYLE for your more than four decades of priestly ministry in Sacramento. May the Lord (God) continue to bless you and keep you, Amen. May the Lord make God's Face shine upon you and be gracious to you always, Amen. May the Lord God give you peace now and forever, Alleluia AMEN.........Father Troy David Powers