FATHER DAVID BAKER
Fr. David Baker was ordained a Catholic priest on May 19, 2007. He is currently the parochial vicar at Queen of Heaven Church in West Seneca. Fr. Dave is a second-career vocation to the priesthood. He first studied mechanical engineering and worked at Cooper Turbocompressor, in Buffalo. He then spent two years as a computer network administrator at the University of Buffalo, which included supercomputer work for UB's Center For Computational Research.
Feeling drawn somehow to help the Diocese of Buffalo, he first inquired about the possibility of working for the diocese in the field of computers but there were no jobs available in that area. God had a different kind of involvement in mind for Fr. David.
It was while he was working at UB that Fr. Dave realized God was calling him to the priesthood - an invitation that had been made ten years earlier by his pastor, Msgr. Leo Hammerl. At the time, Fr. Dave had said, "Oh, Father, that's not for me. I want to date girls and work with computers." After doing both of those things for ten years, he realized that his pastor had been right after all. Fr. Dave always remained close to the Catholic Church through his college years and while working. He joined Quest Young Adult Ministry in the 1990's for social reasons but eventually took on a leadership role within the group. All these things pointed toward the priesthood.
So Fr. Dave switched from the study of Physics to the study of Metaphysics. In the seminary, he learned philosophy, languages, music history, and, of course, Scripture and theology. Along the way, he enjoyed ministry training at Buffalo General Hospital and the Franciscan Center, a South Buffalo shelter for homeless teens.
One of the greatest blessings of Fr. Dave's seminary formation was a chance to see the homeland of Jesus. He lived for a month in the Holy Land at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute and saw the whole country of Israel. (http://www.tantur.org/)
Despite having traveled abroad, Fr. Dave loves his hometown, the Diocese of Buffalo. He was born on the east side of Buffalo and grew up in Clarence, attending Clarence High School where he ran track and cross country for several years. His favorite event was the high jump.
When taking a break from ministry, Fr. Dave visits his family. He spends time with his mother, father and younger sister, sharing a meal at least once a week. He also enjoys reading, acoustic guitar, soccer, and extreme skating. Spiritually, his favorite saint is Mother Frances Cabrini (http://www.mothercabrini.org/) and he has a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (http://www.sacredheartdevotion.com/ ) His favorite Bible verse is 1Peter 3:15, "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence..."
One of the most special moments Fr. David remembers about his ordination to the priesthood is when Bishop Edward Kmiec anointed his hands with oil. His ordination to the deaconate the year before had been similar in some ways and also very special but with the anointing of his hands Fr. Dave recalls experiencing, "a great cry of rejoicing in heaven that another priest had been ordained." He said it was as if he had been given a small glimpse of heaven at that moment.
Celebrating Mass, preaching and administering the Sacraments are, for Fr. Dave, the best parts of being a priest. When people receive the sacraments from him, they take those graces and blessings which flow from God, through him, to them, out into the whole world.
In describing a challenge of priesthood, Fr. Dave is disappointed with the poor image priests have in the secular culture and media. He feels that the way priesthood is portrayed is very misleading. He thinks they've got the wrong idea and he would like the priesthood to be shown in a better light, the way it really is.
For those who are considering a vocation to the priesthood, Fr. Dave is very encouraging and advises anyone who is even just thinking about it to give it a try. The time they spend in the seminary is part of their discernment, not the end of it. When asked about his vocation, he exclaims that, "It's a great life!" Fr. Dave is shown here enjoying a little extreme skating. To view Fr. Dave "on the job,", visit the home page of this website.
Born and raised in LeRoy, New York, Gerard Leo Green was one of three children born to George and Marian Green. He has a sister, Nancy Stratton and a brother, John Green. Jerry attended St. Peter's Grade School and graduated from LeRoy High School in 1945. He spent a year in the U.S. Army from 1946 - 47 in Tokyo, Japan as a Photo Lab Technician. He then worked for Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, New York as a Lab Technician before deciding to continue his education. He entered St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland and received a BS in Chemistry in 1952.
The idea of becoming a priest occurred to Jerry Green in his senior year of college. He worked for Xerox in Rochester, New York as a chemist right after graduation but then decided to enter the seminary to study for the priesthood. Masses were celebrated in Latin at the time and Jerry was a little concerned about having to learn a new language. God provided and he was ordained at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo on May 26, 1956 by The Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke, Bishop of Buffalo. Fr. Jerry Green celebrated his first Mass the next day at his home parish of St. Peter, LeRoy. After ordination, Fr. Green was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in Angelica, as Administrator for a year. He spent the summer of '57 as chaplain for two Boy Scout camps, Schoelkopf and Scout Haven. Having achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 1945, scouting was very familiar to him. From 1957 - 1959, Fr. Green was assigned as an assistant at St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga, and then a very unusual request came his way. He was assigned to teach science at the newly formed Bishop Turner High School in Buffalo. He received a MA in Theology (Canon Law) at St. Bonaventure University in 1958. He also added graduate studies in chemistry and education at Canisius College to prepare for teaching. He taught at Bishop Turner from 1959 to 1974. Residing at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Buffalo, he helped out there on weekends and later at St. Martin of Tours. He was assigned to Our Lady of the Rosary in Wilson, as administrator in 1968. In 1973, Fr. Green was assigned administrator at St. Barnabas in Depew, a much larger parish. As the demands of parish life grew, he gave up teaching science. In 1976, he was made pastor of St. Barnabas where he remained for seventeen years.
Prior to 1983, Fr. Green would spend his days off with his parents in LeRoy. When they passed away, he spent a year looking for a place to call his own where he could spend time relaxing. He found a nice cottage on the shores of Lake Erie in Angola. In 1984, he was given the Prelate of Honor, which changed his title from Father to Monsignor Green. During his priesthood, Msgr. Green received many diocesan honors and service awards particularly the Curé of Ars awarded by Christ the King Seminary in 1999. Throughout the years he was a member of several church and civic organizations; far too many to list here. SS. Peter and Paul Church in Hamburg became his home in 1990. He was named pastor and spent the next nine years there until his retirement from administration in 1999. "You are a priest forever..." and so, although Msgr. Green is no longer assigned to any parish, he continues to help wherever he is needed. He fills in when priests go on vacation or need help in any way. He is happy to administer the sacraments and relieved not to have the responsibility of being a pastor.
Msgr. Green now resides in the home he purchased in 1984. He is very handy and enjoys "do-it-yourself" projects around the house. Some other hobbies include swimming, scuba diving, fishing and photography. He took a trip to Alaska in 2006, something he had dreamed about for a long time. In his many years as a priest, Msgr. Green found the time spent in administrative duties to be challenging. Most people don't realize how much paper work is involved in the day to day life of a priest. Also challenging is preparing homilies that will reach a wide range of people. With so many backgrounds and varied interests making up the body of a parish, it's difficult to come up with something to which everyone can relate. One of the things he most enjoys about priesthood is administering the Sacraments to people. Being involved personally with the families he has known during these special times in their lives gives his life great meaning. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, anniversaries, etc. bring people together and being a part of their family celebrations as well as their times of sorrow is a great privilege. When Msgr. Green gets the chance to talk to men curious about priesthood, he refers to a pamphlet concerning vocation awareness that asks the question, "Why?" and answers it with, "Why not?" He believes that in order to really know what God wants you to do with your life, you need to spend time in quiet prayer. You need to be open to whatever plans God has for you by saying, "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will." (Psalm 40)
Father Joseph Charles Paul Gatto was born in Dunkirk and attended Holy Trinity Roman Catholic grade school and Cardinal Mindszenty High School. Dunkirk is a small town, predominantly Catholic. Father Gatto was immersed in the traditions of our faith from an early age. He grew up in a Catholic household; his mother was of Polish descent and his father was Italian so the holidays and Church traditions were an important part of his youth. Celebrations included traditions of both sides of his family, such as Wigilia (meatless dinner) on Christmas Eve and the St. Joseph Table.
He was surrounded by wonderful priestly examples while at Cardinal Mindszenty. These men had a profound influence on his decision to become a priest. As Father Joe says, "they were coaches, they were teachers and they were school principals. They did your weddings. Not one of them left the priesthood. They were eight happy men. There were no facades about them. They gave me a sense that I wanted to be like them."
Father Gatto played four sports and dated during College at Wadhams Hall in Ogdensburg, New York. When he made the decision to become a priest, Bishop Edward Head asked him to attend Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he was trained by the Jesuits. He was ordained a priest on July 9, 1983. After briefly serving as administrator at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Forestville, Father Joe joined St. Leo the Great Parish, Amherst as parochial vicar. After he had served there for three years, Bishop Head asked him to serve as associate vocation director for the Diocese. Fr. Joe also served as co-host of the "Real to Reel" television program for the Diocesan Office of Communication. He was later asked to return to Rome for his doctorate, which he earned in systematic theology from Gregorian University in 1994.
Father Joe has been teaching at Christ the King Seminary since 1990. At the Seminary, he has served as Vice-Rector, Director of Recruitment, Director of Formation and Directory of Pre-Theology. He is currently an Adjunct Faculty Member.
While his Diocesan assignments have been fulfilling, it is parish ministry that has proved to be his true calling. He became pastor of St. John the Baptist in Lockport in 2002. During his tenure at St. John the Baptist, Parish Outreach was redefined. Father Joe is also committed to the parish school concept. St. John's merged with DeSales in the 1990's and now consists of a regional elementary school, the second largest in the Diocese. Furthermore, he is also committed to a "total picture" of education, beginning for all of us with baptism; for young couples and for all Catholics, including those separated from the Church. As a son of separated and later divorced parents, Father Gatto has a special dedication to separated and divorced Catholics.
On July 14, 2006 Father Joe became the fourth pastor at St. Gregory the Great. Those who know him, find him to be a very open person and very committed to family and friends. He lives a full life and is an avid skier, enjoys hunting, rides a motorcycle, loves to read and is a big Buffalo and Cleveland Indians fan. Though his parents are deceased, his is very close to his two sisters.
I am Monsignor Paul Burkard. I was born in Buffalo, New York in September of 1943. My home parish is St. Mary, Swormville, which was then a small, rural parish. Today it is one of the largest and most quickly growing parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, on the boundary between the Town of Clarence and Amherst.
I attended eight grades of elementary school at St. Mary's. After graduation from St. Mary's, I attended the Diocesan Preparatory Seminary on Dodge Street in Buffalo for high school and the first two years of college. In college, I was a Philosophy major and a Classics minor. After my second year of college, I entered St. John Vianney Seminary, East Aurora for my final two years of college and four years of theology. While I was working on my M.A. in Theology at St. John Vianney, I began a M.A. in Sociology at Catholic University in Washington, D.D., taking classes during the summer sessions. I graduated from the seminary in May 1969.
I was ordained by Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. McLaughlin on May 24, 1969. On that day, I had twenty-three diocesan classmates ordained with me. We were ordained in three different churches. One third of us were ordained at St. Joseph's New Cathedral on Delaware and Utica in Buffalo, one third of my classmates were ordained at St. Joseph's Old Cathedral on Franklin Street (presently our only cathedral) and one third of my classmates were ordained at Our Lady of Basilica, Lackawanna. In all of the excitement of ordination day, I think the question top-most on my mind was, "Will I be able to adequately serve the needs of the people that God will entrust to me in my first assignment as a priest?" I had chosen to become a priest because I wanted to serve God's people as best I possibly could and I thank God every day for the grace He gave me through all of my assignments to be of help to the people placed in my care.
My first assignment was at Annunciation Parish, Lafayette and Grant Streets on the West Side of Buffalo. I was assigned part-time to the parish and part-time to the parish high school. During that period, I became very interested in the local ecumenical ministry on the West Side of Buffalo called the Concerned Ecumenical Ministry. It was a group of fourteen Protestant and Catholic Churches who had banded together to provide better social services for people of the area.
In 1974, Bishop Edward Head assigned me to the faculty of Wadhams Hall Seminary College, Ogdensburg, New York. I spent eleven years teaching religious studies and sociology at Wadhams Hall and also held the position of Dean of Students and Vice Rector. I completed my M.A. in Sociology in May 1976.
In 1985, Bishop Head reassigned me to the faculty of Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, as Vice Rector and Director of Formation. I held that position until 1987 when Bishop Head invited me to assume the responsibility of his Assistant for Vocations and Priestly Formation for the Diocese of Buffalo. In this position, I oversaw the seminary education of our students in training for priesthood and also headed up the recruiting program for vocations in the Diocese of Buffalo. I was then appointed by Bishop Mansell to be the Pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Orchard Park, a large parish with a wonderful school and vibrant liturgical life.
My family today consists of my 93-year old mother and four siblings. My mother lives in Williamsville. My brother and his wife live in Clarence, as does one of my sisters and her family. My youngest sister and her husband and family live in Hamburg and my older sister is the Minister General of the Franciscan Sisters across New York State and Pennsylvania. Her motherhouse is in Syracuse.
My present assignment is as Pastor of Our Lady of Victory Basilica, President of Baker-Victory Services and Executive Vice President of the Homes of Charity. In this assignment, I work to continue the ministry begun by Father Nelson Baker in Lackawanna. With the help of 1,100 or more employees, we continue the social work, childcare and specialized needs care for over 3,000 people in the Western New York area. My present ministry also includes my role as Vice Postulator for the cause of beatification and canonization for Father Baker.
I enjoy reading gardening, traveling. All of these help me to keep my life in balance. I also enjoy teaching and giving spiritual retreats and conferences whenever possible.
After all these years of priesthood (almost forty), I am happy to say that there is nothing I would have rather done with my life than to become a Catholic priest. I challenge young men in the Western New York area today to consider this vocation. I can't think of a better way to help God's people than as a priest in the Diocese of Buffalo.
Born on Long Island, New York, in December, 1956, Joseph became the first son and fourth child in the Rogliano family. He moved, along with his parents and three older sisters, to the Buffalo area when he was six years old. He attended grade school at his home parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Springbrook. When he was just thirteen, he and his close knit Italian family experienced a great loss when his father passed away. Joe graduated from St. Mary's High School in Lancaster and continued studies at St. John Fisher College in Rochester. There he received a BS in Management and a BA in Psychology. He worked for Tops Markets, and McDonalds through his high school and college years.
After graduation, Joe found employment at Marine Midland Bank as an interviewer in the human resources department. He vividly recalls one comment made by his supervisor during his one-year evaluation: "It would behoove you to interview and hire more with your head and less with your heart." Knowing that he was a "heart" person, this evaluation became one of two "seeds" which led him to consider altering the path of his life. The other occurred when he made Mission at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in West Seneca. He was deeply touched by this experience which, coupled with his employment evaluation, led him to consider the vocation of priesthood.
In the fall of 1980, Joe entered Christ the King Seminary. In the summer of 1981, he went to his first parish assignment at Queen of All Saints in Lackawanna. He thoroughly enjoyed the two summers he spent there. His next parish assignment was at St. Amelia in Tonawanda under the guidance of the pastor, Msgr. Rupert Wright. He served as a pre-deacon for a summer, and after graduation, his transitional deaconate year. St. Joseph's Cathedral was the setting for his ordination to the deaconate on May 11, 1984. Less than a year later, Fr. Joe was ordained to the priesthood. At the time, it was customary for ordination to take place in the home parish of the candidate. Although St. Amelia's was not Fr. Joe's home parish, he asked his ordinary at the time, Bishop Edward Head, for permission to be ordained there. On April 19, 1985, he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Amelia Parish. Following ordination, Fr. Joe said his first Mass at St. Catherine of Siena in West Seneca, which was the parish he belonged to after his family moved out of Springbrook.
His first assignment as a priest was at St. Bernadette in Orchard Park where he spent three and a half years working with, and learning from Msgr. Richard Nugent. He then went to St. Teresa, South Buffalo for six years, and was further groomed for ministry under the guidance of Fr. Ted Berg. His first taste of major fundraising came during his time at St. Teresa's where he had the privilege of seeing the church go through a complete restoration, under the careful leadership of Fr. Berg. After that assignment, Fr. Joe went to St. Gregory the Great in Williamsville, a wonderful opportunity for Fr. Joe to be reunited with his deacon mentor, a respected and admired friend, Msgr. Rupert Wright. He really enjoyed having the opportunity to minister with Msgr. Wright as a priest. While at St Greg's, in addition to many other ministries, he became very closely involved in a huge capital campaign, established to raise funds for a new ministry center and rectory. All three of his assignments brought him vast amounts of experience for what would lead to his first pastorate, St Anthony in Lockport, given to him by Bishop Henry Mansell. Two years later, he was assigned the added responsibility of Pastor to nearby St. Joseph. At the time, it was referred to as"twinning" when two parishes shared one pastor. After seven and a half years in Lockport, Fr. Joe moved on to Fourteen Holy Helpers, West Seneca a larger suburban parish, complete with school, convent, and even a small cemetery.
Fr. Joe has been at Fourteen Holy Helpers for a little more than two years. Ordained for twenty-three years, he feels blessed to have enjoyed the company of the other priests with whom he has served. The best part of priesthood for Fr. Joe is when he gets to set aside the business of each week and celebrate weekend Masses. He loves to preach and interact with his parishioners. A real people person, he enjoys all kinds of parish functions, even BINGO, which he periodically works. As far as describing a challenge of priesthood, he notes that it is difficult to please all of the people all of the time, a reality that he and every priest often face.
Among the many interests Fr. Joe has are running and exercising. He finds working out a great way to relieve stress and stay healthy. Fr. Joe enjoys the Bills, Sabres, and pro golf. He recently took up golf and is committed to learning everything he can about the sport. He enjoys movies and books. He is a true "early bird," and sees morning as a wonderful time of day when everything is quiet and the hustle and bustle has not yet begun. Prayer, meditating, and reading suit him best at that time of day, as opposed to later in the day. A real "beach bum" he enjoys vacationing on Ocean City's Jersey Shore with his family and friends. Birthdays, and many other celebrations, keep Fr. Joe and his family closely connected.
If someone thinks he is being called to the priesthood, Fr. Joe feels he should not ignore it. It is best to listen carefully, in prayer and throughout the day, and keep the door open to the possibility. One should ask many questions of himself and others. He should spend time talking to priests, lay people, friends and family members to find out what they would think about him becoming a priest. Fr. Joe stresses that people always have to give up something no matter what path they choose in life. The grass will always look greener on the other side if they focus on what they have left behind rather than what they have gained. Following his heart to the priesthood, Fr. Joe inspires all those he serves with his outgoing, energetic and optimistic personality.