Truly a man for others, Monsignor James E. Wall, who much prefers to be called simply, Father Jim, is the Vicar for Priests as well as Co-Director of Continuing Formation for Priests in the Diocese of Buffalo. He has a caring, concerned way about him that makes him perfect for these positions.
As a child, he was the second oldest of four brothers and one sister who grew up on the West side of Buffalo. He attended grammar school at his parish, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School. His family moved to the East side of Buffalo and he spent his eighth grade year at St. Agnes. At graduation he thought he wanted to be an electrician. He told his parents he would pursue electrical engineering and they responded by saying, “Whatever will make you happy.” The night before he was to commit to Hutch Tech for high school, he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned wondering if he had made the right decision. Electricians could help people have light and warmth in their homes, he thought, but priests could give light and warmth to people in ways that will matter for eternity. It was the first time in the thirteen years of his life that he had trouble sleeping. In the morning he approached his parents and told them that he would prefer to study for the priesthood instead. They responded with the very same answer, “Whatever will make you happy.”
He entered the Minor Seminary which was on Main Street in Buffalo. The seminary moved to Dodge Street where he finished out his high school years and two years of college. From there he went on to Our Lady of the Angels Seminary at Niagara University where he received a BA in Classical Languages and an MA in World History.
Father Jim was ordained at the New Cathedral on Delaware Avenue by Auxiliary Bishop Leo Smith who was the administrator of the diocese at the time. Bishop Burke had recently passed away in Rome and his successor had not yet been named. Father Jim remembers many things about that day such as lying on the cold marble floor while the litany of saints was prayed. There were 19 men ordained that day and the cathedral was filled with friends and relatives. They all wanted a blessing from every new priest. This took a very long time. Father Jim was one of the last to leave the cathedral. Spirits were bright but that day, March 9, 1963, was a cold, damp, rainy day. After the ceremony everyone rushed to their cars to escape, as best they could, the cold and rain. In the excitement his own family left for his reception without him! His dad returned a short time later to retrieve him. “Everyone at the reception had a good laugh over that one,” Father said. That stood out in his mind as one of the most memorable moments of his ordination day. He remembered thinking, “This must be a portent of things to come!” He also felt akin to the astronaut who had recently landed on the moon, Neil Armstrong, who said, “I have been preparing for this moment my whole life, what am I going to do with the rest of it?” Fr. Jim had begun preparing for the priesthood when he was 13 years old. Another 13 years had passed and at age 26, he thought, “Now what do I do?”
The answer came quickly enough as he headed to Puerto Rico for the first year of his priesthood. His mission was to help out at two parishes while learning the Spanish language. When he returned to the Buffalo area, he was assigned to the Missionary Apostolate of Brant and North Collins where he ministered to the Puerto Rican farm workers and their families. After that, he became part of the first missionary band of priests from the diocese to serve in Bolivia, South America. He spent two and a half years there and then returned to SS. Columba and Brigid Parish during the time of the race riots in 1967.
His first assignment as pastor was to St. Joseph Parish in Fredonia. He was then assigned to SS. Peter and Paul in Jamestown and after that, appointed Director of the St. Columban Retreat Center in Derby. He spent 15 years in that position and while he was there he was also named Vicar for Priests for the Diocese of Buffalo.
In that capacity, Father Jim looks out for the well-being of priests. He works with the Continuing Formation Committee for Priests to arrange for priest retreats and the presentation of programs geared towards continuing formation for all priests. The Stella Maris Retreat House in Skaneateles, NY is one of the places priests are sent for pastoral preparation. Father Jim is involved with this as are other Continuing Formation Directors from the Upstate Dioceses. He helps with the annual Priest Convocation which is held at Christ the King Seminary in June.
In March of 2012 he will be involved in facilitating a preventative program designed to help priests avoid the negative consequences of too much stress. This will be held at Christ the King Seminary. Father Jim also helps priests by covering for them when they are ill or on vacation. He tries to visit them when they meet in their vicariates so that he can get to know them better. He lives at Christ the King Seminary and provides spiritual direction for a number of priests and seminarians of the diocese.
“I have really enjoyed every place I’ve been. Each has taught me something,” exclaimed Father Jim. He likes his position because he can be supportive of priests. He feels that because of the shortage, priests are taking pastorate positions much sooner than their comfort level might allow. He served as parochial vicar in various parishes for 19 years before becoming a pastor. Now a priest can be expected to be a pastor with only three or five years of priestly experience. It can be a daunting task.
He really enjoys celebrating the Eucharist, hearing confession and anointing the sick. Father Jim feels that “sacramental encounters are valuable in that they really connect you with people.” He believes, “A priest learns to be compassionate when he meets the people and understands the struggles they have.”
The preparation of good homilies is something Father Jim finds very challenging. The homilist has to be able to reach a variety of people, young and old, rich and poor, from a variety of backgrounds all at the same time. He has the opportunity to impart the Church's view and understanding of many topics and the way he presents his message determines whether it finds a home in their hearts. Father Jim feels that funeral homilies are especially challenging because people come to funerals from different faith backgrounds mostly to support the family of the deceased or out of respect for them, not necessarily with an open mind about the Catholic Faith. Their view of Catholicism can be positively or negatively influenced by what the priest says during the homily and how he celebrates the Eucharist. There is a window of opportunity there for the priest to impart the beauty of Catholic teaching and have it positively influence the listener. Many times Catholics who have lapsed in the practice of their faith will return after an experience at a Funeral Mass because the priest spoke to their heart at a time when they were moved to listen. That's an awesome responsibility!
Skiing, walking and biking are a few of the activities that Father Jim enjoys. He likes to exercise because it relieves stress. Even pursuing these activities though wasn’t enough to ward off a massive heart attack. On October 4, 2011 (the Feast of St. Francis) as he was saying Mass at Christ the King Seminary, Father Jim suffered just such an attack. If not for the quick thinking of seminarians and priests around him, the outcome could have been tragic. Help arrived in time and after having a stent inserted in the heart to relieve a blockage, he made a full recovery. Statistics were not in his favor and he and his doctor consider it a real miracle that he came out of it so well. Some two months later, his doctor pronounced him fully healed and has placed no restrictions on his activities. Father Jim is immensely grateful to the many, many people who prayed for him.
Father Jim believes prayer is the place to begin when discerning any important point of life. A vocation candidate should spend a great deal of time in prayer "asking God to indicate in some way that this is the direction in which he should go." If someone feels called to the priesthood, Father Jim feels that it is never wrong to try it. If a man enters the seminary to discover the plan God has for him, his time there will never be wasted. He may not become a priest but better to have taken steps to be sure than to wonder his whole life if that was what God intended for him all along.