MARBLEHEAD — How does a priest know how effective he’s been in a parish?
It’s easy to look back on 14 years at a church like Star of the Sea in Marblehead and come up with honest self-assessment. It’s better, though, to hear it from others.
Father Michael Steele is departing after 14 years as pastor of Star of the Sea Church. As of June, he’ll be off to St. Margaret Mary’s in Westwood, where part of his project will be to oversee the collaborative merger with St. Denis in the same town.
Those who know him, and have worked with him, know Fr. Steele will do a fabulous job in Westwood, a town west of Boston where Xaverian Brothers High School is located.
“This is a great opportunity for him,” said Ray McNulty, a member of the Star of the Sea parish council and a religious education teacher and lector. “He’ll be great for that situation.”
Both McNulty and fellow parishioner Kate Daily speak highly of Fr. Steele’s ability to relate to the youth of the parish.
“I think he’s fabulous with the children,” said Daily, a CCD teacher and eucharistic minister. “He holds their attention.
“He brings an energy to the room,” she said. “He makes you want to do things. I never really imagined being a CCD teacher and a minister, and all of a sudden, I was. It’s been great.”
McNulty goes one better.
“He dominates a room with the power of his personality,” he said. “Absolutely.”
Fr. Steele himself comes from an educational background, and both McNulty and Daily point to that as a stepping-off point for his effectiveness in the parish. Fr. Steele, before becoming pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish in Wakefield 26 years ago, was the superintendent for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Boston. And he’s always made it his mission to nurture young people and their families as the backbone of the parish.
“Pope Francis says that the youth and the family are the heart of every parish,” Fr. Steele said.
To that end, the parish has a standing-room-only children’s mass at 9 a.m. every Sunday.
“There’s often a homily aimed at the level of young people, and there may be a program — depending on the time of the year — where there may be a pageant around the altar. And there may be dialogue between the priest and young people.
“That mass is standing room only,” McNulty said. “And we’ve got families coming from Marblehead and surrounding communities.”
Fr. Steele says what spurs him on is “a zest for the gospel, and a calling for others to give reach to the gospel. I have a desire for family liturgy.
“We have to ask ourselves ‘how are we doing the work of God?’ he said. “One thing I did when I came here was to make it a point to listen to what people had to say. It takes three years, I think, to take the direction you’ve identified as a goal. Before I came here, there were no goals or objectives written down. I’ve changed them three times since then. Goal-setting is so important.”
Fr. Steele takes a lot of pride in how he has restructured the Catholic education program in the parish, a source of accomplishment shared by those he works with in the parish.
“There are more than 1,200 people in the program,” McNulty said. And, said Daily, he’s made a difference.
“He’s built a real sense of community,” she said. “There are so many things to do here, and he is willing to educate anyone who comes through the door. He’ll take you any way you are. If you walk into mass late, he’ll welcome you.”
Fr. Steele, a 1968 Saugus High graduate, has had varied life and educational experiences. In 1969, he was among the many at the Woodstock rock festival in Bethel, N.Y. He received degrees from Merrimack College and the University of San Francisco, and worked for a spell as a civil servant.
He said he thought he might want to be a priest as he was leaving college, but a friend told him to experience life before making a decision. What changed his life, he said, was working for the Appalachian project in Kentucky.
“You don’t know how blessed you are until you see what life is like for some of those people.”
By the time he went into the seminary, he was sure. Also perhaps as a result of his experiences, he’s encouraged and motivated young people in his parish to commit to service. And, high school seniors who are in the religious education program, and who complete four years of service, will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
He loves what he does, and where he’s done it, but embraces the challenges the new assignment will bring.
“I think there’s always time for a change in parish community,” he said.
