In retirement, he is looking forward to reconnecting with family
When Father Richard Mooney reached his 40th priesthood anniversary in 2019, he called his vocation “a grand adventure.”
Now, after 43 years as a diocesan priest, he is on to the next part of his journey: retirement.
“(It) will probably be as much an adventure as anything else I’ve ever done,” he said with a laugh.
Father Mooney said the focus of his ministry has always been on the people to whom he ministered and whom he encountered in various roles.
“I look back and think of the number of people I have kept in touch with, who have gone on to live very fruitful, Christian lives, and I think that’s probably what this is all about,” he said. “We have to look back and look at ‘people things,’ not at ‘building things’ or ‘money things’ or any of that. I think we look back, and we see the people whose lives we’ve affected.”
That bond is reciprocated as he remembers the people who affected his own life.
Laypeople were key in helping Father Mooney overcome a major challenge in his life: alcoholism – “the family curse.”
Now sober for 15 years, the priest said God helped in his struggle, but “it was more laypeople in my life who were concerned about me and loved me enough to challenge me and be there when I needed them.”
The priest noted that in the course of his ministry, he has observed the local Church “become a little bit too cautious.”
He mentioned the aging population and changing demographics, which he acknowledged can be “difficult” to accept; however, he said, “we all saw it coming.”
Diverse experiences
The clergy shortage is another issue of which people have long been aware, according to the priest.
“I was talking about this stuff before I was ordained 43 years ago,” he said. “We’ve been having this conversation for 40-plus years, and I just think we’ve become a bit too ‘putting fingers in holes in the dike,’ and I think there’s a lot more energy out there than I think we are sometimes willing to tap into.”
Father Mooney also said that “the diocesan priesthood… has been more and more restricted to parishes” over the last 40 years.
“In an earlier age of Church, if a priest wanted to take a break from parish life and do something different, in many dioceses, he could teach in a school, administer an office, be a hospital chaplain, and so on and so forth. These were options within a diocesan framework. But in the last 40 years, basically all of that has been taken off the table, and what the diocesan priest has for variety is different kinds of parishes,” Father Mooney explained.
He reflected on his diverse experience as a priest, which included service as a pastor, parochial vicar, campus minister and state prison chaplain.
“I have been lucky in that I had different campus ministries and the prison ministries that I did. So, between the different kinds of parishes – from big, huge, suburban things to tiny, little, rural places – and the different kinds of campuses and the prison work, I’ve had an unusually varied career for a diocesan priest, and I like that,” he said. “I think it has exposed me to all kinds of situations and people that I most likely would never have come in contact with otherwise.”
Father Mooney said that “people and their stories” made him happiest as a pastor.
“The world comes to you when you’re a Catholic priest. Maybe not the whole world, but a big chunk of the world comes to you,” he said. “I think I’ll just miss the surprises that walk through the door – people and their stories, and what they need, and what they have done, and what it has done to them, and so on and so forth. It just walks right into your life. I love that. So, I think I’ll miss that.”
Another adventure
Father Mooney officially retired on July 1, 2022. His final assignment was as assistant pastor of Good Shepherd, South Hill; St. Catherine, Clarksville; and St. Paschal Baylon, South Boston; where he served for three and half years.
Unfortunately, he did not get to enjoy the day, as he was in the hospital with a serious illness at that time.
“I was not fully conscious for a lot of it, but I had the doctors tell me it was close. So, I spent about three weeks in the hospital and then another three weeks recuperating at home, still on antibiotics,” he recalled, “and it’s during that period of time that my retirement date came and went.”
However, on Sunday, Aug. 28, Father Mooney finally marked his milestone at Church of the Good Shepherd, South Hill, as the parish celebrated its 100th anniversary.
“They made me a little cake, and I said a few words there,” he said. “That’s how we celebrated. I was glad to be there and glad to be able to celebrate with them. I’m feeling much better.”
While he has already begun helping at some parishes on weekends, the priest looks forward to focusing on his family and some personal interests in his retirement.
“I want to get reconnected. I have 11 nieces and nephews and 18 great-nieces and -nephews, and some of them I’ve actually not met or only met briefly. So, I want to get back into getting to know my family,” he said, adding that he is “looking forward to road trips” when visiting more distantly located people.
Father Mooney described himself as an “amateur potter” and said he does “a fair amount of drawing,” so he plans to explore his artwork more deeply in retirement.
And the priest has not ruled out new adventures, either.
“Well, I’m living right on the edge of the VCU campus,” he added, “so who knows, I may go take a class or something.”