Msgr. Perkins considers 50 years of priesthood ‘graced, blessed’
Throughout his life, including his 50 years of priesthood, decisions have been made for Msgr. Robert “Bob” Perkins with which he did not agree, but which, he would eventually realize, were God at work.
The first of those decisions came when the Chicago native, the oldest of Robert and Mary Ellen’s five children, was in eighth grade and anticipating going to the high school his friends would be attending.
“My mother came to me and said, ‘Your dad and I decided you’re going to St. Procopius Academy.’ So, I was sent to St. Procopius in Lisle, Illinois (eight miles from home), and it just became a very, very good place academically, sports-wise and also the Benedictines,” Msgr. Perkins said. “The Benedictines in their ora et labora (prayer and work) and their personal witness to life and the Church were a real blessing to me.”
Following high school, he attended St. Procopius College, where he studied history and pre-law.
“I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” the priest recalled.
Seminary life
What he described as his “love for the Benedictine community and the priests at my home parish of St. John of the Cross in Western Springs,” attracted Msgr. Perkins to enter the seminary.
“On Christmas morning of my senior year of college, I said to my mom, who was Catholic, and dad, who was a very, very faithful Methodist, individually, ‘I am planning to apply and enter the seminary,’ and she said to me, ‘Your dad and I will support you no matter what you choose in life.’ And my dad was overwhelmed in tears and did not say anything.”
When he applied to be a seminarian for the Diocese of Joliet, he was given a list of six seminaries from which to choose. He chose St. Thomas in Denver.
“Here’s the only reason I chose Denver: They had a hockey rink, and I was captain of the hockey team at St. Procopius,” Msgr. Perkins explained with a laugh. “It had nothing to do with ordination. I wanted to continue to skate.”
But another decision with which he didn’t agree, but which Msgr. Perkins considers “a very, very significant turning point” was made by the diocese. They sent him to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore which, he said, “wasn’t even on the list.”
Going into his second year in the seminary (1968), which he described as “a time of transition in seminary life,” he and a group of fellow seminarians presented suggestions for changes to academics and community life to the faculty.
“A group of us also redid the diaconate process,” Msgr. Perkins recalled. “We decided — and the faculty agreed — that at the end of third year, guys would go home for six months and try to get a feel for their diocese and ministry and then come back. That was a whole new process.”
Something he didn’t anticipate from the seminary’s director of pastoral training was an invitation to join the faculty.
“Father Ed Hogan asked me to transform the pastoral training program in some new ways,” Msgr. Perkins said about what occurred in 1970. “It was unheard of to have a deacon on the faculty. I stayed there until 1973.”
Changing dioceses
Having been ordained a priest on Nov. 27, 1971, he returned to the Diocese of Joliet and served as an associate pastor for seven years. However, by the end of 1977, he was seeking a different diocese in which to serve.
After accepting the invitation of his classmate, Msgr. Michael Schmied, to visit the Diocese of Richmond, he decided to seek excardination from Joliet and incardination to Richmond.
“I flew out a couple of months later and met with Bishop (Walter F.) Sullivan himself and the Richmond personnel committee and was accepted. I came here in the summer of ‘78,” Msgr. Perkins said. “It was a hard decision because I really didn’t want to be 800 miles away from my family, but again, I knew it was not something I may have wanted to do at that time, but I knew it was right.”
During his first eight years in the diocese, he served as an associate at Ascension, Virginia Beach (1978- 1979), and as pastor of Immaculate Conception, Hampton (1979- 1985).
“Our parish’s great social ministry was a gift,” Msgr. Perkins said. “We welcomed about 33 refugees from Southeast Asia, and we developed Hampton Ecumenical Lodging and Provisions (HELP). We began with four or five churches involved and increased to 20 at different levels of involvement.”
Summoned by the bishop
Another unexpected change occurred in 1985.
“Bishop Sullivan walked in one day and basically said, ‘I need you to come to Richmond and to live with me, to be on staff and be in ministry to priests in the diocese,’” he said, noting he served with the bishop until the latter retired in 2003.
Among the positions Msgr. Perkins held were vicar general (1995-1997, 2001-2004), vicar for priests (1985-1989), and rector of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (2001-2004). During his second stint as vicar general, he served as pastor of St. Ann, Colonial Heights.
“It was a privilege — a sacred privilege — and I’m getting teary as I say it: Walter Sullivan was the good bishop. I had the privilege of not only ministering with him, but he became a dear friend,” the priest recalled. “There were only one or two times we really had heart-to-heart disagreements.”
He noted that he was visiting the bishop about five hours before he died.
“Bishop Sullivan said, ‘I want to say something to you: We have been through some good times and some hard times, and you have been a faithful friend and minister, and I thank you.’ And I got to say what I needed to say to him, and I had the privilege of preaching at his funeral,” said Msgr. Perkins.
After serving at St. Michael, Glen Allen (2004-2006), Msgr. Perkins returned to Immaculate Conception, Hampton. Concern for refugees and those on the periphery were still pastoral priorities.
“There was a family from Bouton, Nepal. Mother, father, several sons and daughters came, and we helped them with jobs, apartments and how to drive a car. That was a significant moment,” he said. “We also started doing Sunday Supper – the only place on the Peninsula offering a meal on Sunday afternoon. That was real outreach and a blessing.”
Following a year at Holy Apostles, Virginia Beach, Msgr. Perkins retired from active ministry. Today, he helps out at St. Therese, Chesapeake, which he described as “a second home.”
Blessings in priesthood
As he reflected on his 50 years of priesthood, Msgr. Perkins noted the conversation on the shore of the Sea of Galilee between Jesus and Peter in which Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (Jn 21:18).
“I’m not saying decisions were made for me without my consent, but there were a number of times when I have been asked to do in ministry — whether it be from the seminary faculty or other matters — things that weren’t, at the beginning, my choice,” he said, “but I really do believe it was God’s movement even when I wasn’t 100% behind it.”
Msgr. Perkins said that in priesthood, he’s “been very graced and very blessed by the God of endless ages and the God of all people before I was even aware of God’s divine presence. It’s such an unearned gift.”
He added, “To the men and women, young people in the places I have served throughout our diocese, thank you for your support, encouragement, challenges and, at times, your forgiveness. You have been a blessing to me and to my priesthood.”
He continued, quoting the opening sentence of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.”
Editor’s note: Early in 2022, Msgr. Perkins will celebrate his golden jubilee with his sister, Mary Ellen Schaefer, brothers Michael and Stephen, and other friends and family in the Chicago area.