For ten years, Joseph “Jay” Biber lived and worked in great cities like New York, London and Paris. But after a career in business in his late 20’s and early 30’s, he gave it up to serve the people of God in small communities like Ladysmith, Powhatan and Lexington. A man who completed the seminary but stepped away from ordination at first has now marked 40 years as a priest for the Diocese of Richmond.
“Of course, I didn’t know what was in store,” he said in a phone conversation last month. “I mean, there’s so little that you know that’s in store. But if you knew it all, you probably wouldn’t do it. You’d just get too scared, so it’s better that way.”
What was in store for Father Biber was serving as pastor in parishes across Virginia, including St. John Neumann, Powhatan; St. John the Apostle, Virginia Beach; St. Joseph, Petersburg; St. Mary of the Annunciation, Ladysmith; and St. Mary’s, Richmond.
He celebrated Mass on May 18, the day of his anniversary, and attended a reception in his honor at St. Patrick, Lexington, where he was also assigned for seven years soon after his ordination.
Born and raised Catholic in Barrington, Rhode Island, Father Biber attended a high school seminary and college in Providence, graduating with a philosophy degree in 1969. Then in 1972, he earned a master’s degree in theology from the American College of the University of Belgium in Louvain. But after deciding against ordination, he landed work in finance and also earned a Master of Business Administration from New York University.
He believes that business experience helped him with parish administration. “That’s a way to give glory to God too,” he noted.
Father Biber said he thought he would get married but never did. In 1982, a friend from the seminary suggested that he talk to the head of the Diocese of Richmond, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan. Three years later, he was one of the men prostrate before that bishop on the floor of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, accepting the sacrament of Holy Orders. His parents and other relatives were there.
“I remember my sister sort of breaking into tears when we were lying flat on the ground because that’s one of the most powerful symbolic things,” he said.
Retired in 2017, Father Biber, 77, likes to say that he’s gone from having separate calendars for his parish and for the diocese to just one for himself, one that is filled with ministry.
He remains active in the Living Scripture Institute, a Catholic group that holds retreats for people affected by abortion, for those who may be victims of abuse, and for first responders and the military dealing with post-traumatic stress.
“It’s in these three retreats that have to do with loss and grief and trauma that has opened up doors for me,” he said. “We don’t deal with loss that well as a culture.”
Since retiring, he’s made his home in Lexington and visits with the students at Washington and Lee and Virginia Military Institute at least once a week during the school year.
“What I’m excited about right now is there seems to be something afoot among the young,” he said. “I see it in the college kids from both schools, that there is a much greater interest in faith on campus. It’s not just curiosity.”
Father Biber said he tries to help them “develop a language of faith where they can talk the language of faith and not feel self-conscious and be confident about it.”
Several weekends a year, he’s substituting for a pastor who has to be away. On the weekend of the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Father Biber led the liturgies at Resurrection in Moneta, filling the temporary location they are using during a building renovation with a singing voice that cuts the air like a trumpet. After Sunday Mass, he offered the sacrament of the anointing of the sick.
As he thought about seeking ordination, Father Biber said a couple of Scripture passages inspired him: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19) was one. “Foxes have dens, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Mt 8:20) was another.
“And it was the romance of it, something you could give everything to,” he said.
Father Jay Biber chose to lay his head in the Diocese of Richmond 40 years ago and continues to give much to the people he visits, in cities and counties, large and small.