Note: Five priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be retiring July 1. The Review profiles the five as their parishes bid them farewell. Click here to read more retirement profiles.
It was an article in the Catholic Review forecasting a coming priest shortage that planted the seed of Monsignor Carl Cummings’ vocation in the 1960s.
Years later, after serving as a sailor in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, Monsignor Cummings responded to that call. He wasn’t satisfied with civilian life and wanted to find more meaning in his life.
He went on a retreat, during which the idea of a priestly vocation came back to him. He remembered that article he read in the Catholic Review a decade earlier.
“It kept recurring over the next four or five months,” he said. “I decided I ought to give it a try.”
Following studies at Theological College, the national seminary of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. he served as a deacon at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Baynesville, where he was ordained in 1975.
He served as associate pastor of St. Dominic in Hamilton and Holy Family in Randallstown before feeling called to military ministry. For 15 years, Monsignor Cummings served sailors and Marines aboard ships and at U.S. naval stations. His military ministry brought him in touch not only with the Catholic servicemen, but also with any anyone who needed him. He served in places as varied as the Marine Base at Camp Lejeune and Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii.
“When you join the Navy, you want to go to sea,” he said.
His chance came when he was assigned to the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Saratoga, which had 5,000 sailors aboard. In addition to the usual duties of a priest, Monsignor Cummings relayed Red Cross messages to any sailor aboard ship – this was pre-cellphone days. The messages could vary from a death in the family to the problems of a wife home on her own.
“It was tough on the guys,” he said.
Monsignor Cummings returned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2001 as associate pastor of St. Philip Neri in Linticum, and pastor of St. Agnes in Catonsville beginning in 2002. He was named pastor of St. Jane France de Chantal in Riviera Beach in 2009, where he has served ever since.
As he prepares for retirement, Monsignor Cummings said he has been gratified to help people join the Catholic faith – or return to it in the sacrament of penance.
“Seeing the relief, the joy of people who’d been away from the church for a long time, seeing they had been accepted by God after all and were loved,” Monsignor Cummings said.
There have been brick-and-mortar accomplishments, as well, including construction of a parish center at St. Agnes and renovation of the hall and kitchen at St. Jane Frances.
While he was at St. Dominic, Monsignor Cummings heard about the need for chaplains in the Navy. “The need was there and I thought, let’s go where the need is,” he said.
In his nearly-five decades of priesthood, Monsignor Cummings has seen the prediction of a decline in the number of priests come true. But he’s also seen the rise of the laity answering the call to service.
“They’re good people,” he says of his parishioners. “Most of the people are very approachable. They’re satisfied and they’re generous. That makes my job easier.”
After his retirement July 1, Monsignor Cummings said he’ll miss his priestly routine – the paperwork, celebrating Mass, hospital visits. But he looks forward to reading all the books he hasn’t gotten to yet, seeing his sister more often and visiting the Holy Land. Maybe he’ll even get in a golf game now and then, too, he said.
Melissa Boyle, director of family formation at St. Jane Frances, said parishioners will miss their retiring pastor.
“Over the years, I have admired how Father Carl has always put the needs of the parishioners first. Whether it was when he brought holy Communion to the shut-ins on the first Friday of the month or his openness to starting new programs, he always wanted to meet the needs of this growing community,” she said in an email to the Catholic Review. “He has been a blessing to the St. Jane Parish community and we wish him well on his next journey in retirement.”
Monsignor Carl Cummings
Born: Dec. 18, 1943
Home Parishes: St. Thomas Aquinas, Baltimore; Ss. Philip and James, Baltimore, and St. Mary; Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Mount Washington
Seminary: Theological College, Washington D.C.
Ordained: May 7, 1975
Assignments: St. Dominic, Baltimore, associate pastor (1975-78); Holy Family, Randallstown, associate pastor (1978-84); St. Philip Neri, Linthicum, associate pastor (2001-02); St. Agnes, Catonsville, 2002-09 (pastor); St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Riviera Beach, pastor (2009-22); Active duty with the U.S. Navy as a Catholic chaplain (1984-2000)
Quote: “The need was there and I thought, let’s go where the need is.”
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