How a shy Irish farm boy turned Florida pastor led his parish to change countless lives in Uganda

OCALA, Fla. (OSV News) — A shy Irish farm boy taught to be open to God’s gifts and opportunities in every harvest, egg clutch and milk bucket courageously responded yes to God’s call to priesthood.

He ultimately became pastor of a sleepy central Florida parish ripe for awakening to God’s ways that would then transform not only their parish and local community, but also 32 tiny villages and countless lives in Uganda.

“Giving is what we grew up with,” explained Monsignor Patrick Sheedy, or “Father Pat” as he prefers to be called. “Everybody is part of a team. We prayed the rosary together as a family every night; we worked the farm — the animals, crops, dairy. We just had to cooperate with God and bring God’s gifts to the family and community. If you’re tuned into God, if you have a relationship, you will see the opportunities.”

The fourth child with 11 brothers and sisters raised on a 160-acre farm in County Clare, Ireland, Father Pat was ordained a priest June 13, 1965, for the Diocese of St. Augustine, Fla. He completed several parish assignments preparing him to be pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in Ocala in 1988.

Founded as a mission in 1883, the parish had a strong outreach to people in poverty. Father Pat brought his team concept to organize and energize the parishioners.

“God gives of himself,” Father Pat told OSV News. “The high point of giving is the Mass — Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for our salvation. All giving flows from that. It’s not about money. God gives us all gifts. I don’t have to have a dollar — I can still imitate God.”

At a 1991 pastoral council meeting, controversy arose regarding the parish subsidy of the school and a member recommended a stewardship video from St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Wichita, Kan. They watched the video; Father Pat and Deacon Vernon Krajeski visited St. Francis Parish for three days and returned home committed to developing a stewardship way of life.

They presented the plan to the parish council which whole-heartedly approved. They began with a 24/7 Perpetual Adoration Chapel which has been attended by parishioners every hour for the past 30-plus years. The plan makes Jesus Christ’s presence in the Eucharist the constant focus of their stewardship way of life by putting God first.

Within three years, the entire community of Blessed Trinity Parish had embraced the spirituality of stewardship. Their commitment was obvious in the fruits.

The parish ministry guide lists 12 boards that lead and administer more than 100 stewardship opportunities in the parish and out into the community.

“The spirituality of putting God first with our time, talent and treasure is not only a unique blessing to everyone who actually tries to live it out daily, but is also and maybe more so a huge blessing to the God-given mission of the parish,” Father Pat said.

As an example of that blessing, he said that in more than 25 years the parish hasn’t bought a single bucket of paint despite building more than 20 new buildings and painting all of them on rotation every seven years — because a parishioner owned a paint manufacturing plant. In addition, he indicated the parish and its parishioners have benefited from the free services of doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, deacons, tutors, counselors, architects, engineers and musicians — the list seems endless.

The parish school more than tripled its enrollment; it currently has 660 students. Wanting to strengthen the Catholic identity, three Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix were welcomed in August 2000 from a convent near Kampala, Uganda.

Sister Juliet Ateenyi Nakalema showed a third grade teacher a photo of her village church — a small hut of sticks and mud which the teacher shared with her students. The students wanted to build Sister Juliet’s village a “real church.” They sold T-shirts and the whole parish joined in.

The local bishop of the Diocese of Hoima, Uganda, expanded the proposed 300-seat church concept to 800 seats. After raising $185,000, the new church was paid for and Father Pat visited for the blessing of Blessed Trinity Parish in Nalweyo, Uganda, in 2004.

“I was afraid of the assignment,” Sister Juliet told OSV News. “What was I going to do in America? My English, taught by the British, wasn’t the best and I didn’t know computers. When the photo of my stick church was shared with the parish, I worried that they would be concerned about my teaching the children. But this is God’s work. It is God who made everyone so welcoming and giving.”

Today, there are 32 village churches, a Perpetual Adoration Chapel staffed 24/7, a convent, rectory, 22 village schools, 40 deep water wells, a 120-acre farm, two medical/dental clinics, a remodeled and expanded orphanage, 22 catechist houses to teach the faith to those living out in the bush, six eight-bedroom teacher houses, a 21-bedroom teacher/staff house that also welcomes visitors and five duplexes for married teachers.

Dormitories were needed for children in outlying villages to be able to attend school and today there are six dorms for grade school and high school students with an 1,100-student capacity; four village dorms for grade school students; a boys’ carpentry school; a girls’ domestic school and sponsored education of 1000 students annually.

Over 120 students have graduated from college and university and are now teachers, engineers, policemen, doctors, nurses and midwives. Vocations are thriving — 12 men are priests and five women are nuns. Several graduates work in carpentry and plumbing. The boys’ carpentry school is currently making thousands of desks and pews for the village churches and schools.

“I believed it was going to be,” said Father Pat, who has written a 2023 book “God is Able” about his many opportunities with the Lord. “God gives me people who believe and help me and by the time we’re finished, we have more than we need.”

Blessed Trinity Parish has a 56-page presentation of photographs and the how-tos of “Sponsoring a Sister Parish” available on its website: https://btchurch.blessedtrinity.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/Sponor-a-Sister-Parish-reduced.pdf

“God is Able” by Father Pat Sheedy can be found here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/God-Able-Fr-Pat-Sheedy/dp/B0CHCV54H9

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