OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: Father Doris sees flock as the gospel

Jul. 5—"I thank my God for you..." — the apostle Paul, in Philippians 1:3-14

As a young seminarian, the Rev. John Doris passionately studied Scripture and theology — the "book part" of being a Catholic priest.

Over the next 48 years, the retiring pastor of St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church in Dunmore learned to see Jesus in the people he was blessed to serve.

"Over the years, you see the real revelation of Jesus in the struggles and the joys of his people," the 74-year-old Wilkes-Barre native said Monday. "They're the gospel."

And Father Doris is their pastor — until July 10. After 28 years at St. Mary of Mount Carmel, he is jokingly seeking a new post as a part-time nanny to his niece's infant daughter. Maggie Kent, daughter of Doris' brother, Dr. Timothy Doris, is a reporter for the ABC News affiliate in Philadelphia.

Kent's 17-month-old daughter, Serena, is living, giggling proof that the gospel and love of Christ can be found in every living soul, Father Doris said.

"I keep saying to Maggie, 'I want to be a nanny,'" he said with a hearty laugh.

Father Doris is a joyful soul. I felt 10 feet tall after spending an hour chatting with him in the rectory on Chestnut Street. He is known for thanking God for his parishioners and fellow priests and inspiring the same gratitude.

"A call to the priesthood, if it's for real, is just exuberant," Doris said. He heard the call in high school, when he was considering a career as a lawyer.

"I really felt deeply that the Lord called me to the priesthood in my senior year of high school. A force came into me that year to go to the seminary and learn how to serve."

Doris has served in many roles — parish priest, teacher and mentor to school students and younger priests and counselor and comforter to parishioners in need and in plenty. In a wide-ranging and deeply engaging conversation, he gave me two examples of how he learned to "surrender to the love of Christ and let things go His way."

"I remember a little girl that was killed one night (in a car accident)," he said. "I was only 26 years old, and the family called me down to the hospital ... they were keeping her alive to donate her organs. I stayed with the family, but after they left, I walked into the room and I said, 'Lord, you can do the healing, maybe ...'

"It didn't happen that way. The healing I saw wasn't miraculous. It was in the way the family came together to love those parents and help them through this terrible experience. I saw Jesus in them."

Doris also recalled a doctor who gently mocked the young priest's anointing of patients as "middle ages stuff." The ribbing was friendly, and the pair got along well. One night, the priest had the last laugh.

"This woman came from a nursing home and the same doctor was on," Doris remembered. "Her vital signs were going down quickly, so I anointed her. And then before I left the room, this woman is sitting up in bed, singing an Irish song. And the doctor says, 'How did you do that?' I said, 'Don't look at me.' "

Doris winked and pointed up. He said the love of his savior carries him in joy and strife. As a veteran priest, it was inevitable that our conversation would touch on the church's child sexual abuse scandal. Doris didn't dodge the topic, which he calls, "The Crash."

"I look at it as the sin of man," he said. "It was evil, and there was evil on all kinds of levels. There was evil certainly at the priests' level and evil at the bishops' level for moving them around. No one talks about the psychologists who advised the bishops that the problem priests were healed and ready to be put back in service. They got off scot-free."

Doris said the "ugliness" of the scandal should never be minimized, but it also should not be used to negate the good works of the church and the beauty of its animating faith.

"That ugliness has to be taken care of, but you can't give up the whole concept of God affecting people's lives," he said. "God is love, and love is found in the lives and struggles and joys and hope and transformation of His people. That's where you see Jesus very much alive and very much active."

While his faith remains as active as ever, Father Doris said his physical vessel is worn out. Health challenges are the main cause of his retirement.

"It's such a mixed feeling," he said about calling it a career. "At my age, I believe my mind can still handle this. However, my body is just falling apart."

As he moves on, Doris said the bond he's built with his parishioners will always be a source of love and comfort.

"When you're a young priest and you get your first assignment, you do your best to serve your parishioners," he said. "But after a while, and certainly over 28 years, they become a family. I just did a wedding last year for a kid I baptized in this parish. That's family.

"I feel like an old-time pastor in the sense that I've been with these people for so long. I feel ripped apart to be moving on, but I also feel like it's time because I know I can't keep up well. You have to accept life on life's terms. You have to accept God's plan for you."

Amen.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, thanks God for souls like Father Doris. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com; @cjkink on Twitter; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.