GUILDERLAND — Christ the King Church has two new priests to meet and guide its growing parish.

Fathers James Fitzmaurice and Paul Catena serve 2,500 families at Christ the King, which also houses a school for students in nursery school all the way through eighth-grade.
"It’s pretty big," Catena said. "It’s the first really suburban parish I’ve served. There’s certainly a lot of work here for a second priest. It’s good to be a presence in the school as a priest to get to know the kids and to get the kids to know us."
"There’s only a handful of parishes that have an assistant," Fitzmaurice said. The diocese sees Christ the King as a model for the future with the people so involved in the ministry. He said that this parish is a good experience for a new priest to see that kind of involvement.

Catena, 41, is originally from Amsterdam. He was ordained June 9 at the cathedral in Albany, and assigned to Christ the King as the associate priest soon after.
"This is my first assignment," he said. In his homilies, he said, "I try to relate the scriptures to the people’s lives. I try to take what is written and make it relevant to the people today.
"I’m not part of an order. I’m a diocesan priest," he said. He chose to study to be a diocesan priest, rather than to enter a religious order, because "I wanted to be closer to home," he said. Had he joined an order, he said, "I could have been sent anywhere. I’ve traveled a lot in my life, and I want to be more rooted."

Fitzmaurice, 58, is an Albany native who is glad to be back in the area. He has two sisters who live in the Capital Region, and a couple of nieces and nephews, although most are now grown and have moved away, he said.

Fitzmaurice taught at a high school for five years after graduating from Siena College before he went into ministry. Since then, he has taught student teachers at Siena and high school students in Minnesota and Boston, Mass. Before coming to Guilderland, Fitzmaurice was the only priest at Holy Trinity parish in Johnstown for nine years. There, three parishes were eventually merged into one, he said.
"I enjoy the Albany Diocese very much. I have a lot of respect for Bishop Howard Hubbard," he said.

Fitzmaurice’s name is rightly pronounced, and often misspelled, Fitzmorris, he said. His parishioners call him Father Jim, or even his preferred Father Fitz, a nickname from his teaching days.

Worldwide language

Catena has also traveled, spending his junior year in college in Italy.
"I speak Italian fluently," he said. He returned for a year of study in Italy after he graduated, and then spent eight more months in Italy teaching English.
"I would like to learn Spanish next. There’s a need for that in our diocese and [I can] use that in my ministry," Catena said.

While working on a Ph.D. in political science, Catena studied both languages, but he wants to be immersed in Spanish before he will be able to speak Spanish fluently, he said.
Catena does not speak Latin, but he said that Latin masses are still offered within the diocese. While the current Pope has called for more services in Latin, Catena explained, "He’s allowing for a wider use of Latin for those who request it. It’s not going to affect me. Two [churches] in Albany and Troy within the diocese already celebrate in Latin."

Catena said that the Pope is trying to bring back people who left the church after Vatican II because they were upset with changes then.
"If it serves the need of a particular group of people in the diocese — if they feel they’re better able to worship God — I think that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with it," he said. "Younger people who didn’t grow up with it but feel connected to it may like it. Vatican II never said Latin would be totally forgotten — it’s part of our tradition. We don’t want to lose it. Maybe that’s part of it, as well," Catena said.
"It’s kind of an encouragement of a policy that’s always been," Fitzmaurice said. "Most of us could not celebrate Mass in Latin."

Thriving parish

Catena did not plan early on to enter the priesthood.
"For people who don’t know me or know many priests, this wasn’t something I thought I would ever do in my life," he said. "I always felt called to marriage and family. I pursued that. I dated." Catena said that he wanted to have a family like the one he was raised in — he is one of seven children. When a family did not materialize, Catena said, he realized that God might have another plan for him.
"I know what it meant giving up, and I wasn’t excited about that. But God wouldn’t ask me to do something and be miserable," he said. He quit his job at the New York State Senate and started seminary studies. He said that beginning a new life was difficult, but that he prayed for wisdom. "The real question is, ‘What does God want you to do with your life"’ " he said.
Catena studied for six years. "It was a long process of formation," he said. "You have a lot of time to really grow in faith because the process is long and intense. You are ready to serve people."

Christ the King also hosts seminarian Matthew Wetsel, a Rotterdam native who will stay for the church calendar year and then continue his studies for two more years in Maryland before he is ordained, Fitzmaurice said.
"It’s a pretty lively house, with the three of us and my Labrador retriever," he said. Wilson, his dog, is the house mascot, Fitzmaurice said. All the children in the parish and the school have gotten to know Wilson, he said.
Fitzmaurice said that the former priest at Christ the King trained the lay staff well and made it easy for him to step into his role as priest there. Now, he said, he keeps "encouraging the people to be involved with the parish. They’re encouraged to take responsibility for the parish life and not leave it up to the priest," Fitzmaurice said.

Catena said that he is learning ways that the laity — those who are not ordained in the church — can be involved with the church.
"If I could do nothing more than inspire them to grow in their faith, to take what they hear on a Sunday and incorporate it to live the Gospel and be the presence of Jesus Christ in the world, then my work will have been a success," Catena said. His job is to send parishioners out to "be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. [There is] nothing more I could ask, and nothing else could give me joy," he said.
"The people here in the parish are very involved. We have a number of ministries the people are involved in. We have a whole booklet that we give to new parishioners — opportunities for service available," Catena said. He said that his parishioners’ greatest strength is their service to others.
"Putting flesh on the gospel, taking what they hear in the scriptures and putting it into practice," he said. "It makes our work as priests a lot more fulfilling and meaningful because we’re not just doing it alone — taking their baptismal call seriously to preach by the way they live."

Fitzmaurice uses a casual approach to his parish, he said.
"I try to meet the people where they’re at — let them know what the Church teaches and what is important in terms of developing their faith," he said.
"I was enthusiastic about coming to a parish that had a school," Fitzmaurice said. He wants to increase the enrollment in the school, also. "It’s a vital part of parish life," he said.

Church rule

Saying that no question is off-limits, Catena briefly explained the Roman Catholic stances on celibacy and marriage within the priesthood.
"This tradition of a celibate clergy goes back to the beginnings of the Church," he said. "It’s been part of the tradition since the beginning — even those who were married and wanted to be ordained would live as brother and sister. The wife had to agree with this."

Catena said that celibacy became mandatory around 1,000 A.D., but that it was in practice before that.
"The priest is an icon of Jesus Christ," he said. "Jesus Christ was unmarried and gave all of himself to his flock. Priests try to emulate Jesus Christ," Catena said. "I’m just an average type of guy. I like sports, being around people, having a good time." He said that he does not know others’ perception of priests, but that he was "asked by God to do something."
"It’s a rule of the Church," Fitzmaurice said about celibacy. "I don’t think it’s going to be changing anytime soon under the current administration. If they changed it, do I think we could get more priests" Yes, we would." He said that such a change would not occur in his lifetime.
"The rule of celibacy does discourage some people from entering seminary," Fitzmaurice said. Changing the rule would require a "whole change in the structure of the Church," he said. At his age and with his experience, Fitzmaurice said, "I do see celibacy as a gift."

Now that he is back in the Capital Region, Fitzmaurice is happy with so much to see and do.
"It’s wonderful to be back in Albany," he said. "This area is a thriving area. There’s so much available — so much to do. Everything is so convenient." He recently met up with old friends from high school, the former Cardinal McCloskey High School, that later merged with Bishop Maginn High School.

Fitzmaurice and Catena both spoke highly of those in their new, shared parish.
"The people have been fantastic in terms of welcoming me," Fitzmaurice said.