Westbury — In his 25 years as a priest, Msgr. Ralph Sommer, pastor of St. Brigid’s Church here, has learned that “Jesus lives in the communities that I’ve ministered to and with.

“So I better understand who I am, who God is, and what I’m supposed to be doing because of the lives of the people. The joys and pains, the hopes and frustrations, the healings and hurts that are in people’s lives are all connected to the mystery of God’s abiding love,” he said.

The idea of priestly vocation came to him early through his uncle, Father Ralph Besendorfer, a Brooklyn priest. “He was a most delightful and powerful influence, happy, caring, and helpful,” Msgr. Sommer recalls. “I would look at him and say, ‘I could do that.’”

Born in Flushing, Queens, he later moved with his family to Garden City, attending the parish school at St. Anne’s Church there.

After St. Anne’s he attended St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary, “I had the best time. It was a caring community, and I learned a lot about myself,” Msgr. Sommer said. He was involved in the school newspaper, plays, and video club.

For college, he took a break from the diocesan seminary system, choosing Adelphi University, near his home. “I walked every day. We didn’t have another car.”

He still intended to become a priest but wanted to test that vocation. He majored in psychology, “something which I thought would help me if I became a priest” and got involved in campus life, including the college newspaper and the Newman Club.
After Adelphi, he resumed priestly studies at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington. “It was a wonderful time” for the fellowship, the quality of instruction, and “the exploration of theology. There were no unaskable questions.”
His class was the first to have a pastoral year, in which each seminarian lived and worked at a parish. His year at St. Martin of Tours in Amityville offered a more socially diverse setting and an opportunity “to learn about parish life in a different way than you can at your own parish.”

His first assignment was associate pastor of Our Holy Redeemer Church in Freeport.
His pastor, Msgr. Saverio Mattei, allowed him to try new things and supported him even when things didn’t work out as planned. “He used to say, ‘Never take a tool out of a man’s hand.’ That was a great gift,” Msgr. Sommer said. “The people there welcomed me, and there are people who I am still close to.”

In 1989, he was sent as associate pastor to St. Thomas More in Hauppauge along with a new pastor, Msgr. Ellsworth R. Walden. “We had to figure it out together.”
Often, they would conclude the day consulting with each other and brainstorming about what to try next, Msgr. Sommer explained. The two worked together on the building of a new church and involving the parishioners.

For example, when the steeple, made of lighter-weight plastic arrived, they summoned parishioners to help carry it. “We got the word out by e-mail,” a new means of communication in the mid-1990s.

He also found parishioners open to evangelization. When working with religious education parents, some of whom did not regularly attend Mass, the parish started evenings for parents to come for their own faith enrichment — in addition to their children’s. “We selected parishioners to speak to them and witness to their faith.”
Msgr. Sommer’s interest in evangelization was put to wider use in 1993 when Bishop John McGann appointed him to chair a diocesan evangelization committee
“We had a great committee,” he said, fostering the idea that Catholics could and should share their faith and promote the Gospel. “Evangelization is not one more thing for busy priests and staff to do but a different way to do what they are already doing.”
As the Church approached the Jubilee Year, Bishop McGann asked him in 1997 to head the diocesan Renew 2000 office. Renew 2000, a special version of Renew, a program for small group faith sharing, sought to help parishioners deepen their faith and draw more people into active involvement in the Church, Msgr. Sommer said. “Most of the parishes took part, and there were at least hundreds of groups formed in the diocese.”
In 2001, Msgr. Sommer took a six-month sabbatical, studying at the National Pastoral Center’s pastors’ workshop, and visiting parishes in Toronto; Berkley, California; and Washington, D.C. On his return, he was assigned as pastor of St. Brigid’s, a parish of 6,700 families.

“The first year I had to be more student than teacher,” observing the large parish with many different ministries as well as ethnic and linguistic groups. The parish offers Mass in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Italian.

On his first day, he saw a procession at the parish led by the Haitian community for the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. “When I said that it wasn’t the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, they replied: ‘In Haiti it is.’ So I joined the procession.”

Shortly after his arrival came the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. “We had six people in the parish who died and other parishioners lost relatives. Everyone felt the impact.” The clergy sex abuse scandal also shook the parish, he noted.

“Over time, we lived through these experiences together and built a trusting relationship in which people could strengthen each other,” Msgr. Sommer said.
With the help of a parish business manager and an experienced staff, he has been able to keep up on the parish’s diverse ministry. “At St. Brigid’s we promote the dignity of all people and work for the common good as we help people to reach their human potential striving for respect, security, participation, and solidarity” through different outreach programs.

The parish also has programs and activities for young people and, with a neighboring parish, operates a regional school, St. Brigid/Our Lady of Hope.

Though his ministry is hectic, he said, “what I might consider interruptions are often part of God’s plan that we don’t know about.”

He does find frustrations, particularly in the responsibilities of administration, which includes a half-dozen buildings. These can complicate his pastoral duties to the people of the parish, which he sees as more central to his priesthood.

On May 18, Msgr. Sommer celebrated the silver jubilee of his ordination. He feels fulfilled and grateful for his vocation and the ministry he performs. “I am bringing Jesus’ presence to the people in different sacramental ministries,” he noted. “I’m part of people’s lives in ways that I never would have been if I never became a priest.”