PASTOR PROFILE: FATHER J. KEVIN O’KEEFE

PASTOR PROFILE: FATHER J. KEVIN O’KEEFE

by Mr s . Li s a Hi l l - Sut t o n , O. P. an d Melissa Chaves

Prince William County Catholic is featuring a series of interviews with some of the priests serving the seven parishes of Prince William County. We hope to give the Catholic community a small window into the lives of these dedicated men who nurture and care for our spiritual well-being and, more importantly, administer the life-giving Sacraments of our Catholic Faith.

The first piece in our series is with Father J. Kevin O’Keefe, who currently is serving as Pastor of Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge, VA. We hope our readers enjoy his candor and wry sense of humor.

Hometown: Butler, NJ

Alma Mater: Merchant Marine Academy

Seminary: St Charles Borromeo

Hobbies: History Collecting miniatures Wargaming

Favorite Books: “Story of a Soul,” St Therese of Lisieux “Introduction to the Devout Life,” St Francis de Sales “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” JRR Tolkien and just about any Science Fiction

VOCATION STORY

Fr. O’Keefe was raised in a Catholic family, but like many of us as young adults, attended Mass sporadically. After college his Uncle James found him a good job in Virginia. Uncle James had served in the Navy for thirty years and was then working as a defense contractor. He was able to get his nephew on that same path. Perhaps even more importantly, Uncle James had a great devotion to the Little Flower and the Sacred Heart. He prayed the Rosary and recommended books to his nephew, who was by then reading 5-7 books a week. “He kept feeding me books, one of which was Story of a Soul”. When Fr. O’Keefe was able to buy a condo in Occoquan, he registered at Our Lady of Angels parish and began speaking with the pastor. He found himself hearing a call, but the comfort of having a good

job and a nice place to live tempted him to ignore it. “I was nice and settled. I was a GS-13, and it’s like, ‘Go away.’ Knock- knock. ‘Go away, I’m not listening.’” Nonetheless, he began attending retreats. At one of them, an Augustinian Friar finally asked the question he’d been trying to avoid: “Have you thought about the priesthood?” He laughed thinking of all the Saturday nights with friends that question had already interfered with; how he’d suddenly ask for a coffee instead of a beer, or decide to go home a little earlier than he otherwise would have. After a vocation retreat, he found himself registering for Seminary in the fall of 1990. He was ordained on May 20th, 1995 and now serves as Pastor of the parish where he’d first discovered his vocation.

I WAS NICE AND SETTLED. I WAS A GS-13, AND IT’S LIKE, ‘GO AWAY.’ KNOCK- KNOCK. ‘GO AWAY, I’M NOT LISTEN-ING.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Fr. O’Keefe says there’s really no such thing as a typical day as the pastor of a busy parish. There is always a mix of meetings, administrative work, Mass, confessions, and emergency calls. “Sometimes there [are] no calls; but one week we had 13 or 14 calls.” OLA covers Sentara hospital, Inova Lorton Trauma Center, and three nursing homes. It’s also one of the parishes which sponsors St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School. And, since the school is on parish grounds, their Masses are held at OLA. He also sometimes works on maintenance projects himself, which can confuse hired contractors unused to meeting a priest with engineering experience. For RCIA or other instruction, a person’s schedule might not fit the classes, so he’ll try to work with them individually so that they can continue learning and having their questions answered. “I don’t ask people to take time off from work, like those coming for marriage prep. I ask them what time they’re getting off work. 7:30pm is not late for me - I’m a night owl! So, it works.” In fact, he points out that every year since coming to OLA as pastor, he’s had the privilege of welcoming new people into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Being able to see people embrace our Lord’s forgiveness and mercy; or watching as children grow up to take ownership of their own faith, has been

a very rewarding aspect of the priesthood. While the priestly life has many positive and rewarding aspects to it, there are also many significant challenges involved. ”What’s challenging? Challenging can be dealing with people. Different personalities, different styles, and different agendas. All those differences lead to different needs. That’s why there is no typical day.”

ON PRAYER

Half-jokingly, Fr. O’Keefe claims as his go-to prayer the first line of Psalm 64, “Hear my voice, oh God, as I complain.” But only a grounding in the Liturgy of the Hours can really make the Psalms that personal. And, Father credits the Hours with setting the rhythm of his days. In many of his homilies, you will find encouragement to take something from the day’s Gospel to your personal prayer. In our interview, he further recommended reading the Gospels and spiritual books as sources for prayer. He encourages making time for prayer throughout the day; on your commute, after work, and during leisure time. “There’s plenty of time for prayer. Just start with the basics and then add to it - one or two mysteries of the Rosary, an examination of conscience, balanced out with a gratitude list, at night.” At the Mass, we can ask ourselves “how we’re praying it, what do I lay down at the altar - blessings, thanksgivings, struggles? What do I need to let go of?”

CONFESSION

“Everything really struck me [about] the power of ordination and the gift that Christ has given the first time I heard confessions. It was Jeremiah! ‘You duped me lord and I allowed myself to be duped’. Because, sitting there with the screen and the open chair and hearing that voice say ‘bless me Father for, I have sinned’ made me realize that I had that person’s relationship with God right there in the palm of my hand. The sacrament of confession is one of the most powerful healing gifts that the Lord has given to his Church. So when I’m hearing confessions it always begins in prayer. I ask for that ability to be an ear and [to remember] that it’s not me, but our Lord that they have sinned against; and I am to be his instrument of healing.”

VISION FOR OUR LADY OF ANGELS PARISH

At OLA, he’d like to build on the great variety of expressions of faith found in the parish, which is home to 60 nationalities. Under that umbrella, there are many parishioners ministering to married couples, or to the poor through St. Vincent de Paul or teaching English as a second language. There is CCD and the OLA Feast day celebration on Aug 2nd every year. Father says he hopes that the Rosary procession, which is an integral part of that day, will include other languages besides Spanish and English. All this reminds him of the musings of GK Chesterton in his work Orthodoxy: “[In it, he] describes the Church as a kind of circus. So I’m under one tent. There are the acrobats, the clowns, the wild animals, the trapeze artists, etc. But it’s still one tent” There’s a little of everything, but all of it in this one parish, all together.

HOBBIES

Father begins sharing one of his most interesting and, to some, most surprising hobby: His collection of miniatures. He was asked to elaborate for those of us not in the loop. “I talk about wargaming and most people think computers. The only thing I do on a computer is type with a word processor, access some blogs, and do some investigation with the hobby. Wargaming is [done with] tabletop miniatures. I have 10-millimeter fantasy. I have 15-millimeter historical figures - ancient Medieval and World War II and World War III to theorize the aspect of ‘what if ’. I have plenty of 8-millimeter fantasy, futuristic 28-millimeter ancients, Dark Ages and World War II.” He gestures to a nearby table. “There’s a mix of 15- and 28-millimeter figures. The tanks are 15-millimeter. That’s for World War II. There are Romans in there for a new game we just started. There’s a German armored car in

28-millimeter, a German anti-tank ‘Yag Panther’ in 28-millimeter, and a shipping game called ‘Cruel Seas.’ It has patrol boats, and S boats. The largest ship out there would be a Destroyer. So, it’s about a foot, foot-and-a-half in length on the table. There are rules, there’s dice. So for each unit, you have a command dice. Six-sided with six different commands on it. You can run, advance, fire, hunker down, whatever, and they get pulled out one by one from the back. So, if the Germans have 11 and the Americans have 12 there should be 11 German dice and 12 American dice in the bag. Somebody pulls out of the bag. That’s who goes. So it’s not exactly you go, I go. It could be three, four, five American turns before the German. You move one unit at a time. You can run with it, you can advance with it, you can fire. I find gaming to be relaxing and while I’ve got music going on in the CD player, I get some stuff done or painted up on the figures. So, yeah, my miniature hobby is my guilty pleasure!”