Twelve years ago when Patrick O’Toole was pursuing his bachelor’s degree in theology at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, he told his curriculum advisers his dream was to one day preach parish missions. For his college senior project he preached a parish mission for his home parish, St. John the Baptist in Joliet.
“I recognized my skill as a speaker, and thought about how I could apply that to work. In my mind I envisioned traveling around the country, preaching, and making a good living,” O’Toole said.
But then issues in his life resulted in him putting his dream on hold.
“Now years later and with 11 children, the thought of traveling didn’t sound like such ideal work. But maybe traveling around our diocese …,” he said.
O’Toole was ordained a deacon in the Springfield diocese on June 20, 2009, by Bishop George Lucas, in the diocese’s second diaconate class. Last December he offered to preach parish missions during Lent.
“I only had six weekends available, and they all got booked up,” Deacon O’Toole said. “Before I was a deacon, it was not a path open to me — to come in and preach a mission. But being a deacon gives you a credential. It also gives you an opportunity to preach at all weekend Masses.”
The topic he chose for his mission was drawn from his own life experiences: his perception and understanding of how his faith life has evolved.
“I call it The Wisdom of God and Grandma,” he said, “comparing the wisdom of our age and the time we live in to that of a previous generation, so as to capture some of that wisdom which we have lost.”
“I found people at the parish missions were pretty much in agreement with me when they left.”
The six parish missions he preached were: St. Elizabeth (Robinson), St. John Vianney (Sherman), St. Brigid (Liberty), Our Lady of the Holy Spirit (Mt. Zion), St. Louis (Nokomis), and Forty Martyrs (Tuscola).
“We begin Lent with three temptations — pride, possessions and pleasures — just as Christ was tempted by the devil, and the devil continues to tempt us throughout all creation,” Deacon O’Toole said.
“We have allowed this culture today to corrupt our lives. Our culture really has sold us this bill of goods about power and possessions and pleasures. There is no happiness to be found in those things. They can bring fun, but not happiness,” he said.
“There is nothing inherently evil about owning things. The problem comes in when God is not at the heart of it. When God influences all your choices, activities won’t consume you.”
In his parish missions he talked about changes he has made in his own life, and in his family’s life, and the impact they have had on his family.
“The most common responses I heard people say at the parish mission talks were ‘I wish my son was here.’ Or, ‘I wish my granddaughter was here.’ Or, ‘The people here in town really need to hear this,’” O’Toole said.
Father Jeffrey Stone, St. Brigid pastor, said Deacon O’Toole’s mission message was received well there. “They enjoyed his talks, his message and his witness,” Father Stone said.
Father Barry Harmon, pastor at Forty Martyrs, Tuscola, agreed. “He has such an interesting life story. People knew where he was coming from, and they could identify with him. In relating his own story, he was able to help people identify and understand the presence of God in their own everyday life,” Father Harmon said.