A journey to the priesthood

Father Vick marks silver jubilee with international flavor at St. Bridget

By Dan McWilliams

More than 50 parishioners of St. Bridget in Dayton helped pastor Father Jim Vick celebrate his 25th anniversary of priestly ordination at a potluck supper on June 15.

Father Vick, who earned a doctorate in dentistry in 1984, was ordained a priest by Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell on June 10, 1999, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in his native Knoxville.

Among those attending his anniversary celebration were Sister Maria del Pilar Hinojosa Aguilar and Sister Eloisa Torralba Aquino of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Ad Gentes” from Chattanooga, who minister to St. Bridget’s large Hispanic community.

“The 25th anniversary was a small parish celebration with a potluck gathering attended by both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities,” Father Vick said. “The dinner followed the 5:30 p.m. Mass in the parish hall. The potluck was an ‘international’ feast followed by conversations in two languages!”

Father Vick expressed gratitude to Knoxville’s first bishop, longtime executive secretary to the bishop Andrea Cox, Monsignor Al Humbrecht, and Sister Albertine Paulus, RSM, former longtime director of evangelization for the diocese.

Father Jim Vick, standing left, is the priest of honor during a reception at St. Bridget Church in Dayton to mark the 25th anniversary of his priestly ordination. (Photo courtesy of St. Bridget Parish)

“The day of ordination, June 10, is also my mom’s birthday, so it was on a Thursday. Andrea Cox helped to open some doors. Bishop O’Connell was gracious enough to expand the Saturday tradition!” Father Vick recalled. “Monsignor Al’s friendship-mentorship, hospitality, and expertise made the celebration a memorable occasion. Sister Albertine Paulus volunteered to prepare all the invitations as well as being a friend and the best guide through all the planning.

“Father Tony Mullane from St. Peter’s in Big Pine Key, Fla., my friend and mentor, was there with many friends, and Connie and crew from St. Peter’s in Big Pine Key, my other home parish. Monsignor Al’s and Father Tony’s compassion and priesthood taught me what being a priest could be.”

James Leo Vick was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Knoxville and grew up in Immaculate Conception Parish downtown. One of six children in his family, he attended St. Mary School at IC, which was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy for the last several decades of existence until its closure in 1970. He attended the old South High School in Knoxville, graduating as valedictorian in 1974.

“St. Mary’s School was a great school for me, grades one through six,” he said. “Sister Mary Janice in first grade and all the Sisters of Mercy of Cincinnati had mercy on me! As an integrated school, I met and learned with students from different backgrounds. All we ever saw were our friends. Mr. Bill—I do not remember his whole name—the custodian, always looked out for us. Parking-lot battle ball toughened us up—in a good way.

“I then became a South High Rocket, seventh to 12th grades, another world and another adventure.”

The young Mr. Vick received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and in 1984 earned his medical degree in dentistry from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.”

After graduation, he managed a dental clinic at the Memphis-Shelby County Health Department for several years. The department was in downtown Memphis, one of the poorest areas of the state.

Father Vick recalled his time at the clinic.

“The professional people there taught me compassion for the poor and for immigrants—at that time it was the ‘boat people’ from Vietnam,” he said. “In the clinic, we worked with multiple cultures: African-American, North and South Vietnamese, Laotians, the Hmong, and Cambodians. Different traditions and languages kept us very busy. I learned how the world is experienced from many different perspectives—unless you live there, you cannot know how life can be there. Walking in other people’s shoes is essential to me.”

The dentist and future priest never forgot his Catholic upbringing. He remembered Father Francis Shea, later Monsignor Shea and after that bishop of Evansville, Ind., who was pastor of Immaculate Conception in his youth, as well as IC associate pastor Father Sterling McGuire, later founding pastor of St. John XXIII Parish in Knoxville. Both IC and St. John XXIII came under the care of the Paulist Fathers in 1973.

“The Catholic kid, me, kept going to Mass. It was what we did at home, so I went,” Father Vick said. “I had considered the priesthood since high school, after Father Shea—who in elementary school we thought might be ‘God,’ or so it seemed to us—and Father McGuire left. The Paulist Fathers arrived at IC, and I met many dynamic and pastoral priests.”

After Mr. Vick opened a private practice in Knoxville and worked there for a few years, he moved to Summerland Key, Fla., to open a practice with another doctor. That brought him to St. Peter Parish in Big Pine Key.

“I encountered Father Tony Mullane and Bogie, a Lab [Labrador Retriever] with a big heart who kept the kids calm in Mass,” he said. “Father Tony asked me to teach RCIA, and it worked—desperation is a good teacher. Father Tony’s example of being a people’s priest and the support of the St. Peterites—my teachers of Vatican II in live action—was an excellent education. Then it was off to seminary, and here I am.”

Father Vick was ordained a deacon by Bishop O’Connell on Dec. 29, 1998, at St. Peter in Big Pine Key.

The silver-jubilee priest has served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Chattanooga and coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for the Chattanooga Deanery, as pastor of St. Mary in Athens, and as pastor of OLPH Parish.

“Each parish is special and unique,” Father Vick said. “The people have been wonderful teachers and fellow pilgrims on the journey. I enjoyed them all, and I thank them all for allowing me to walk with them. There are, of course, many wonderful stories of heart and heartbreak.”