People

Today, in the People room, I’m introducing a man who made a lasting impression on me. He was a Catholic priest for a small parish of about 800 people, and I had the privilege of knowing him for thirteen years.

An interesting man, he seemed to love his job and his people. My experience with him was as his architect on three separate projects spread over a period of about thirteen years. For some people he could be somewhat distant, maybe cool, but, for me, he was easy to work for, appreciative of my services, quick witted, and always ready to make stimulating conversation.

Here are some of my experiences and remembrances of him that I shall never forget.

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Father Allen

I met a man named Roy in 1990 when he became the contractor on a building project which I had designed for a local business. We had worked well together for a few months when one day he asked me if I would like to consider doing the design work for a new church building over in the town where he lived. We drove over there that day and that’s where Roy introduced me to Father Joseph Allen, the priest of St. Paul’s Catholic Church where Roy and his wife were faithful members.

Smiling, he called himself Joe Allen and very soon I was just Edward. He was of average height, slight build, and his pale complexion made him seem to be a bit frail. Roy explained to his priest who I was and some of the information he knew about me as an architect, and he told Father Allen why he thought I would be a good choice to design the new building they were planning for their church. The priest asked me a few questions about my experience in general and a bit about the work I had done for catholic churches. We talked for probably thirty minutes when Father Allen abruptly started the discussion about what he was wanting for his new church. The subject of a proposal and contract for my work would come later.

Over the next thirteen years Father Allen and I would spend countless hours exchanging views on many subjects, sometimes including the Bible and the Catholic Church. Interspersed within those years would be a total of three separate building projects which Father Allen would complete as a part of his church complex. He had a natural tendency to build, to see things grow from the ground up. Some days he would come to my office, other days we would be in his office on the church grounds, but at either place we would sit around a table and talk for two or three hours. The first hour would be details about the design of his latest building project, and then it seemed we would usually splinter off into some other topic, perhaps related, or not. Sometimes he would use our conferences as a time for him to find a listening ear in an outsider where he could ‘vent’ frustrations over a particular situation at his church.  

Roy’s wife, Robyn, was the parish secretary who worked closely with the priest every day in the church office. Occasionally, he would invite me to join him, Roy, and Robyn at their regular Friday evening ‘work session.’ I never found the time to accept one of these invitations, but he told me these sessions were held at Roy’s and Robyn’s home and she would have some light hors d’oeuvres along with a good wine. He said their discussions would usually go south pretty quickly as they got further into the evening and the wine. There was always plenty of wine as it was the vintage Father Allen served at the twice-weekly communion services at the church. Smiling, he told me Robyn especially liked that wine and she was generally well into it before she opened the door for him at their home. He and I had some interesting conversations about why I did not drink wine, why our church served only grape juice at communion, and he had some jokes about priests getting tipsy at communion.

I remember the day we were talking about the Bible, and more specifically about the book of Genesis. One of the issues that was troubling the Catholic Church at the time concerned the subject of creation. The priesthood was divided over how they should cover the subject in their homilies: creation vs evolution. Father Allen made the point to me that catholic theology was ever-changing, and each person was being given the freedom by the Pope to believe what they wanted to about that subject. And then he added that “most Catholics believe the first eleven chapters of Genesis are a myth”, they believe those passages to be “allegorical stories that cannot be interpreted as things that literally happened.” And then, somewhat as an afterthought, he wished that more of his flock would believe the rest of the Bible.

The subject of money was an important topic for the priest as he looked forward to several projects he wanted to build on the church grounds. During the ‘90s we built about 1.5 million dollars in construction for the new Church building, a Parish Hall, and a Rectory. The Diocese had plenty of money which was available for borrowing by local parishes, but Father Allen had his own rule that he would not start a new project until he had one-half of the budget in the bank. In the Catholic Church the local priest is in charge of all finances including any building projects. He kept a close accounting of what each family in the parish gave to the church, weekly or monthly. He knew what most of his members made annually, and he held them to account for paying a tithe of their income. He would send them notices about their finances if he saw them slipping behind in their tithes. And he expected all of them to give above the tithe for any special offerings, like building projects. He believed in Malachi chapter 3 and held them to it, as he would share with me what he was requiring of each family to give to the church, both for regular giving and for special offerings. Some families were rebellious and would not give the amount he asked of them. Every year he would show me the total giving for each family for the year, and, as with most churches regardless of denomination, the majority of the budget was given by a small portion of the membership.  

In the Catholic Church the priest is an extension of the Pope, and one of the powers delegated to the priest is the power of forgiveness of sins. On one of our construction projects the local building official was being especially difficult with his code requirements. In a particular area concerning the heating and air conditioning system he was enforcing an unusual interpretation of the code resulting in thousands of dollars in extra expense. As we were on site discussing these requirements with the contractor, one of the workers suggested he might arrange for the official to have an unfortunate accident and be taken off the project, permanently. Forgetting for a moment the priest was with us, I told that workman he would need to find forgiveness for such an idea, to which Father Allen promptly replied, “That’s my job. I’ll take care of that.”

Father Allen was well-liked by the majority of his parish. Even though it was not required by the Diocese, he would appoint small groups to have input into the various building projects. They could review the designs and the plans as I put them together and made presentations to them, but he made all the final decisions. However, on the selections of colors for the interiors he would defer to a group of women to whom he delegated those tasks. There were a few times when someone would approach me quietly with a suggestion that I might make to the priest for him to consider in the design process.

There was one major exception to the general decorum surrounding all the years of construction we went through. My friend, Roy, was the most vocal, and at times volatile, member of the parish. He never hesitated to state his opinion as he tried to influence the priest in matters of materials and construction types. I soon learned how I became part of their building program. Roy had selected me and while I was delivered to the priest as a possible architect for their work, it was later obvious that the priest was obliged to agree. Roy was the biggest giver in the church, and on some issues he was bound to be heard and get things his way. I well remember an occasion one day in my office where we were reviewing the progress on the plans and a disagreement popped up between Roy and his priest. Roy became enraged, used a few four-letter words, swore he was not going to help pay for it, and stormed out the front door. He couldn’t leave as they had both come to the meeting in Roy’s car, so he sat in his car until the priest was ready to leave. Father Allen seemed to always be smiling, and the smile never left his face as he calmly assured me Roy would get over it and they would have their Friday evening session as usual. Of course, he was right and the next day Roy called me to talk about the issue as if nothing had happened.

Father Allen had a chronic ailment which required him to get checked for polyps every six months. His relationship with me became such that he started calling me after each one of those doctor visits. One day he called me to report that they had removed polyp number one hundred, but that day at least, he remained cancer free.

We finished our final project, the new Rectory, in 2003, but Father Allen never lived in it. He had to retire to a home for aging priests in Alabama. He passed away in 2007 at age 81.

I don’t know what to make of Father Allen. I’m sure he believed in Jesus, and I’m sure he thought his sins had been forgiven. But he never told me these things I can only assume, and I surely do hope that I will see him again in the next life.

                                                                                                                                                ——– –EEA