Pastoring on the Hill

Fr. Bill Gurnee, pastor of St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, shares his journey from his beginnings in New York and North Carolina to Washington, D.C., inspired by a pivotal question about life’s purpose. St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill has a rich history. Founded in 1868 by German immigrants, it is now a diverse community of 450 families, including many Congressional staffers and young professionals. St. Joseph’s offers daily Masses, marriage preparation, and a welcoming environment for all, from transient interns to high-profile politicians and others.

Fr. Gurnee emphasizes the importance of community, spiritual direction and evangelization, highlighting the role of married couples in faith formation. He reflects on the emotional impact of parishioners moving away and the impact of a community that is always in flux. Additionally, notes the upcoming installation of a new archbishop for the Archdiocese of Washington, which encompasses the US Capitol, stressing the need for pastoral sensitivity in leadership. Finally, he discusses the successes of the parish’s capital campaign. Goals for the campaign include supporting the renovation of the historic organ and the construction of a new parish hall. 

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Transcript

Christopher Beaudet  

I'm Christopher Beaudet with the Steier Group.  In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. It seems that whenever you and I set to work and do our part, God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, I'll explore with pastoral leaders and development professionals from across the United States and Canada, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs, but provides in abundance. You're listening to Twelve Wicker Baskets.

Thank you so much for joining us here at the end of February. Next week, we enter the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. A period of renewed intentionality in our discipleship, and a desert-inspired honest assessment of our cooperation with grace. As Catherine Doherty, the Russian-born Catholic activist who founded the Madonna House apostolate wrote, “Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves. What is it that stands between ourselves and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life? The life of the spirit. Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out without a moment’s hesitation.” We hope you are able to embrace this season of Lent, so as to as readily embrace the season of Easter.

I’m very happy to have as my guest today a fine priest, a beloved pastor and a dear friend, Fr. Bill Gurnee, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington.

Fr. Bill Gurnee was born in Westchester County, NY, to Judy and Bill Gurnee and grew up as one of four siblings. In 1973, his family moved to Greensboro, NC, where he completed high school before earning a degree in economics from North Carolina State University. After two years in sales, he transitioned to a career in politics, serving for five years on the staff of the Hon. Robert F. Smith.

Following the Congressman’s retirement, Fr. Gurnee discerned a call to the priesthood and entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 2000, and celebrated his first Mass the following day at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill. 

Since ordination, Fr. Gurnee has served in various parishes as a parochial vicar, as a college chaplain at George Washington University and American University in Washington, D.C., and as pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church in Avenue, MD. He also served as the Spiritual Director of the John Paul II Seminary, guiding seminarians in their formation and discernment. 

Today he is pastor of St. Joseph’s on the Hill Catholic Church. 

Fr. Gurnee, thank you so much for giving some of your time to 12 wicker baskets. I'm delighted to have you as a guest today. Thank you. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

I'm happy to be here today, Christopher, this is actually my first podcast, so thanks for inviting me. 

Christopher Beaudet

Perhaps the first of many. A star is born today. Listeners should know that you and I go way back. We studied canon law together at the Catholic University of America, just up the street from front North Capitol, from where you are currently. And so I really appreciate your willingness to to be a guest. But we're not talking about canon law today per se, but your unique role of being the pastor of St Joseph's on the Hill, and not just any hill, but Capitol Hill in the District of Columbia. And I want to just talk about some of the particularities and unique characteristics of being a pastor there at St Joseph's. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Sure. 

Christopher Beaudet

So before we do that, I'm wondering if you might share with our listeners just a little bit about yourself, maybe your vocational story, how you've come to be pastor of St Joseph's on the Hill and having the US Capitol in your parish boundaries.

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Sure, originally, I was born in New York, kind of an Irish Catholic family. When I was 10, my dad moved to the south Greensboro, North Carolina, went to college there, graduated and got some jobs in sales right out of college. And I like to say to people, I couldn't sell water in a desert. So it was not, not an enjoyable experience. And a dear friend of mine said, you know, why don't you come to Washington? You love politics. You're interested in politics, why don't you try and and try your hand at it? So I did. I quit my job and I moved up to DC, and was very lucky. I was fortunate enough to get a job, at least an internship, with the Honorable Robert F Smith of the second congressional district of Oregon. I had never been to Oregon at the time, but it's, it's a very rural it's a huge district. It's, it's most of the state of Oregon, bigger than most eastern states. And wonderful man, devout Presbyterian, 100% pro-life. Just a good, decent family man, a good husband and father. I loved that. But as he came to retire, I began to think about, what do I want to do with the rest of my life? And what I discovered was that, and actually, the woman who invited me up, we had stayed friends, and she asked me a question one night. She said, What do you want to do with the rest of your life? And I sort of laid out this, this plan. Well, I want to work in the Senate now that I worked in the house for five years. I want to work at the White House. I want to lobby. I have all these plans. And she looked at me, and she said, No, what do you want to do with your life? And it stopped me cold. It really kind of made me think about my life's meaning and things like that. So I said to her, I said, Can I get back to you on that? So the next week, you know, all I can think of all week long is the question. And I'm with her the following Saturday night, and I said, “You remember that question you asked me last week?” And she said, “No, what?” What do you mean? That's all I've been able to think about for two for a week. And it really kind of showed that the Holy Spirit was working. Coincidentally, at the same time, I was going to Mass at St Joseph's on Capitol Hill. At that time, I was active in our young adult group. I really sort of learned to pray with them. And I give credit to two women in particular, who were older and more mature, certainly in the faith. And they really, we did retreats together. We designed our own retreats the young adults. And it taught me to take, you know, adult ownership of my faith life. And so, you know, my pastor at the time had encouraged me to think about a vocation, and I went to go see the vocation director, and it just, it fell into place. So, you know, entered in 1994, went to Mount St Mary's in Emmitsburg. Wonderful seminary, wonderful experience. Loved it. Got ordained in 2000 and came back here to Washington, and was was stunned a number of years later when I was invited to be the pastor of Capitol Hill. So it's, it's really come full circle, but it's, it's a delight. 

Christopher Beaudet

How fervent or regular were you in the practice of the faith as a young adult high schooler in college in North Carolina? You mentioned your experience with the parish on the hill when you moved to Washington is sort of, did it reignite your faith, or was it the first time you had really learned to pray well? Or how did that fit in? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, good question. I would say, I think back to college, going off to NC State. I was 17 that first semester, because I have a late birthday. And I remember very clearly, I got something from the Catholic community down there in Raleigh, and so I knew where the mass was. But I remember walking over from my dorm room and, and I've talked about this recently, I celebrated Mass at NC State, first time I'd done that in decades. You know, it seems like, and I told them the story that I remember sort of putting my first foot on the steps of the Student Center and thinking, nobody's making me do this. I'm doing this on my own. And and I did, and I again, was blessed by a good community there at NC State. We had kind of a large group of students, you know, 24,000 students. So there's a lot of Catholics there, even in North Carolina. But I would say that I'm my father’s son, and my father was a rule follower. He was a guy who believed he was an attorney, believed in the law. And I would say that I was, I was involved in our youth group. I was an altar server back in North Carolina. I would say that, you know, we went to Mass every Sunday. There was, you didn't miss mass in the Gurnee household. It just was not, but that's why I think kind of making that decision in college was important. But again, I I really it was more about the obligation, and just like, This is what you did, and I think I did have, you know, kind of a pretty profound experience once in high school, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. My mom took us to Mass on Holy Thursday, and I remember the Eucharistic procession at the end of the liturgy, and the monstrous went by, and I was overcome with a profound sense of my own sinfulness and my own unworthiness in the presence the Blessed Sacrament. I had thought about priesthood my whole life, but that was one of the time, and early we went to Confession. So it wasn't like I didn't experience a sense of sin before, but, and it wasn't just that. It wasn't just a I'm a wicked sinner. It was, this is the source of all goodness, and I want that. And that was, that was an important, you know, kind of a key moment for me. But unfortunately, I probably, I look back now and, you know, to have some spiritual direction or something like that. Or maybe if I'd asked to talk to a priest, it would have been, you know, much more fruitful. It's a little bit of an aside, but we have one of our finest priests in Washington started spiritual direction in a local high school, and now I think they have seven or eight priests from surrounding parishes come in, and that has been a vocation factory for us. There are people from all over the country who kind of come to study this, or he speaks at different places. He's got something like 200 kids in that school in their spiritual direction. Wow, and it's maybe, you know, 10-15 minutes. It's not much, but it might have been the sort of stuff that in days gone by, when you had more kids in Catholic school, they would have had kind of a deeper experience of religion. So I look back now and I see I probably could have benefited from that myself, but, still, I am grateful for what I have. 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, a couple reflections on what you just said. One is that experience that you felt in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. I was thinking in scripture of the moment that Peter denied the Lord the third time which we know in Scripture is the perfect number. In other words, he couldn't have denied him better. And and then there's that brief line, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and then Peter began to weep bitterly. And I'm I've often reflected on what that look might have, might have conveyed to Peter, and I don't think it was a look of condemnation or scorn or rejection, which probably is whatmade Peter feel so bitterly the fruit of his own denial that in even in the face of this, he still loves me. And as you put it beautifully, this the source of all good. I love that. And the other thing too, about, about, you know, high schoolers going having spiritual direction. You know, we often talk about spiritual direction as something maybe people who are a little more independent or out on their own might seek. But why not have, particularly in these young lives that are discerning vocations and calls and interests for somebody to have, for someone to pose the question to a high schooler like that woman did for you, what do you want to really do with your life? And had that poignant question sit there for a while. So community was key, obviously for you in your in your own spiritual walk. And of course, that's how the Lord designed it, right, sending him out two by two. And whenever two or more are gathered in in my name there am I in their midst. St Joseph's on the Hill is a community. It's a community with a venerable history and significant significance. There in the local church of Washington, you're now pastor of it, and you mentioned you were attending Mass there. Tell us a little bit about St Joseph's. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Sure it's a wonderful place. It's, it's across the street. So location is key. Obviously, the the US capital lies within our parish boundaries and and I forget sometimes how  significant that is. A couple years ago, I was with my family. We were in a little town in Scotland doing a walking it's called a Fife walking trail, or walking path. 

Christopher Beaudet

And are there distilleries on that path? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

You know? Unfortunately, no.

Christopher Beaudet

Oh, that's too bad. You should have looked harder.

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Just a fife coastal path, that's it. But the priest I was concelebrating with, the priest announced, this is Fr. Gurnee, he’s pastor of the US Capitol. And there was an audible like, ooh, this was sort of cue to hear people say that, right? The parish itself was founded in 1868, it was founded primarily by German immigrants, which I don't think of Washington as a German city, but apparently there was a there was a decent little number. There was another German parish, more towards the center of the city. And our, our group on Capitol Hill was located more if anyone's from the DC area, they'll know what's called Eastern Market and and they got tired of walking all the way down the old St Mary's, so they petitioned Cardinal Gibbons for a new church, and they bought the land, and, you know, was given to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, I think, for $1 in exchange. And so founded by German immigrants, very quickly, though, Italian immigrants came to the parish. So, 1868 of course, is right after the Civil War, right? And then the country's getting back on our feet, and they want to expand the US Capitol building. So, they actually, President Andrew Johnson, laid the cornerstone for the church, and they led people up on a kind of a procession from the Capitol over here. And so they, you know, it's historic in that sense. Cardinal Gibbons, the great Cardinal Gibbons is one who dedicated it in 1868, as I say. But the German immigrants, they brought over Italian immigrants to, to expand the Capitol building. We had some money after the war, and they wanted and so all these stone masons came over from Italy. And I understand there was apparently a little bit of tension in around the turn of century between German and Italian immigrants. All got worked out. But, you know, sometimes you have to be careful about those things, right? If you get your identity too much like, we're German, and we do this way, right? We're exactly that way. Yeah, so, but wonderful parish, we have about 450 families now. And we don't have a school. We had a school, which is was closed in 1958 after the great fire in Chicago, Our Lady of the Angels. I think it was where, if I understand correctly, something over 200 children died in a fire, and 

Christopher Beaudet

In Chicago or in was it Los Angeles or Chicago? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

I think it was Chicago, I'm not sure, yeah, and what they did was they said they inspected every Catholic school in the country, and ours was in disrepair, and they didn't have the money to fix it, so they demolished it, and our children started going to the next parish school over, St Peter's. But we have a significant number of students from St Joseph's going to St Peter's Catholic school. So that's I just this morning came back from celebrating mass for the school, which we have every week. So okay, love doing that too, as well.

Christopher Beaudet

 Okay? And what kind of interaction does or how does the parish currently serve Congress-people, staffers, people who are, who are at work every day on the Hill? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, it's a it's a big part of the ministry. We have two daily Masses: eight o'clock and 12:10. I get about 40 people at each mass. So about 80 people per daily Mass. around the corner is a think tank, a large think tank. A lot of them, their current president is a convert from the faith and 

Christopher Beaudet

To the faith, or from the faith? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yes. I'm sorry, the new president of the think tank is a, came into full communion from the Baptist faith. Okay. And many of the staffers there are Catholic, and I see them at daily Mass. The other thing, of course, is staffers in the US Senate or Capitol building, we get a lot of as you know, there's a lot of young people and so, who work in government, and one of the main things in my ministry is marriage preparation. I just have a slew of 28 year-olds who want to get married back in California or Texas or Rhode Island. And they call their local priest, and he says, Sure, happy to do it. Go see the local priest in Washington and have him do your marriage preparation. And so I have done a slew more marriage preparation in the last eight years than I've done in my first you know 17 for sure. Yeah, and I think it has been a huge benefit for the parish. I feel very strongly about this. I sadly, I've had family members and friends who've gone to priests. And unless you're registered, or unless you're exactly within the parish boundaries, or, you know, they put them off. And, yeah, yeah. This weekend, I did a baptism for a couple that I did their marriage preparation and did their wedding. He's from California, she's from Alabama, and the parents came up and the father looked around me goes, “You have so many young people in this parish.” And I said, “We do.” And I have really tried to put out the welcome mat to them. And instead of saying, No, I you know, you live two blocks outside of because the territorial boundaries is this parish are pretty small, but if you walk, you know, if you're walking across the street from the US Senate. How am I going to say no? 

Christopher Beaudet

I mean that it's right. You're right there, right there, yeah. So literally, if listeners should know, when you walk out the front of the church, like, just turn your head a little bit and you see the garage entrance to the US Senate side of the Capitol building. Yeah, and the Senate offices are right there. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah. So it's, it's just, it's part of the makeup of the neighborhood. I don't want to exclude anybody you mentioned, for example, Senators or members of Congress, things like that and as a former staffer, one of the things that I do is I try and not make a big deal about that. As far as the members themselves, they absolutely deserve pastoral care. Every now and then, I'll get a senator or a congressman will say, “Hey, can you run over my office?” I had a call for someone who needed anointing member Congress just being have an operation the next day, “Hey, can you come over and anoint me?” Absolutely. Senator doesn't want to stand in line for account for a confession. Hey, can you come over and hear my confession? Absolutely. So we try and be accommodating that way. But for me, it's important that they they're able to just kind of come in the back like anybody else and experience Christ because for them particularly. And I saw this firsthand as a staffer for a member of Congress, everybody wants something from them. Everybody wants a bill passed. Everybody wants money or an appropriation. You know, Senator, Sentor, come here, come here, come here, come to our event. You know, be my big name, be my attraction. When they come to the St. Joseph, what they want to do is receive Christ and that's my job to make that possible. 

Christopher Beaudet

I love that we're all beggars before the Lord, and so we, right, yeah, or, if anything, if the Lord teaches us anything, it's, it's the the people who are not of high stature, right, the ones who wait on table, right, who have the greater honor, yeah, exactly, exactly, 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

The tax collector in the back. 

Christopher Beaudet

Mm, hmm, right, the one who, the the sinner who, who, you know, lowered his head and dared not look up and acknowledged his own sinfulness. So yeah, in marriage prep, you know, a lot of priests struggle with that, only because for so many young people, young adults, you know, they're here, they are in their immediate preparation for marriage. But maybe the proximate or the remote preparation hasn't really taken place. And so, in many ways, and I'm sure you would agree that in many ways, marriage preparation, for a lot of people is, is a kind of evangelization, a reintroduction to the Church, to the life of the church. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. We just, we've been, I used to meet individually with the couples, and I still will, but we just got it's taken a couple years to get this going, but getting married couples to help in preparation, and that is, it's just a joy. We just had our first session in first two weeks of February, and I love seeing the community grow in that sense too, that the young people get to know the older people. I have a, I have a wonderful and they're not older, they're 55. I've got this one couple parents of three children. He was a colonel in the Air Force. She's a physical therapist and and they joyful and to see them witness to these young people, and they'll, let's say, for example, they talked about what the struggle is that they had, that they married when they were 22 and they weren't, they went to church for the wedding, but not, not because they particularly had much faith. And over time, they just, they've been on fire with the faith, and to have them say, you know, we, we struggle to teach our children the faith that that we've got one who practices and two who don't. And you know what they're doing to try and bring them back and to, you know, they're and I'm looking at these young couples, and I'm seeing just what you said. They're evangelizing them. They're raising awareness inside their hearts that they need God and, and Father can say it, and that's very important. I'll never deny that, right? But to have married couple, you know, they say, “Oh, this, this is what I'm going to look like in 30 years.” And this, you know, they've had a successful career, and they've had a successful life and, and that that couple talked about how prayer has changed their marriage. And that was, was huge. I mean, I could just see it in the eyes of the young couples that it just it drove it home. And I loved doing that. 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, that's fantastic. I have a few more questions, just some some other what I would think would be unique challenges, but maybe opportunities at St Joseph's before we move on, though, I just want to take a brief break and have a little word here about the Steier Group. But then when we come back, Father, want to talk about, you know, Washington being such a transient community, with so many people in and out of the district for a variety of reasons and and then also just some experience reflections on your part of your experience of having conducted a capital campaign recently. So don't go anywhere. I am talking with Fr. Bill Gurnee, pastor of St Joseph's on the Hill, Capitol Hill that is talking about pastoring on the hill and its unique challenges and blessings. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. 

Commercial break

Christopher Beaudet  

Thanks for staying with us. Fr. Gurnee, before the break, we were talking about some of the unique pastoral opportunities you have as pastor of St Joseph's on the Hill, and in particular, marriage preparation with so many young professionals and government and staffers there at the Senate and the Capitol building. In addition to, well, I shouldn't say in addition to, but a lot of those folks, as you said, are from other states, and when they go back to those states, isn't always up to them. It depends right on whether or not they're the person that the political figure for whom they're a staff member is re elected or, or not, and, and then also the district has just tons of colleges and universities and schools, which by definition, have people in and out as well. Have you seen a lot of movement and transience, if you will? In your own parish roster? You said it, you had about over 400 families. Undoubtedly, people may not know, just east of the Capitol building, there's, there's, that's a big residential area in the district. So there are people, you know, they are steadily but what kind of, what kind of movement have you seen in your own parish, community of novel, novel, families in and out, and what kind of blessing and challenges that presented?

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Great question. It is a very transient place, just by its nature, as you say, because of the, the role of government in our in our city and in this parish, particularly. I have, I came up with this expression years ago, when I was working  in politics on Capitol Hill. It dawned on me, I said people live in Washington for one year, five years or forever. And so I'll oftentimes be talking to couples, but I'll look at them and I'll say, you know, you and I are on the “forever” plan. Just last week, I lost somebody to the five-year plan. A wonderful couple did, brought her into the church, confirmed her, baptized their first, did their they got through their marriage for person, got married back home, baptized their first child. And they came to me last week, and they said, she texted me and said, Can I make an appointment? And I said, Sure. And just in the pit of my stomach, I said, they're leaving, and they come in, and they sit down, and they said, Father, she was a communications director for retiring member of the Senate, and so he was working as a journalist, and he, they've got a second child on the way, and they looked around, and it's awfully expensive to live here in Washington or buy property. And you know, they just they're both from the upper Midwest. So he looked at me, and he said, “We're moving back to Michigan.” And then he started to cry, and he said, “St. Joseph's has been such an important part of our lives, we can't imagine, you know, not being here.” And she started to cry, and I started to cry, and it's just, you know, you get close to people, sure, and I know this happens, and this happens in Minnesota, and it happens in, in New York City and all that. But here it is, it's just part of the thing. Because I remember when I sort of first really experienced this in a dramatic way. A good friend of mine used to work for Senator John Heinz in Pennsylvania. And if your listeners may remember that Senator Hines was killed, I think his helicopter crashed. I can't remember his helicopter airplane, but, but he died in an aviation crash. And as my friend said, she went to lunch employed, and she came back from lunch unemployed. All of a sudden, that office, the Senator’s, you know, now deceased, and a new senator came in and she lost her job. And that's, that's kind of a dramatic thing. We tie, you know, we tie ourselves, oftentimes, to one person and their success or their now, it's now time to retire. It's one of those things. It's, it is a blessing and a curse. We have new people. We have interns coming all the time from a think tank or the US Senate. And, you know, it's exciting, because sometimes they I'm a big believer in my ministry. I'm a big believer in meeting people when they're ready. So just to give you an example of an intern comes in, we have had several times where someone has come and said, I'm a student at Hillsdale College. I'm here for their summer Washington Program, and I want to become Catholic. And, you know, I thought about it before, but then I start taking instruction. My answer is, yes, I will start you. You may not finish here, but you're going to start here. I'm not going to say to you, “Wait to get back to Michigan in this, you know, in September, and start there.” Because I think you just lose people, sure, yeah. And they come in and, and it's exciting to see them come back too, because sometimes they came here as an intern, and then they, they get the pace for Washington and politics, they realize they're called to it. And they come back and they and one of the I've had a number of occasions, I've had people say we chose to live in this part of town because it's near St Joseph's, and that's where I went. Wow, that sounds a lot. It's just, it's, it's thrilling. You know? 

Christopher Beaudet

Well, your, your own story. I mean, St Joseph's factored into your spiritual journey. I don't think you mentioned this earlier, but it wasn't your first mass, your mass of Thanksgiving at St Joseph after you were ordained?

Fr. Bill Gurnee

That's correct, Christopher. June 11, 2000; coming up on my 25th anniversary. But it was, it was unquestioned. Of course, I would, you know, do my first mass here at St Joseph's. And you know, as I said, I'm looking forward to doing my 25th in just a couple months, and to be able to do it here pastor, my home parish. 

Christopher Beaudet

It's just, it's really, that's amazing. It's such a such a grace for you and for your community. Clearly, your, your pastoral zeal is not a brow-beating zeal. It's a true servant, focused, relationship, relationship based, focus, which I think is very Christ, like, that's, that's how the Lord operated. Imagine the Lord sending somebody away who was prepared to meet him, you know, like, no, come back in September, when you're back 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Or the woman with the hemorrhage, come back later.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, come back later, yeah, exactly. You know, another, another factor here, I guess, just given the time of our conversation this podcast episode is you are soon to have a new local shepherd, Robert Cardinal McElroy, coming from the Archdiocese the Diocese of San Diego, recently appointed by the Holy Father to Be Archbishop of Washington. And you know you, we're talking about pastoring on the Hill. You're the pastor of the parish there. Of course, the Archbishop of Washington is, is the, the pastor, the apostolic successor shepherd of that local church of Washington. And includes the hill and includes the White House, it includes the judicial system and everything going on. And I believe you said next month, in March, he'll be, he'll be installed as the new Archbishop. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

That's correct. March 11. 

Christopher Beaudet

What do you you know, I'm sure the Archbishop of Washington has a it's a high profile Archbishop, Rick, given everything I just said, What's your impression, or what's your what's your perspective on the pastoral sensitivity or nuance that the Archbishop of Washington would benefit from having? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, it's by tradition the Archbishop of Washington, I think, has played a somewhat of a significant role, because Catholics are an important part of the government, an important part of this local area. And you know, if a politician comes from an area where there happens to be a particularly strong Catholic faith, and of course, that's the beautiful thing about being part of the universal church. You know, they this isn't the first time a politician has run into a Catholic bishop, and I'm proud of the fact that I think our bishops and priests in other places have, you know, usually conduct themselves with, with aplomb and with, with some pastoral sensitivity. So you know, whether it be the president or the head of the Senate, or, you know, whoever it may be, a Supreme Court justice, they they will meet around town on a number of occasions. They'll meet the, in this case, Cardinal McElroy. And our tradition has been that the local shepherd is again a shepherd first, and that he there may be times that they need to talk to him about public policy. The Church has a right to, to speak in the public square, but the way we do it here is, is behind closed doors. Every now and then again, some public statements need to be made. But I think I've been from my own perspective, I've been impressed with the prudence and and the the pastoral sensitivity that it's usually delivered and and just to be very frank, that if the cardinal or any of our Archbishops becomes too political, then he risks alienating not just the individual politician, but But a large part of his flock. So he's he's got to be able to speak for the Church, not for a political party. And I think we've had some, some men who have done that in the past and, and I think it's been good. And as we were talking earlier that you know, the Holy Father does have a representative in this country who happens to live in Washington. He's the papal nuncio. And if there are things that the head of state needs to hear from another head of state. Well, that's the job of the nuncio. And they can again have diplomatic talks. But the archbishop has a dual role. He's local bishop, he speaks, but he also is a pastor and, and we've, we've tried to maintain that in years past, 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, I would imagine there, maybe the Archbishop of Washington could feel a pressure, maybe coming from brother bishops or from Catholics across the country, that he should be, you know, representing the Catholic faith, almost, or maybe to the degree that the nuncio is supposed to to, you know, governmental figures. But to your point, there is a nuncio and represent ambassador of the Holy See to the United States there well, and I appreciate that. I appreciate your reflection on that. Again, it's another unique aspect and the way the church interacts and engages civil society, because the church, too, has a vision for human society, right for civic, civic intercourse and for the discussions of the public square. And I appreciate your own sensitivity, too, in the role you play in that unique spot just kitty corner from the Capitol building. I guess in the last few minutes here, I wanted to explore with you a little bit about the capital campaign that the Steier Group was privileged to partner with you on recently. With the official appeal phase. But you're now in the redemption phase. And you know, campaigns have challenges and they have successes, and you're, you were seeking to expand your parish campus by providing for a new parish hall, among among other projects. And I know there was some red tape about acquiring a little bit of land that was in a public alley to be able to fit the building, etc. And so I guess, what are some lessons, you know, big picture, that you've learned about running a campaign, and particularly there on Capitol Hill? And what advice would you give any pastor or parish leader who may be thinking of conducting an effort of extraordinary giving? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, that's been, it has been a real learning experience. I've I've shied away from this in the past. I've never wanted to do, and I think most of us don't like or ask for, you know, feel comfortable asking for money, but it had to be done. And as you were just saying, Christopher, we're trying to build a new parish hall, and we're going, and we're really landlocked. We're, we're limited in I'd love to build. I go to these suburban parishes, and I see these gorgeous places, and I think, oh, what? I wouldn't give to have sure you know the land for this but, but we don't, and so we're going to do the best. But right now, we're meeting in, I called it my “coffee and donuts room”. It's a converted garage. It's not, it's a cement, it's a cement block. And there's nothing attractive or it's barely functional. We had a we had a potluck dinner, and we had 60 people in there. We were literally sitting on top of each other. We were just there's we don't even have room for 60 people. So that's that's a challenge. So we approached Steier Group and some other groups and and Steier really won the hearts of mine. Because, again, I'll share the listeners that because you and I studied Ken law together, I didn't want anyone to look to to me like I was. There was some nepotism going on I was, I was choosing my friend, right? So I had the decision made by my executive council, the parish council, and overwhelmingly, they were like, “Let's go with Steier.” And the sort of feeling was that Steier was it wasn't just, you know, come and do one phase and stayed with you, and Steier was supportive when you needed when you needed them. So that's, that's why we went with Steier Group. And it's been a, I think, a pretty fruitful experience. You guys know your numbers, you know what's how to forecast these things. Steier predicted that we would be able to raise between $1.5 and $2.1 million and we've received pledges for about $2.2 million, so a little bit exceeded. I like to think we punch above our weight, but that's you guys are pretty much on that forecast. So if you're considering going with Steier, know that they, they're professionals. They know they know what they're doing in this the one thing, the one advice I'd give to a pastor, we've found we were not. Not as prepared for the redemption part as we probably should have been. When Steier came and they, they really helped us get the campaign off the ground. But it and I was fortunate. I had a couple of people who, who really put their nose to the grindstone and started working and setting up our computer system to get ready to do this, but it did. And I had heard this, I think you guys had warned us about it, but I wasn't as ready for it as I should have been. And so we, we had a couple of key people come in and, and get us going. And the other thing I find, we're finding now too, we're, we're more than a year into it, for about 14 months, that one of the key things is reminders, and again, these things, you know, but it's funny when you experience it. So we've had a number of people who, you know, pledged, and then you contact them after a while, like trying to get some, some, some of the process flowing, and they'll say to us, oh, yeah, I remember pledging, but did you do you know what I pledge? Did you write that down? And I'm thinking, you're kidding me. You don't know what you pledge for, for a major campaign, right? But we've had to, we've had to do that. We found that you know, letters and reminders are key? 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, you would think keep track of that significant financial commitment, but yeah, we we send reminders for a reason. They need reminding, right? Yeah. So it sounds like you know you started with maybe some trepidation, but the process unfolded. It kind of unfolds as it as it should. And then there's just the follow up to to help the project to come to fruition. Where, where are you at right now, and completing the the project itself? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

So you mentioned the little bit of land acquisition, or during a land swap, we have a little corner of our parking lot that we don't use, and it's just outside of a fence, and we're going to exchange that with the city so that that has to be voted on by the city council. We've had to go through subcommittees and subcommittees and subcommittees the city council, and here only in Washington you could have this. So they were going to vote on on doing the land swap on February 4. But it just so happened that one of our city council has been accused of taking bribes, and that day, the city councilman was expelled by the city council. So while I think it's much more important that St Joseph's business gets done before anything else. Apparently, the city thought, thought otherwise. Public Corruption was, you know, a higher value. 

Christopher Beaudet

How dare they? 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, how dare they. But we do expect that to be completed, I think in about a month. Okay, and so we've, we've received about we're just about on target. I think we've collected about a third, it's a three year campaign, we've collected about a third of the money so far. And so we are, we, part of it is the construction of our historic organ reconstruction, renovation of our organ that has been going on, we decided to take a little money out of our savings and we'll resupply our savings with money from the capital campaign. So that work is is almost completed. It'll be finished in another 13-14 month project. We have about three months left in that.

Christopher Beaudet

So beautiful. So the have not, we haven't broken ground for the parish hall yet, but, but the organ is making progress. And, you know, for for the whole point of our conversation about for people going to St Joseph's as their spiritual home and encountering the Lord, the liturgy is the primary vehicle by which right people have that encounter, right at St Joseph's and so the solemnity of the liturgy and beautiful historic organ that's, you know, praising God fully is very powerful, literally, instrument to to help people encounter God. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Yeah, it's, Christopher. I tell you, it's exciting to be here right now. In the last couple years, particularly, our Masses are growing and daily Mass as well. We used to be around 25, we're now around 40 per Mass, but the 10:30 Sunday morning Mass, we have a spectacular choir, which has been growing, and I give all credit to our music director. We hired a new music director four or five years ago, and she has really made a difference. And so we now have, we're in the enviable position where we don't have enough room for all the new choir members in our choir, part of our building where we want to build so but the music they do is unbelievably beautiful, and I think so. Our mass, our 10:30am mass, is almost full. It's not quite standing room only yet, but it's close, yeah, and yet that's right there. There's a vibe to that Mass. And I'm looking around, and I'm seeing a lot of new faces, and I'm just it's an exciting time to be pastor on Capitol Hill. 

Christopher Beaudet

Well, Fr. Gurnee, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to touch base with you and to explore a little bit about the great blessings that St Joseph's has been in your own life and is to so many in the in the district there, and in particular, like we've said, all of those people who are maybe in DC for a time, one five or forever, serving in government. But, you know, I just, I'm sure our picture, our listeners, have picked up, but I want to articulate that St Joseph's is equally blessed to have you as their pastor. And yes, we're friends. We go, we go way back. So I personally hold you in very high esteem and in regard and, and thank you. And I, I know that your parishioners do as well, and for, for very obvious and good reasons. So for all of your good work serving the people of God entrusted to your care there on the Hill. Thank you for that, and blessings on your ministry ahead. 

Fr. Bill Gurnee

Thank you, Christopher. It’s been a joy to be with you today.

Christopher Beaudet

My thanks to Fr. Bill Gurnee for being our guest today. For his pastoral ministry at the heart of our nation’s capitol. And for reminding us that if we are welcoming and willing to engage people who are open and ready in their walk of life, we, too, can be a bridge for them to encounter Christ. You can find Twelve Wicker Baskets where ever podcasts are found. Please subscribe and share it with colleagues and friends. If you have any comments or suggestions for us, send them our way at twb@steiergroup.com. Again, we hope your Lenten journey begins well next week. We’ll be back again at the end of March with another great conversation here on Twelve Wicker Baskets.