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msgr. tom flach feels a sense of gratitude every day

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

As people of the diocese express their appreciation for their priests, Msgr. Tom Flach of St. Joseph Parish in Marion said he is grateful to be pastor and to minister to the people of St. Joseph’s.

After being struck with Guillain-Barre Syndrome in November 2007, he began a long recovery process that kept him from regular ministry at SS. Peter and Paul in Waterloo until July 2009 when he was named pastor of St. Joseph’s.

He never doubted he would return to ministry, he said, but he didn’t think it would take so long. He spent three months in a hospital and two more months in rehabilitation before going to stay with his sister, Janet Maher, and her family in Albuquerque, N.M.

When he received his assignment, Msgr. Flach wondered if his new parishioners would be disappointed “because they got the crippled priest.”

Nothing could have been further from the truth, he said, as he was welcomed warmly to the parish.
“People hold their breath when I start up the steps to the sanctuary,” he said, but they realize he wants to navigate on his own.

“These are wonderful, wonderful people, who make a conscious effort to live and witness their faith.”
During his long recovery, Msgr. Flach remembers key times and key people he met.

He “saw the face of Christ” in a nurse in the intensive care unit who looked him in the eye and was “present” as she ministered to him.

And when it seemed Msgr. Flach had run out of options for rehabilitative care, his family provided a safety net for him, especially his sister, Janet’s family, who brought him home and gave him the support he needed to continue to recover.

He said he finally realized the gravity of his situation in July 2008, but he wouldn’t give up. Crediting his ancestry with his determination, he said: “I’m German, you know.”

He also knew, he said, “I understand very well that God meets us in the messiness of our lives; God comes to me precisely where I am.”

Msgr. Flach said he never lost hope. “Hope is not pie in the sky; it’s not be good now and reap the rewards in the hereafter; hope is the assurance of God’s ever loving presence in my journey.”

His journey has taken him farther south than he has been in the past. His parishes were predominantly in the Metro-East, but he finds the people and the parish “wonderful.”

LaVerne Williams, parish secretary, said Msgr. Flach puts in a pretty full day at the parish and goes to parish meetings in the evenings. She wonders how he is able to manage when the days are long.

“It’s challenging,” Msgr. Flach said, “and at the end of the day, I say ‘it’s a lot, Lord, and I can’t do it by myself.’”
He isn’t worried because so many people have come forward to help. “I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in 38 years of ministry,” he said.

Msgr. Flach counts his family, therapists, friends and now his new parishioners among those by whom he has been blessed.

He finds sometimes people in pain can talk to him easier than others. Perhaps this is because they see his disability or they know how difficult his journey has been for the past two years.

Although he said he is the same person he was before Guillain-Barre changed his life — with the same limitations and foibles — “I also realize there are priorities” in life. “The top priority is people and people who are hurting.”

In that way he was able, soon after he arrived in Marion, to comfort a parishioner who had lost a spouse, to reach out to her even though they had just met and see her needs and minister to her, LaVerne Williams said.

“I’m so grateful where I am with whatever is, with or without my cane,” he said.

“It’s wonderful to be alive and to be able to minister to, and be surrounded by such loving people.”

Msgr. Flach said he is truly “back and I plan to continue ministering and pastoring at St. Joseph’s in Marion for the foreseeable future.”