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father jim jeffrey celebrates 50 years as priest

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

More at home in the Diocese of Belleville these days, Father Jim Jeffrey of the Diocese of Fargo, N.D., is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest.

Father Jeffrey is well known in the Latino community in this diocese and works with the Office of Hispanic Ministry to celebrate Mass in parishes with a strong Hispanic population.

These days, he is working with 13 Hispanics at St. Damian Parish to prepare them for the Sacraments of Initiation: baptism, Eucharist and confirmation.

What brought him to this diocese? Father Jeffrey’s sister, Pat Hutcheson, lived just down the road from the Hincke-Sense Home where Father Jeffrey lives. He visited her regularly, and six years ago, he became acquainted with the diocese’s Office of Hispanic Ministry.

That began a relationship that has taken him to many parts of the diocese, and continues even though his sister died May 16 of this year.

However, his journey to the priesthood and eventually to Belleville began in the 1950s when Jim Jeffrey wanted to become a priest. Actually, he wanted to join a religious order and become a missionary, but the religious orders in which he was interested did not accept him because of health issues.

Unwilling to give up on his vocation, he joined the seminary and was ordained May 30, 1959 in Fargo by then Archbishop Aloysius Muench.

While in the seminary he signed up for a Spanish class, and summers he worked with migrant youth who expanded his knowledge of the language.

Five years after ordination, in 1964, Father Jeffrey went to Peru as one of the men who answered the call of Pope John XXIII to help in Latin America.

He stayed in Peru for 22 years, returning to the Fargo diocese to parish work at St. Bridget’s in Cavalier, N.D.
While he retired in 1999 after 40 years a priest, he remained in the Fargo diocese to work with migrants in six counties, then came here to be with his sister.

Father Jeffrey expects to remain active in ministry as long as he has the energy. At 76, he continues to celebrate the sacraments with the people of this diocese.

“It is exciting and rewarding,” he said.