Above: Enduring the shock of the icy water are, from left, Andy Buttner, Father Chris Ballard, Mason Netzband, Quin Ruddy, Luke Lohr and Father James Buttner. (Tom Maguire photos)
Fathers Ballard, Buttner honor pledge to help HOPE Appeal
By Tom Maguire, associate editor
Someone announced it was a sporting event, so people sang the national anthem by the boulders leading to Oneida Lake, where the water temperature had to be in the 30s on Super Bowl Sunday at Sylvan Beach.
Six hearty men were about to plop into a patch of shoreline water in a stunt tied to the diocesan HOPE Appeal. Father Chris Ballard had kidded the witnesses, “We’ve been debating for like two weeks on what the best spot was gonna be; we were thinking maybe we’d go down to the beach, we were thinkin’ maybe we’d go to the Bahamas and do it there.”
Offshore, Lucas Smith and Devon Jones, both of the Village of Hamilton, were fishing for walleyes in a little boat. Smith wore, he said later, a $400 coat. But Team Polar braved the event bare-chested. The crowd was so big that Spirit of Hope Parish parishioner Jeff Barlow had to look up and watch the plunge on a cellphone that someone was holding. At least the Polar Plunge Six didn’t have to jump into the comparatively deep and scary canal that was right there.
It’s time to hit dry land! From left are Andy Buttner, Father Chris Ballard, Quin Ruddy, Luke Lohr (bending over), Mason Netzband and Father James Buttner.
The six splashed for about the length of one Hail Mary that Father Ballard, Spirit of Hope pastor, pumped out despite the agony. The water was “like a sting. And it was very shocking,” he said later. But he got out, made it back up to the bundled-up crowd and exulted, “OK, we did it!” It was good that he had his “nice puffy bathrobe and a hot water bottle,” plus “the love of all these people.”
Fathers Ballard and James Buttner had promised to do the icy plunge if Spirit of Hope met its goal for the HOPE Appeal, which funds 27 ministries. “The idea was to get the whole parish to work together,” said Father Buttner, Spirit of Hope parochial vicar. The parish exceeded the $120,000 goal by raising over $126,000, with 100% of the funds raised over goal going back to the parish.
A happy heart
“My heart is happy,” said polar-plunge witness Beth Hoey, who leads the HOPE Appeal as the executive director of the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. Although the public campaign for the 2023 HOPE Appeal ended Dec. 31, 2023, people can still donate through June 30, 2024; as of Feb. 12, the HOPE Appeal was $330,000 from reaching its overall goal.
“There are very less torturous ways” of raising money, Father Ballard said before the plunge, “but sometimes you got to do something dramatic.”
His partners in drama included Father Buttner’s brother Andy; Luke Lohr, a discipleship member at Spirit of Hope; recently accepted seminarian Mason Netzband; and Quin Ruddy, involved in discipleship at St. Patrick’s in Oneida.
Did Father Ballard, the polar “père,” as the French would say, see any fish in the water? “I did not see ANYTHING down there; I saw my life flash before my eyes down there,” he said. He added: “I probably could have stayed in longer but I was losing my breath. My second Hail Mary probably would have taken my breath away.”
The crowd next went inside the nearby Canal View Café where drinks were on Fathers Ballard and Buttner; food and snacks came from parishioners. The two priests also contributed money to the HOPE Appeal in addition to supplying the drinks and honoring their polar pledge. The “whole thing is gratitude for people’s generosity,” Father Ballard said.
Spirit of Hope Parish consists of St. Agatha in Canastota, St. Mary of the Lake in Verona Beach, St. Joseph and St. Patrick in Oneida, St. Helena in Sherrill and Holy Family in Vernon. At the party in the Canal View, parishioner Barlow said he came out “to support the parish because it’s a great bunch of people and the priests are great guys and they’re doing a great job.” Could he imagine doing the plunge himself? “No, I don’t think so,” he said with a laugh. “Not even when I was younger.”
Drawn to the show
Father Chris Ballard looks unconcerned before his polar plunge as Beth Hoey, executive director of the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, holds her sign.
Another Spirit of Hope parishioner, Lisa Vivacqua, came over earlier in the day to help set up the party. “It’s just amazing,” she said, “the community that was drawn to gather here today. Everyone was just wonderful, friendly, singing, just so happy. And I’m so glad that we were able to contribute and make our HOPE Appeal this year.”
Partygoer Patricia King, a Spirit of Hope parishioner and retired nurse, said she attended to support both Fathers because of their “just over-the-top amazing job at bringing the communities of our six churches together …, the entire age group from zero to 90.”
She added, “They make a wonderful pair. They’ve brought out the youth in our church. … It’s allowed the youth the opportunity to see the good in the world and in their community and how they themself can give back to the community.”
Despite his icy ordeal, Father Ballard was acting as a server with this party pitch: “YOU need a cookie.” But what was his intention for that Hail Mary he managed to say in the water?
“I actually did not even have an intention,” he said, “but I know that when we pray in the midst of suffering it’s very powerful so Our Lady can use it wherever she needs to. She can apply the graces wherever they gotta go.”
