Father Douglas D. Cunningham,
administrator, The Catholic Community
of St. Stephen/St. Patrick, and
Mission of Our Lady of the
Perpetual Help, Cincinnatus,
ordained June 1987
Father Cunningham has served in Vestal, Endicott, Binghamton, Whitney Point, Norwich, Oxford, and Baldwinsville. He has also served with the National Guard. Unfortunately, Father Cunningham was not available to contribute to this issue.
Father Thomas Honold
Father Thomas Honold,
in residence, Church of the Little Flower,
Coral Gables, Fla.,
ordained in May 1987
Father Honold said God has a sense of humor: Every time he thought he knew what he would be doing, he ended up doing something different. He even served as a cruise chaplain for a time and he has retired twice.
A former resident of Whitesboro, he was a seminarian for the Syracuse Diocese. Then he went into a different line — he became a social worker and a social-welfare administrator.
Then he went back into his priestly studies and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Miami, Fla., where he served until his retirement six years ago. At that time he moved back to Whitesboro to live with his family. He became the temporary administrator of the Church of the Sacred Heart & St. Mary, Our Lady of Czestochowa in New York Mills from fall 2010 until May 2011.
Then he helped out at parishes on weekends until he was named administrator of Our Lady of the Rosary in New Hartford in 2015. He held that position until May 2016, when he “re-retired” and moved back to the Archdiocese of Miami.
Father Honold is now in residence at Church of the Little Flower. He is one of six priests living there; three fulltime and three in residence: one from Mexico; one, Nigeria; one, Vietnam; one, Peru; and one, Cincinnati. “We get along fine,” Father Honold said. “It’s wonderful. You get to see things from all different perspectives.”
The parish has about 4,000 families and a grade school for 1,000 children. He helps out when he can, doing daily and Sunday Masses and the occasional funeral.
Father Honold comes north every other month or so and stays in New Hartford; soon he’ll be over in Utica for a visit.
He is a priest in two worlds. “Syracuse clearly is my diocese, too, in my mind,” Father Honold said. “They’re both home.”
Father Daniel J. O’Hara
Father Daniel J. O’Hara,
pastor of Immaculate Heart
of Mary, Liverpool, and
St. Joseph the Worker,
Liverpool, ordained in June 1987
Father O’Hara has served in Liverpool, Rome, and Syracuse. “It’s 30 years,” he said. “It’s a great thing.”
Asked if the years have gone by quickly, he said, “They’ve flown by. Seems just like yesterday. … I just enjoy what I’m doing.”
Father James P. Serowik
Father James P. Serowik,
pastor of St. Anthony
of Padua, Endicott,
ordained in June 1987
Father Serowik loves Endicott. He grew up there, and he has been serving there for the last 20 years, including almost nine years at St. Anthony. He has also served in Syracuse, North Syracuse, and Whitney Point.
He likes wearing multiple hats. “No day is the same,” he said. “And it’s just entering people’s lives in different times. … You never know what’s going to come in.” For example, he said, the phone rings and he finds out a parishioner’s father is not doing well. So it’s time for a sick call to “bring Christ to others.”
“God doesn’t work all the time with a schedule,” he said, “not all the time. … God doesn’t always fit into my little black book.”
Father Serowik calls people to recognize God’s presence in their lives and tries to get them to encounter him more deeply, especially in the Eucharist.
As he contemplates his jubilee, Father Serowik said he is reflecting on the fidelity of God, who has been with him every step of his priesthood and whom he strives to be an ambassador of.
For relaxation or a great escape, Father Serowik will play a four-hour round of golf. He plays in a Monday night league with the Sons of Italy. “That for me is a good thing,” he said.
He also enjoys boating, but it’s “too much work to fish,” he joked. He’ll go out into the lake and read a book or the New York Post.
