MY FAVORITE PRIEST

A priest for life
By Bill Foley

The local newspaper for Carroll County, Georgia, began its article on Monsignor Michael Regan: “Carroll County’s most well-known, and arguably most-beloved Roman Catholic, has died at age 77.” This good pastor was loved because he radiated the love of Christ, a result of his having died to self-love and of his becoming immersed in the charity of Jesus.

The heart of Monsignor Regan’s life was intimacy with Jesus, a result of a deep prayer life. When he was recruited from Philadelphia by Bishop Hyland to come to Georgia in 1950, he agreed, provided one condition could be met. He had to be allowed to continue his practice of spending one hour of daily mental prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

When I became a member of his parish in 1973, Monsignor and I developed a very close bond. I would accompany him on many trips, usually to Atlanta, and he would always have us say the rosary coming and going.

I returned to Carrollton, Georgia, in May of 1996 for the celebration of Monsignor Regan’s fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. During the homily of the Mass, he stated that the fifty years of his priesthood had been a honeymoon with Jesus. This was not a self-centered honeymoon because he had allowed so many of us to go on it with him.

Monsignor Regan was a Priest for Life long before that organization had even been conceived. He convinced Louise Summerhill to bring Birth Right into the United States. He would drive several of us parishioners to local neighborhoods, where we would hand out pro-life literature as he was praying the rosary in the van. He was even unjustly put in jail for praying outside an abortion mill in Atlanta. Monsignor Regan’s hospitality rivaled that of Bethany. In 1973 a group of men from his former parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Atlanta, joined several of us in Carrollton to install a chain-link fence around two acres of land on the grounds of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. About noon we heard a loud bell and the cry: “Come and get it.” Monsignor had cooked a large meal for all of us men. He did all of the cooking and housekeeping at the rectory himself until some parishioners finally persuaded him at a later date to have a lady come in a couple of days per week to help him.

Teenagers from his former parish would often come down for a weekend stay with Monsignor Regan. I once came by the rectory early on a Sunday morning and found several sleeping bags on the living room floor. These young people would do anything for this priest whom they loved so much.

I became friends with a young couple who moved into Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. The topic of Monsignor Regan came up during a conversation, and they described how they first met him. After they had driven to the rectory and knocked on the door, Monsignor greeted them with a big smile and asked them to come in. He immediately gave them something to eat, told them that God had sent them to this church, and said that the parish was so blessed to have them. This couple said that they had never experienced such kindness and love outside their family circle.

A carnival came to Carroll County, and a couple who worked there were beaten up and robbed. Monsignor Regan allowed them to stay at the rectory until they mended and found work.

Monsignor Regan did not own a television, and he rarely took time off because he was the only priest for a parish that extended for a radius of fifty miles. His flock grew by leaps and bounds mainly because God was effecting numerous conversions by means of his docile, humble servant.

Monsignor Regan’s energy seemed boundless when it came to serving the sick and the bereaved. I once went with him to a rosary in Atlanta for a former parishioner. After he had recited the prayers, he consoled the surviving wife and her three young children on an individual basis in an adjoining room.

Monsignor Regan was totally faithful to John Paul II’s dictum: “There is no love without truth.” He always preached and taught the full doctrine of the Catholic faith. He was a papist who made the truth attractive because he lived it.

On August 8, 1999, the Holy Trinity answered the prayer on Monsignor Regan’s remembrance card for his golden jubilee: “My God, I give Thee thanks for what Thou givest, and for what Thou takest away. Thy will be done.”

Back to Homiletic & Pastoral Review Table of Contents October 2000

Back to Catholic Information Center Main Periodical Page