Texas bishop visits St. Patrick, land of his roots
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Richard and Rose Riney’s great-great-great grandson most reverently approached his ancestors’ final resting place.
Sunlight shone off the headstones and his pectoral cross.
“Coming here is like a discovery of unknown ancestry,” Bishop Michael J. Sis of San Angelo, Texas, marveled aloud.
He was one of many descendants of the founding families of Shrine of St. Patrick Parish in St. Patrick who gathered in this northeastern Missouri hamlet for a family reunion the weekend of Oct. 5-6.
“To come and visit the graves of my ancestors is deeply meaningful to me, and to be able to come and pray in this shrine is truly a pilgrimage of faith,” Bishop Sis told his assembled kin.
“And it’s very important to me personally to get to see all of YOU and how God is at work in your lives through good times and through bad, how he continues to sustain and nourish you through the years,” he said.
Bishop Sis offered the Sunday Mass and preached the homily to a near-capacity congregation in the shrine the morning of Oct. 6.
Father Robert Fields — pastor of Shrine of St. Patrick Parish, St. Michael Parish in Kahoka and St. John Parish in Memphis — and Franciscan Father James Wheeler, a son of Shrine of St. Patrick Parish, concelebrated.
Bishop Sis blessed the water in the baptismal font and sprinkled it on the assembly at the beginning of Mass, illuminated by sunlight through vibrant Celtic stained glass.
“We’re conscious of these beautiful windows, each depicting a saint,” he declared. “So many saints who accompany us in worshiping Our Lord in the Mass! All of us are hoping to be future saints, and that path begins with our Baptism.”
It was Respect Life Sunday, and the regularly scheduled readings highlighted marriage and family life — including Jesus’s teaching on the permanence of marriage and on welcoming children as one would welcome him. (Mark 10:16).
Bishop Sis, in his homily, noted that some people think the Catholic Church takes a hard line on issues of marriage and family.
“But, honestly, all we’re really trying to do is be faithful the teachings of Jesus that were proclaimed in the Gospel today,” said Bishop Sis. “That’s all we’re trying to do: be faithful to our Lord Jesus.”
He noted that safeguarding human life from conception to natural death can lead to inconvenience, sacrifice and even suffering.
“But also many blessings!” he proclaimed. “In all cases, our Catholic faith teaches us not to shy away from inconvenience or sacrifice whenever the sanctity of life is at stake.”
He emphasized that making sacrifices for the good of another human being leads to growth in holiness.
Jesus makes it clear that children are a precious gift.
“They are a blessing and enrich the lives of their parents,” Bishop Sis noted. “Psalm 128 proclaims an expression of blessing upon a person when it says, ‘May you see your children’s children.’”
After Communion, Fr. Fields invited all the children to gather at the front of the shrine. Bishop Sis asked and answered questions and described the symbolism behind his mitre (pointy hat), zucchetto (skull cap), crosier (bishop’s staff) and other symbols of him being a bishop.
He also spoke of the seventh candle on the altar — the one announcing that the local diocesan bishop is present.
“You’ll notice that it’s not lit,” he told the children. “That’s because I’m not your bishop. If your bishop, my friend, Bishop McKnight, were here with you today, then this candle would be lit.”
“Good people”
The downstairs hall at the shrine was adorned with displays, photos, albums, genealogy charts and historical ephemera from various branches of the families represented at the reunion.
Some came from several states away with memories of previous family gatherings tucked away in their minds or in their parents’ or grandparents’ photo albums.
Others have spent their whole lives a short distance from the shrine or moved back more recently to retire or work the old family homestead.
Many spoke of the fun they had while growing up and coming back to visit the farms and the beautiful shrine, which was completed in 1957.
Timeless stories pivoted and overlapped when told from different perspectives.
Smiles and laughter abounded.
“We don’t all get to see each other so much,” one relative stated.
Parishioners sold chances to win a handmade shamrock-patterned quilt to raise money for restoration of headstones in the cemetery.
Bishop Sis won the quilt, and he plans to give it to his mother in Texas, who treasures her beautiful memories of visiting the shrine as a child.
After sharing a meal and a great deal of visiting, people came forward to introduce the members of their families and talk a little about where they live and what they do.
Dennis Schutte of St. Louis, a descendant of the parish’s founders, whose family still owns a farm within the Shrine of St. Patrick parish boundaries, served as emcee.
Fr. Wheeler sang a few bars of “Getting to Know You” from “The King And I,” as an expression of joy at becoming acquainted and reacquainted with relatives he previously never knew.
“You know, wherever you go, there are always good people,” he said. “That’s what I’m experiencing.”
He noted that everyone, including priests, experiences brokenness and need healing.
“You have a spirituality and you have a holiness that we priests need to hear from you,” he told the laypeople present. “And we also have some that we want to share with you.”
Sister JoAn Schullian OSF, a Hospital Sister of St. Francis living in Decatur, Illinois, spoke of growing up in Quincy, entering religious life and serving in numerous capacities in the Church, including advocacy work to abolish the death penalty.
“I’m grateful to be here, and I bless you and I thank God for all you, and pray for you,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of challenges in this life, so we need to stay close to the Lord, stay close to Jesus, and keep on praying for each other.”
“God’s coworkers”
Bishop Sis talked about how his mother, Janice (Murphy) Sis, grew up in Kansas but made frequent trips back to St. Patrick for family gatherings.
Raymond and Janice Sis got married and moved to Bryan-College Station, Texas, so Raymond could teach at Texas A&M.
Bishop Sis was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Austin in 1986, after studying at the University of Notre Dame and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He served in parish and campus ministry, as vocation director and as vicar general before being appointed bishop of San Angelo in 2014.
He now leads a mostly rural diocese that’s as vast as Indiana but only has about 120,000 Catholics. Many of the Catholics are of Hispanic origin or lineage.
For his motto, he selected the phrase “Dei Sumus Adiutores” — “We are God’s coworkers” (1 Corinthians 3:9).
“Serving as a Catholic bishop in today’s world has its challenges,” he noted. “It’s also very fulfilling and spiritually rewarding work.”
He loves the people and territory of his diocese.
“It’s a beautiful place to live and serve God’s people,” he said.
The first Rineys in North America settled in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in the 1700s. From there, some moved to western Kentucky, and then to what is now St. Patrick.
“And from there to many other places!” Bishop Sis noted.
Richard and Rose (Simpson) Riney and several family members settled in Clark County, Missouri, in 1833.
The following year, they helped build the first Catholic church near their settlement, originally known as North Santa Fe.
Richard and Rose’s relatives included Zachariah Riney, a Catholic, who is believed to have tutored young Abraham Lincoln.
Bishop Sis visited St. Patrick for the first time while traveling with his parents in 2011, and came back with them for a reunion in 2017.
He grew up without much contact with his extended family over the years, “because most of my relatives live in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and we always lived in Texas, so we were always far away.”
“But I’m very grateful to be able to reconnect with you and meet you now, much later in my life,” he told the group.
Bishop Sis reminded the people that they were taking part in more than just a get-together with family and relatives.
“You have also made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Patrick in the town of St. Patrick!” he said.
“You came here to pray the Mass in this holy place that was established by ancestors of yours, to give glory to God in the only town in the world that is named for St. Patrick,” he stated.
